Chapter 14 — The Day Before Training Begins
Harry spent the next day with the Grangers, who had wanted to properly congratulate him for passing his arithmancy test.
"We know how hard you worked on that, and we're very proud of you," complimented Marissa Granger, causing Harry to turn slightly pink.
"I couldn't have done it without Hermione's help," countered Harry, now causing his girlfriend to slightly blush.
"You're the one who read the book."
"Following the schedule you made for me." argued Harry with a smile.
"Anyway," stated Adam Granger. "You've both worked very hard this summer and we decided to reward you with a trip to an amusement park."
Harry's eyes lighted up, "Really? I've heard of those, but whenever the Dursleys took Dudley to one, they'd leave me with Mrs. Figg and her cats."
Mrs. Granger sighed. "I can't believe anyone could be that cruel to their own nephew!" She then took a deep breath. "Well, thankfully you don't have to deal with them anymore."
Not long after, Harry found himself inside 'The Enchanted Earth,' a magically themed amusement park. The first thing Harry saw was a merry-go-round with muggle representations of magical beasts to ride.
Hermione pointed them out to her parents. "Mum, Dad, do you see those mythical creatures on the merry-go-round?"
"Of course, dear," replied her mother.
"Every one of them exists," Harry declared, "although some of them, like the mermaids and hippogriffs, look very different than this ride."
"But the unicorns and centaurs look almost exactly like the ones on the ride."
"Hermione told us that last year a hippogriff attacked a student, er, Malfoy, if I remember right," replied Mr. Granger.
"He deserved it!" exclaimed Harry. "He wouldn't pay attention in class. And then he faked that it was a lot worse than it really was."
"You don't necessarily know he was faking," countered Mrs. Granger.
"Yes, we do," argued Hermione. "When the teachers weren't looking, he'd elbow smaller kids out of his way with his supposedly bad arm. Harry's had much more serious injuries and always tried to pretend they weren't as bad as they were. He hates the attention they bring, while Malfoy loves getting the attention."
"According to the letters we've received, you have gotten a lot of injuries," agreed Mrs. Granger.
"They weren't so bad," responded Harry.
"See what I mean?" asked Hermione.
"The only times I get hurt is when someone interferes with a quidditch match, like the dementors last year or the stray bludger the year before that. Well, that and when I face Voldemort."
"You really shouldn't go after dark wizards," scolded Adam. "You should leave it to other people."
Harry hung down his head. "That's not even an option anymore."
"What does that mean?" asked Marissa.
"Well, er, Harry, should I tell them?" asked Hermione.
"I suppose so. They know occlumancy, so they can keep it secret."
Hermione led them to a secluded spot away from other people. When she was sure no one could overhear, she explained, "We found out yesterday that Harry is prophesied to be the only one who can defeat Voldemort, and that one of them is destined to kill the other. That's the reason Voldemort attacked him as a baby."
"Wow, that's a lot to swallow," replied Adam. "How did you find out?"
"I recently got a box that belonged to my mother. I think I told you about it." They nodded. "Anyway, one of the things in it was a letter from my mother. She said that I should demand that Dumbledore tell me about the prophecy, so yesterday Sirius, Hermione, and I went to his office and did just that."
"He's known all this time?" asked Marissa. "Why didn't he tell you sooner?"
"He wanted to wait until Voldemort killed me to say anything," answered Harry disgustedly.
"That's not true!" corrected Hermione. "He just wanted to wait until you're older."
"I faced Voldemort when I was eleven years old," and when I recovered, I asked him why Voldemort wanted to kill me. He refused to answer. I was more in shock yesterday than anything, but now that I've had more time to think about it, I am angry at him."
"Well," responded Adam, "We can't do anything about that now, so I suggest we enjoy this day."
Harry smiled. "That's a good idea. Sirius and Professor Lupin are supposed to be making a training schedule for me to prepare to face Voldemort, and they've warned me that it starts tomorrow. They're letting me off on my birthday and for the quidditch world cup, but aside from that, I'm gonna have to spend time training every day. So this is my last day before it begins, and I should take advantage of it."
"Harry," corrected Hermione, "you forgot to mention that I'm joining your training."
"What?" asked both Mr. and Mrs. Granger together.
"Believe me, I don't want Hermione in danger," explained Harry. "If I have any choice in the matter, she won't be fighting any dark wizards. But she pointed out yesterday that since we're dating, that could put her in danger."
"And I absolutely refused to let him break up with me when he thought of it!"
Harry smiled at that. "So anyway, if she's properly trained, then she'll have a much better chance of survival if she does get attacked."
Hermione's father took a deep breath as he grabbed his wife's hand while facing Hermione. "I don't like the idea of you in danger, but I suppose I couldn't break you two up, even if I wanted to." Then he faced Harry. "Harry, I trust you to do your best to protect her, but as a father I had to realize a long time ago that, as much as I want to, I can't always protect my girl, and I doubt you'll always be able to do that, either." He then turned back to his daughter. "It's a good idea to train so that you'll be able to protect yourself if you have to, but don't go looking for trouble."
"We won't," promised Harry.
"Well then, I suggest we get on one of the roller coasters before the day is over."
The first ride they went on was called, "The Broomstick." It was a particularly scary one that had a train that had several rows with two seats side by side that looked like brooms (except for the safety device that strapped you in). While they were in line, Harry remarked, "It'll be just like a game of Quidditch! It even looks like they have a few Wronski feints on the track, along with a lot of loops. It seems like they're moving faster than my firebolt!"
After they'd gone on several rides, they stopped and got some lunch. Then the Grangers let Harry and Hermione wander around the park alone for a few hours, enjoying each other's company, as well as the rides. At one point they stopped at the gift shop, and Harry bought himself, Hermione, and her parents a t-shirt that said, 'I rode the Broomstick at Enchanted Earth.'
Eventually, they met back up with Hermione's parents, and they all decided to go on the bumper cars, where Harry and Hermione joined together against her parents, until Harry decided to go against Hermione as well, which caused her to fake anger until she persuaded her parents to turn on their new ally. In the end, Harry found himself trapped in a corner unable to drive his bumper car anywhere because of the three Grangers that were guarding him.
On the way home, they stopped by a restaurant, where Harry thanked them for everything. When they got to the Granger's house, Harry told them all goodbye and reminded Hermione to floo to his house at eight o'clock to start training.
Chapter 15 — Training Begins
The next morning, upon hearing his alarm clock start playing a cd, Harry woke up to find his laptop on his chest with a starfield simulation screensaver in progress. He pushed a button to see that he had been about half way through his animagus book when he fell asleep. The program they used to view books on the computers allowed him to save where he was in the book, like a bookmark, so he wouldn't lose his spot.
He glanced at the time displayed on the bottom right of the screen to see that it was now seven o'clock. He turned off the laptop, and put it on his desk, and then turned off his alarm clock. He then took a quick shower, after which he put on a pair of shorts and his new "Broomstick" t-shirt he'd acquired at 'The Enchanted Earth' amusement park the previous day. He still had about forty minutes before training was to begin. He made his way downstairs to find Dobby making his usual appearance.
"Good morning, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby is happy to be seeing you this morning!"
"Good morning, Dobby," replied Harry.
"What is Harry Potter, sir, wanting for breakfast?"
"French toast and bacon."
"Right away, sir," promised Dobby. Then he snapped his fingers and disappeared.
Before Dobby returned with Harry's breakfast, Sirius came walking down the stairs with a smile on his face. "Morning, pup!"
"Morning, Padfoot."
"Are you ready to start your training?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Moony will be here soon to help," remarked Sirius.
"That's great!" exclaimed Harry.
Sirius looked determinedly at Harry. "You know, he hasn't had it so easy with his 'furry little problem.' I know last year and thankfully this year he's had a job teaching, but he didn't have a job for a long time before then."
"Er, I know that."
"He's doing us a big favor by helping with the training."
"Yes, he is," agreed Harry, not sure of where Sirius was going with this.
"Right now, he's renting a place for the summer and I thought it would be a good idea to invite him stay in one of the rooms here, instead," stated Sirius.
Harry looked around. "Well, we certainly do have enough space."
"So, we're agreed?" asked Sirius. "I can invite him today?"
"Well, as long there's a backup plan for dealing with his furry little problem, in case something goes wrong and he doesn't drink his potion, then I don't see any problem with it."
Sirius grinned. "It wouldn't be good to have a werewolf running loose around Potter Manor, would it? Don't worry. He's got a cage at his place that he can move into his room immediately."
"Okay. Invite him."
"Great!"
At that moment, Dobby returned with Harry's breakfast. While Harry started eating, Dobby took Sirius' order and returned with it shortly thereafter. Just as Harry finished his breakfast, they heard someone coming out of the fireplace. Harry got up to greet his guest.
"Good morning, Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, coming over to give him a quick kiss. She was dressed very much like him, with shorts and her new "Broomstick" t-shirt. Her hair was in a ponytail, which was a bit unusual for her.
Harry commented, "I see you've got your hair different, today."
Hermione turned slightly pink. "I'm not sure exactly what the training will consist of, so I wanted to make sure my hair wouldn't get in the way."
"It looks nice."
She turned a bit redder. "Thanks. Is Professor Lupin here yet?"
"No, but he should arrive any minute. Sirius and I are gonna invite him to move in for the summer."
"That's great! That should be a big help to him! You certainly have the room."
At that moment, the fireplace was momentarily engulfed in green flames as Professor Lupin arrived. "Hello, Harry, Hermione!" he greeted cheerfully. "How are you?"
"We're fine, Professor," answered Hermione. "How are you?"
"We're not in school. You both can call me Remus, or Moony."
"Thanks, Moony!" responded Harry. "Sirius should be about finished with breakfast by now. Then we can start the training."
"Actually," came Sirius' voice from behind a door that began opening, "Sirius is finished. Good morning, Moony."
"Morning, Padfoot. What do you think? Shall we go to the exercise room?"
"Sounds like a good idea to me."
They walked into the exercise room, which looked like an average gym. It consisted of one full-size basketball court, complete with hoops, as well as extra space that held a few exercise machines that Harry did not remember being there before.
Moony walked to the middle of the basketball court. "I thought we'd start off with an hour of physical exercise. Most Death Eaters are so spoiled using spells for everything that they don't even know what running is. You seem to be in good shape, but we want to make sure. In a week or two, once we're sure you're both in shape, we'll add muggle fighting techniques to the workout. For now, we'll concentrate on building up your strength and endurance. To start with, we'll do some stretches."
A grueling and difficult hour later, after stretching, running laps, lifting weights, and many other forms of torture, er, exercise, all four of them went to different bathrooms and took a much needed shower. 'At least we're all doing the same exercises,' thought Harry to himself. He could see that it was at least as hard on the adults as it was on Hermione and himself. They all found themselves back in the torture chamber fifteen minutes after they'd left.
"Now, we'll practice fighting with magic," Lupin instructed. "Get your wands at the ready." They pulled their wands out of the invisible wrist holsters Sirius had picked up the day before. Lupin then taught them several offensive and defensive spells commonly used in combat for half an hour, starting with expelliarmus and ending with the protego shield.
They then started dueling. It was Harry against Sirius and Hermione against Remus. Within ten minutes, both Harry and Hermione were on the ground. Their partners helped them get up, and then Sirius remarked, "You both actually did well for your first duel against fully trained wizards. Now, let's talk about how we beat you." They spent the next half hour discussing their specific duels and dueling strategy. They then dueled the same partners, and this time both teens lasted fifteen minutes before being beaten. They then switched to have Hermione face Sirius while Harry faced Remus. Ten minutes later, the teens were both stunned and on the floor. Sirius explained, "You both got used to one particular opponent. You did do very well for your age, but you'll need to be ready to face anyone."
"As Sirius said," agreed Moony, "you both did remarkably well, but we want to be realistic. There's a real possibility that you'll end up fighting Death Eaters who are at least as skilled as Padfoot and myself. We're holding back curses that would hurt you, but Death Eaters won't hold them back. They wouldn't think twice about killing you. As useful as the protego shield is, you need to make sure you physically dodge every spell, because spells like the death curse will go right through your shields. You should still raise the shield anyway, just in case you don't move quickly enough. Another thing I want you to practice on your own is nonverbal magic. It's very difficult, and a lot of Death Eaters can't do it, but some of them can. Voldemort himself certainly can."
"Er," replied Harry. "I don't want to sound stupid, but what's nonverbal magic?"
Sirius smiled while Hermione frowned. Lupin answered, "Nonverbal magic is when you cast a spell without saying the words."
"Like when I blew up my Aunt Marge?" asked Harry.
"Yes," responded Lupin. "I heard about that. I'm guessing that you didn't use a wand, either."
"Er, now that you mention it," answered Harry, "I didn't. How is that possible?"
"Everyone can do wandless magic," explained Lupin calmly. "That's how almost all accidental magic occurs for children. A wand helps you focus your magic. The more complex the spell, the harder it is to do without a wand." Lupin then looked thoughtful for a moment. "If you could learn some wandless magic, it would certainly be a great tactical advantage if you dropped your wand.
"One good wandless spell to learn would be how to summon your wand. We'll eventually work on wandless magic as well, but not before you've mastered nonverbal spell casting. If we can get you guys able to duel successfully with nonverbal wandless magic, you'll be practically unstoppable. If you want to practice nonverbal spells on your own, I'd suggest trying it with simple first year spells. If you master them, go on to second year, and then third."
"All right," agreed Hermione, with a determined look on her face.
"Well, then," said Lupin, "I think I should be headed home."
"Actually," countered Sirius. "Harry and I were talking this morning, and we feel that it would be a lot easier for training if you moved into one of the empty bedrooms."
Lupin grinned at them, but replied, "Oh no, guys. I know what you're doing, and I appreciate it, but I can't..."
"This house has tons of empty bedrooms," Sirius pointed out. "There's no point in wasting all that space. What's the value in renting a place just for the summer when there's plenty of room for you here?"
"I don't want to impose..." answered Lupin.
"You're not imposing, Moony," insisted Harry. "You're doing Hermione and me a great favor by training us. It may very well save our lives! This is the least we can do, and I won't take no for an answer!"
Lupin shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess I have no choice, then. Sirius, why don't you help me get my stuff?"
"We'll help too..." volunteered Hermione, who had stayed out of the discussion so far, since it wasn't her home.
"That won't be necessary," replied Sirius. "We can do it a lot faster magically, and you're not allowed to do magic. You'll just be in the way. Hermione, I assume your parents are at work." She nodded. "Then I suppose we should take you with us."
Lupin smiled and suggested, "Why don't you bring along those laptops of yours that Sirius told me about yesterday and play some games on them while Padfoot and I pack?"
Chapter 16 — Practicing Nonverbal Magic
The next morning, Harry woke up at seven o'clock again, although this time he'd turned off his laptop before he went to sleep. He showered and went downstairs to find Lupin already sitting at the table. Harry greeted him, "Good morning, Moony."
"Oh, good morning, Harry. I didn't expect you to be up yet."
"I get up at seven every morning now since..."
"Good morning Harry Potter, sir! What can Dobby be getting Harry Potter, sir, for breakfast?"
After Harry had ordered breakfast and Dobby disappeared, an owl flew in the window carrying the latest Daily Prophet to Remus Lupin. After he'd paid the owl, he unrolled the paper. As he read the front page, it appeared to Harry that Lupin's eyes bulged out and his face gave a half smile. "Well," Lupin commented, "I guess we won't have to worry about Wormtail anymore." Lupin then handed the paper to Harry.
Peter Pettigrew Dead!
Peter Pettigrew, the fugitive who had betrayed James and Lily Potter to You-Know-Who thirteen years ago, is finally dead. He was caught by Bertha Jorkins of the Department of Games and Sports. "I was on vacation and in a pub when Pettigrew came up to me to talk. I immediately recognized him from the pictures that the Ministry distributed to all of its personnel when he escaped. I turned my wand on him, and he turned into a rat." Pettigrew tried fleeing the scene when a cat that belonged to the owner caught him and clawed the rat's neck, which caused almost immediate death. As soon as he was dead, the rat reverted to its original form of the traitor, Peter Pettigrew.
The article went on to describe the details of when and where it happened, but the bottom line was that Pettigrew was now history. "Wow," replied Harry. "I guess we don't have to worry about him helping Voldemort."
"I see you get the paper, too," remarked Sirius as he walked into the dining room. "Can you imagine," he asked with a grin, "A Death Eater killed by a cat!"
"That's what Ron thought Crookshanks did," added Harry, chuckling.
"Somehow, it's fitting," commented Remus.
"That cat made the world a better place," concluded Sirius with a smile.
Not long after, Hermione showed up at the house with yet another copy of the prophet. The only comment she had to add was, "Too bad it wasn't Crookshanks. He was very disappointed that he's lost his chance." Everyone laughed at that.
After another grueling training session, Harry and Hermione began practicing nonverbal spells. Harry was pointing his wand at a quill concentrating on the words, "Wingardium Leviosa," but all his feather would do is turn around. Hermione's feather, on the other hand, was at least five feet above the desk. "How do you do it?" demanded Harry, doing his best not to sound irritated with his girlfriend.
"I know, now you can't stand me," replied Hermione with a grin, imitating Ron from their first year when they'd first learned the spell, "I'm a nightmare, honestly."
Harry chuckled. "You are not a nightmare! You're my dream come true."
She blushed a bit. "I think your problem is that you're concentrating on the words instead of intent. Remember that whenever you've used nonverbal magic, you were not thinking of magic words, only what you wanted to happen." She then smirked. "Try it again, Hero. I'll give you one kiss for every foot your feather rises."
Harry put a very serious look on his face as he concentrated on the feather rising from the desk. He also thought the words, but that wasn't his main focus. He smiled as the feather started rising, and concentrated even harder, causing it to rise above her feather. He then got another idea, and concentrated on the feather going out the window where both he and Hermione watched it float into the sky and out of their range of vision. Harry smirked at his girlfriend. "Well, Mine, how many feet would you say the feather floated?"
Her face flushed, but she gazed admiringly at Harry. "Dozens," she answered as she approached him and started paying her debt.
A few minutes later, Sirius and Lupin walked into the room to find the young couple passionately snogging on a couch. They looked at each other and grinned. Each of them silently conjured a bucket of water, and they snuck to either side of the couch. Sirius used his fingers to show one-two-three-now. The couple broke apart immediately as they found themselves drenched with the two remaining Marauders laughing their heads off.
"Padfoot, Moony, I, I'll get you back..." shouted Harry as he tried to stop himself from laughing with them.
Hermione, however, appeared mortified, and hid her red face in her hands as she dripped water all over the floor. As soon as Harry saw that, he put his arms around her waist and assured her, "They didn't mean any harm, Hermione. It was just a joke."
"They, they must think I'm a, a..."
"No, Hermione," interrupted Sirius. "We do not think badly of you! It was just a prank! I actually think you're very good for Harry." Sirius then performed a drying spell on Hermione while Lupin did the same with Harry. Hermione half-smiled and stated, "I should probably be headed home."
"Hermione, you do not have to leave," replied Harry.
"I, er, it really is about time I was headed home." She then lightly kissed Harry on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Harry."
After she flooed away, Harry glared at the Marauders.
"Honestly, Harry, we didn't want her to leave," pleaded Lupin. Harry remained silent.
"We're sorry," added Sirius, "But I do think that this would be a good time to have a talk about girls." Lupin very discreetly left the room while Harry's expression changed from anger to embarrassment.
An hour later, Harry walked up the stairs into his room with his mind spinning, even more embarrassed than before, yet educated by Sirius in ways that the Dursleys never would have done.
-MITAB-
In the meantime, Hermione emerged from the fireplace in her home mortified. Tears had started falling from her eyes. She started making her way toward her bedroom, hoping not to see any of her parents. She walked up the stairs toward her room, but was stopped when she heard her mother call her name. "I'm busy," she called down the stairs as she closed herself in her room. She flopped herself onto her bed in time to hear her mother open her door.
"What's wrong, Hermione?"
"Nothing," she answered.
"Then why are you crying? Did you have a fight with Harry?"
"No, it's just that...Never mind; it's not important."
"It's apparently important to you, honey."
"It's just that Sirius and Remus caught Harry and I, er, well, snogging, and well, I was embarrassed. I know it's silly, but..."
"You're confused right now, Hermione, and you're feeling things that make you uncomfortable. You care so much for Harry, but you're wondering if you're going too fast or too slow. It terribly mortified you when other people caught you."
"Yes, mum," agreed Hermione.
Marissa put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We've never had that talk, have we?"
-MITAB-
The next day, when Hermione came over for training, she and Harry kept glancing shyly at each other. When training was over, they found themselves alone in the living room.
Harry looked down at the floor. "Er, Hermione, about yesterday..."
"I'm sorry that I left that way," she interrupted. "I wasn't mad at you or even Sirius and Lupin. I was embarrassed at being caught, er..."
"Snogging me senseless?" supplied Harry.
"Er, yes," agreed Hermione. "When I got home, my mum caught me crying, and when she found out what was bothering me, she, well, talked to me about relationships and all that kind of things."
Harry smiled weakly, "Sirius gave me that talk, too, after you left."
"One of the things that my mum suggested was that we set boundaries now, before we go further than we intend."
"Oh, er, boundaries. Like whether you want to snog anymore." Harry took a deep breath. "I don't want to do anything you're uncomfortable with, Hermione. I don't want you to feel pressured by me. If that's how you felt yesterday, I'm very sorry, and I promise it won't happen again, if you'll forgive me."
Hermione chuckled slightly. "You weren't pressuring me, Hero. We were both stumbling along. That's the furthest either of us has gone."
Harry smiled shyly. "So, you don't want to go that far anymore, Mine."
Hermione's cheeks went a little red. "I, er, didn't say that. Well, as a matter of fact, I would like to continue snogging like that, but I don't want to go any further than that for a while. That is, if you're comfortable with it."
Harry grinned. "That's fine with me, but first, I think we should practice more nonverbal magic so that I can earn more snogs from you.
Chapter 17 — Magic, Brooms, and Birthdays
The next day, training found Harry and Hermione outside flying around the quidditch pitch on broomsticks to learn defensive flying. In other words, they were being taught how to fly so that someone who's chasing you can't hit you with a spell. Harry and Sirius were on Firebolts, while Lupin and Hermione were on Cleansweeps that Sirius was kind enough to provide. He'd bought enough brooms so that if they ever had enough people over, they could have a full quidditch game. The collection consisted of twelve Cleansweeps and his and Harry's Firebolts, as well as a set of quidditch balls.
Harry had spent a few hours with Hermione the previous evening helping her master basic riding skills (after their nonverbal magic and snogging sessions). She always had a hard time controlling her broom, so Harry felt it would be better for her to have practice flying beforehand. They also had the important issue of retaliation for the prank the Marauders had pulled on them a few days before to discuss. They planned the prank to occur during this training session.
"Hermione," complimented Lupin, "You're actually doing a lot better than I thought you would. Most people who aren't on the quidditch team, especially the intellectual ones, aren't that good at flying."
She chuckled, "You mean bookworms like me, don't you, Moony?"
"Er, well," admitted Moony. "I guess you could..."
"Ouch!" yelled Hermione, as Sirius got her with a shot that gave her a very light jolt.
"The first rule of defensive flying," explained Sirius with a smirk, "is to not get distracted."
She stuck out her tongue at Sirius while Harry yelled, "That wasn't fair. You were supposed to be after me, while Lupin was after her!"
A serious look came on both Padfoot and Moony's face as Moony replied, "Do you think the Death Eaters will play fair? Sirius only gave her a jolt, but it could just as easily been a killing curse."
"I guess you're right," admitted Hermione. "I've got to pay attention to everything that's going on around me."
"Exactly," agreed Sirius.
They continued practicing for about an hour. Harry got a few shots at both Lupin and Sirius, while avoiding getting hit at all. He figured that was due to his quidditch reflexes, always avoiding the bludgers. Hermione, on the other hand, couldn't get one shot to make contact with their opponents, but did manage to avoid getting hit again.
She winked quickly at Harry, who winked back. Harry shouted out at the Marauders, "How about if we practice me simply trying to escape you?"
Sirius and Moony looked at each other for a moment, and then Sirius replied, "All right. Go."
Harry flew off around the yard avoiding them as best he could, which was very good. He kept weaving around avoiding all their shots while Hermione quietly made her way toward the pool. Harry flew under the pavilion, with them following behind. When he got out he moved the broom straight up and over the pavilion while his pursuers were still following, taking shots whenever they could, which wasn't often at the velocity Harry made them pursue.
Harry flew over the pool, and Hermione, who was now on the ground, started a spell. As the Marauders approached the center of the pool, a cyclone of water came up out of the pool, surrounding them, and pulling them and their brooms into the water. Hermione walked up to the edge of the pool laughing while Harry flew down next to her. He explained to the two men, who were now swimming toward the surface, "You've got to pay attention to everything that's going on around you."
"You never know when you're going to be ambushed," finished Hermione. Everyone, even the victims, burst out laughing.
"That's one way to catch Death Eaters!" replied Sirius as he climbed up out of the pool. While Lupin was pulling himself out of the water, Harry nonverbally dried Sirius off, and then Hermione did the same for Lupin. "Wow!" exclaimed Sirius, "I guess you have been practicing more than just snogging!" Harry and Hermione both blushed slightly.
"Not only that, but we've both finished that book," responded Hermione defiantly.
Sirius smiled, "Good! We'll talk about that later. Right now, I'd like to see how much nonverbal magic you can perform."
They then gave demonstrations of various spells, starting with Wingardium Leviosa and ending with the summoning charm (which Hermione insisted on teaching Harry after she found out he didn't know it). When Harry had silently summoned his new photo album from his room, the Marauders both looked at him in surprise. Sirius asked, "Wasn't that in your room?"
"Of course," he answered, "Didn't you see it come out my window?"
"Er, no," Lupin replied. "We weren't looking toward the house. We were expecting you to summon something closer. Hermione, can you summon things that far away?" She then summoned Harry's pillow from his bed.
"So what?" asked Harry.
"Most people your age have a hard time summoning something that far verbally. Have you tried any wandless magic yet?" asked Sirius.
"No," both Hermione and Harry replied.
"I'd suggest you try it now," replied Lupin. "Put down your wands and try levitating one of these chairs nonverbally," he instructed, motioning toward the chairs surrounding the pool.
Instinctively, each held out a hand toward the chairs they were aiming at, and almost immediately, both of them started to float. Hermione's went about six feet in the air, while Harry's went about eight feet. The Marauders just stood there with their mouths hanging open until both of the teenagers lowered the chairs to the ground.
"Why haven't you tried nonverbal spells in our combat?" asked Sirius.
"We haven't practiced those types of spells yet, and didn't want to leave ourselves vulnerable if it didn't work," explained Hermione.
"Well," announced Lupin. "I suggest you practice it tonight so that you can try it tomorrow. Also, see if you can fight with wandless magic. You know, stunning spells or anything."
-MITAB-
In the week or so that followed, Harry and Hermione began using nonverbal spells in combat training. At first, they were doing a bit worse than they had been when they used verbal magic, but within a few days, they finally beat Sirius and Remus. After they'd won two days in a row, Sirius suggested that Harry and Hermione start using wandless magic, which they'd continued practicing every afternoon. It took three days of losing badly to the Marauders before they'd finally gotten up to a competitive level. They'd decided not to let anyone else except possibly Dumbledore know about their nonverbal and wandless magic skills.
They also practiced defensive flying every day with the Marauders, who never flew above the pool again. Harry was amazed at how Hermione improved once she'd gotten over her initial fear of heights. He imagined that she probably could make a good chaser now.
Sirius and Remus had answered every question that the teenagers had about Animagus transformation. Since both Sirius and Lupin would be at Hogwarts, it was decided that they could take the transformation potion the Saturday after it was completed. Lupin predicted, "At the rate you're learning everything else, I wouldn't be surprised if you two manage to make your first transformation by Christmas," which greatly pleased the young couple.
On July 31st, Harry woke up to find no owls bearing gifts for him. He walked down to breakfast like any other morning, and was treated no differently by Sirius or Remus. When Hermione came at eight, she gave him her usual 'Good morning' kiss, but didn't act any differently. He was beginning to wonder if everyone had forgotten that this was his birthday. They started their morning exercise, and went on to their combat training. Harry and Hermione managed their first stalemate with the Marauders since they began using wandless magic. "Whew," remarked Sirius. "I thought you were gonna win that. I know we're in for it tomorrow."
"You two really were amazing," agreed Lupin. "Not to get you conceited, but right now you could probably take out half of the Death Eaters we've ever seen, at least in a semi-fair fight."
"Just remember that the Death Eaters don't fight fair, and there are still a lot that you couldn't beat, not to mention Voldemort himself, if and when he comes back."
"We know," admitted Harry and Hermione together.
"By the way, pup," added Sirius, "Happy birthday." Harry smiled upon hearing that someone remembered.
"Happy birthday, Harry," said Lupin and Hermione together. Hermione then gave Harry a quick kiss while Lupin and Black looked the other way.
"We wanted to throw you a surprise party," explained Sirius, "but we couldn't let anybody in here without you knowing about it."
"We invited some people to floo here in an hour for a party," added a nervous Hermione, "but we need you to tell Julius to let them in, er, if you don't mind." She then pulled a list out of her pocket and handed it to Harry.
He smiled and looked down the list. He responded, "I don't mind," and then muttered something like "I suppose we have to let Ron come if we let Fred, George, and Ginny. Although, it would be funny to have him stuck in limbo until the party's over." The list included Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley, as well as Lee Jordon, Lavender Brown, Parvati and Padma (because Parvati asked if her sister from Ravenclaw could come) Patil, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnegan. "I'll head to the library now to take care of this and then clean up."
He walked into the library and called out, "Julius."
"Yes, Harry? It's good to see you. Isn't today your fourteenth birthday?"
"Yes it is, Julius," he answered, grinning as he approached the portrait of his multi-great grandfather.
"Well, then," the portrait replied with a big smile on his face, "Happy Birthday!"
"Thanks, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. The others are throwing me a party."
Julius' portrait grinned. "Yes, they told me about that. I told them that you're the only one who can allow the guests access. This way, no one can surprise you. Your father liked that aspect of the security system."
Harry grinned. "So do I. I was wondering if I could just allow them access today."
"I see, so that they can come to your party, but not come when you don't want them to."
"Exactly," agreed Harry. "I don't want to be rude, but I want to limit the number of people with access to the house."
"We can do that. As I understand it, all the guests will be flooing in."
"That's right," replied Harry, nodding.
"Just read me the list, and I'll grant them access to the floo until midnight tonight."
Harry smiled broadly. "That sounds perfect."
-MITAB-
The first ones to arrive were the Weasleys. Fred, George, and Ron were looking around the place while Ginny rushed up and gave Harry a quick hug while saying, "Happy birthday, Harry!" Her cheeks turned red as she backed away and began looking around the house. Harry didn't notice the appraising look that Hermione gave the red-haired girl.
"Yeah, Happy birthday!" greeted Fred and George together as Dobby took their gifts.
"Er, Happy birthday," said Ron, with his head down.
"Thanks, Ron," replied Harry, deciding he didn't want to spend his birthday acting awkward around Ron. "And thanks for coming."
"Sure," responded Ron. "Any chance to get away from the Burrow. I heard you have a real quidditch pitch here."
"Yeah," answered Harry enthusiastically. "There should be enough people here for a game of quidditch!"
"We didn't bring any brooms," explained Ron. "Maybe I can go and..."
"No need, we've got enough! Sirius bought a bunch of Cleansweeps."
"Must be nice to be able to do that," muttered Ron.
"Look, Ron," pleaded Harry, "Can we just enjoy the day? I hope they told you to bring swimming trunks."
"Yeah," replied Ron, sounding a little happier. "How big is your pool?"
Within fifteen minutes, the rest of the guests had arrived, and they quickly migrated outside for a game of quidditch. Lupin was the referee and Sirius was playing. Fred and George were beaters for opposite teams, because it was felt that it wouldn't be fair to have them together. The first team had Harry as seeker, George and Neville as beaters, Seamus, Parvati, and Dean as chasers, and Ron as keeper. The other team had Ginny as seeker (no one else wanted to go against Harry, and Sirius let the seeker use his Firebolt, in hopes of humiliating Hogwarts' famous seeker), Fred and Lee as beaters, Padma, Hermione, and Lavender as chasers, and Sirius as keeper.
In the beginning of the game, Harry was pleased while everyone else was surprised to find that Hermione was actually a pretty good chaser now that she knew how to fly properly. During the game, while Hermione had the Quaffle and was headed toward the goal, Padma asked, "How did you get to be good at quidditch?"
Hermione answered simply, "Harry's been teaching me," with a smile.
"I'll bet that's not all he's been teaching you." replied Parvati, with a suggestive tone, causing Hermione to blush as the other girl took the opportunity to steal the Quaffle from her.
In the meantime, Harry noticed that Ginny was marking him, so he started diving toward the ground as fast as he could. As he pulled up, he noticed that Ginny was still where she had been, with a smirk on her face. He flew back up to her and she winked at him and explained, "Harry, I've watched every match you've played in since I started at Hogwarts, so I know when you're faking seeing the snitch. I've never understood why the other seekers are always fooled by you."
The game went on and Hermione was thrilled when she managed to score a goal on Ron, bringing her team ahead of Harry's — 160 to 150. Ron cursed loudly and apologized when he saw that everyone was looking at him.
At that moment, Harry saw the snitch for real. It was closer to Ginny than to him. He knew he couldn't fake her out to lure her away from the snitch, and he also knew it was a matter of seconds before she'd spot it herself. He briefly thought of summoning it, but figured that would be a very Slytherin thing to do. Besides, he figured Remus (or Sirius for that matter), who was judging this match, would catch him it doing it and accuse him of cheating.
He decided to just go as fast as he could, hoping his experience on a Firebolt would help him. Within a second, the redheaded girl was after the tiny winged ball too, and they were flying neck-in-neck for about ten seconds as they closed in on it. They both reached their hands out, and Harry was happy to see that his arm was longer than Ginny's, which got his hand around the snitch a half-second before Ginny's hand closed around his. He heard her swear under her breath as they separated moments later.
Everyone, even Harry, praised Ginny's performance as seeker. When Harry complimented her, she blushed, but when her brothers did, she yelled rather crossly, "Maybe next time you play quidditch, you'll let me join the game!"
After the quidditch match, everybody went inside to change into their swimsuits to try out Harry's pool. Harry and Hermione had previously agreed to take off their protective jewelry whenever they went swimming. Harry was already in the water when Ginny came walking up to the edge and asked, "Harry, what do you think of my new swimsuit?"
Harry gulped as he looked up to see an incredibly revealing bikini showing him that Ginny was not an eleven-year-old girl anymore. "Er, it's, well, fine. I mean nice," he managed, glad he was submerged in the cold water up to his head.
"Thanks," Ginny replied with a smile. He saw her expression change to a frown as she looked behind him. She then turned and walked to the other side of the pool.
Harry turned around and saw Hermione glaring in the direction of Ginny, who was now in the water. He swam up to where she was and put his arms around her. He then asked, "Is there something wrong?"
Hermione smirked and answered, "That depends on what you think of Ginny."
He looked confused. "What? You don't think that we..."
"Never mind," interrupted Hermione, and she gave him a very good kiss right there in the pool, earning catcalls from several people. She could swear she'd heard some of the girls say something about all of them getting to kiss the birthday boy. Harry never saw the glare Ginny was giving them, but Hermione did for a second as they separated. She whispered into his ear, "Hero, I need to go somewhere for a minute. I'll be right back," and kissed him one more time. He saw her whisper something to Ginny, and then they both got out of the pool. He turned around and began talking to Neville.
-MITAB-
Hermione whispered determinately into Ginny's ear, "Ginny, we need to talk, now!"
Reluctantly, Ginny followed. When they were far enough away from everybody, Ginny innocently asked, "What's this all about?"
Hermione glared at the other girl. "I know what you're trying to do. It won't work, so I suggest you give up before you end up losing friends."
Ginny looked uncomfortable. "Er, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play dumb with me! I've seen you flirting with Harry all day, and I've seen the way you've blushed whenever he's been nice to you." Ginny blushed. Hermione continued, "I understand you liking Harry, I obviously fancy him myself." Hermione then blushed a little. "Actually, we're in love, Ginny. Harry's not even aware that you've been making passes at him all day. He just thinks you're having a little fun." Ginny looked hurt.
"Listen, Gin, it's not that you're not pretty enough, because I know you're much prettier than me. He's not noticing any of the other girls there, and even though he disagrees, they're all prettier than me. I don't know why I'm the lucky girl who got him, but I am. It's not that you're not nice enough or somehow not good enough for him. It's just that Harry is in love with me, and I'm in love with him. That makes him unavailable." She could see Ginny's eyes filling with unshed tears. Hermione sighed. "We both want to be your friend, Ginny, because we both think you're a wonderful person. But you've got to accept that Harry and I are together, and that's not going to change."
Ginny's head was hung down. "I know. I see the way he looks at you, and wish it was me. I, he's so special, so, I don't know, great somehow. But he thinks he's just a regular person and tries to be nice to everyone, except maybe dark wizards like Tom. I mean, he saved my life when he hardly knew me. He's so brave..."
"I know, Ginny. Believe me, even though he claims he's the lucky one, I know the truth. He is without a doubt the most wonderful guy in the world."
Ginny took a deep breath. "I guess I have to accept that I'll never be more than his friend, but I should warn you." She smirked at the brunette. "I won't come between you two, but if you ever break up, I will go after him."
"Fair enough," agreed Hermione, smiling at the redhead, "since that's not gonna happen. We should get back to the pool."
-MITAB-
After another hour had passed, it was time for an early dinner, so Dobby brought food and drinks outside to the pavilion. After Remus and Sirius had dried off everyone (they decided not to tell anyone they could do magic at Potter Manor) and they changed back into their regular clothes, they all tucked in to American party foods, such as hamburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, pizza, and several other good things. To drink, they had both Pepsi and Coke products instead of pumpkin juice.
After dinner, Dobby apparated all the presents to the now clean table. Most of what Harry got was quidditch-related products, such as a broomstick-care kit and new seeker gloves. Remus and Sirius gave Harry advanced books on defense and potions respectively, although Sirius whispered to Harry that his laptop was also a birthday gift. Hermione had given him a book on advanced charms. When it was dark enough, Remus and Sirius put on a fireworks show with products they said were provided by the Weasley twins, who stood up and bowed to everyone upon being mentioned.
Not long after that, people started going home. Harry thanked everyone for coming, and made sure that everyone knew to tell him ahead of time if they were going to visit because of the security system. He didn't go into any details, because then he'd have to reveal that he was taking them all off of the 'welcome' list, and he wasn't certain how they'd feel about that.
A few minutes after the last guest left, Hermione walked up to him with a smile on her face, threw her arms around his waist, and kissed him. "I love you," she told him when she'd pulled back enough to look him in the eyes.
"I love you, too," he responded, kissing her again.
"I never gave you your real present."
"Really," he asked suggestively, causing his girlfriend to blush.
"Not that, silly," she replied, holding out her hand to wandlessly summon something. When a neatly wrapped box landed in her hands, she said, "This." She then handed him the box, which he eagerly opened to find — another box. Hermione burst out laughing.
"What?" asked Harry.
"The look on your face was worth all the trouble of wrapping it twice. Now, open that box."
"Fine," responded Harry, faking that he was mad. He finally got it open to reveal a black Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP, along with a dozen games. "Wow!" he exclaimed, with a smile on his face.
"I already charmed it to work with magic," she explained, grinning. "This plays more games than any other portable system out there. It's actually from my parents and me, but it was my idea."
"It's brilliant," Harry declared with a grin. He kissed her again and said, "I can honestly say this is the best birthday I've ever had!"
Chapter 18 — A New Ally
As the next few days passed, Harry and Hermione improved greatly. It took them a few days after the party to start winning wandlessly against Sirius and Remus. After they'd been beaten three days in a row, Sirius announced, "I think we need to make it tougher on you. We'll have to change things. I don't think you need us to watch you do your morning exercises anymore, so starting tomorrow, while one of you is exercising in another room, the other one will be facing the two of us alone. Then, you'll switch. I've also asked my cousin, Tonks, for help. She just finished training as an Auror last week."
Harry smiled brightly, "An auror!?"
"Yes," answered Sirius, returning Harry's smile. "She's agreed to come here on weekends to help with your training. That reminds me, you'll have to tell Julius to let her in."
"Okay," responded Harry, "Er, I think I'll need more than just the name 'Tonks' to tell Julius."
Sirius started to chuckle for a reason Harry couldn't fathom. "Tonks is her last name. That's what she likes to be called. She's a bit sensitive about her first name, and hexes anyone who uses it."
Harry and Hermione both were slightly amused at this concept. "Okay, we won't address her by her first name, but Harry needs the information to allow her entrance," explained Hermione.
"It's Nymphadora," said Lupin, "but you didn't hear that from us."
"Nymphadora?" repeated Harry, now chuckling.
"You shouldn't make fun of people's names, Harry," scolded Hermione sternly, although Harry could tell she was barely containing her own laughter.
"Okay," agreed Harry. "Nymphadora Tonks. I'll take care of that right away. How will she be arriving?"
"By floo the first time, and after that she'll be apparating."
-MITAB-
A few days later, Harry and Hermione found themselves being introduced to the young Auror. She had bright green hair, which surprised both teens.
"Wotcher. I see you're looking at my hair," remarked Tonks. "Maybe you'd like it better maroon. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and her hair changed colors.
Harry asked, "How did you..." but was interrupted by an astonished Hermione.
The brunette exclaimed, "You're a metamorphmagus! I read about them. They're very rare!"
"Sirius told me you were bright, Hermione."
Hermione blushed. "I just enjoy reading is all..."
"Whatever, Hermione," replied Harry. "You're the brightest witch of your age and you know it." Hermione's face reddened even more. "Since I'm not as bright as Hermione, I have to ask, what's a metamorphmagus?"
After Tonks had explained her abilities, she began to talk about her plans for their training. "Sirius and Remus said that they think you're in good enough shape to start learning the muggle fighting techniques, martial arts, they taught me in my training. They also said you're pretty good at dueling, and wanted to see if I could help you improve in that area, as well. Let's start with that. I'll duel you both individually to assess your skills. Harry, you go first."
When Harry stood in front of the young Auror, she asked, "Where's your wand?"
"Oh, er, don't tell anybody, but we don't duel with wands," answered a nervous sounding Harry.
"Wandless magic," replied a shocked Tonks. "Both of you?"
"They were destroying us in duels with their wands, so we got them to stop using them. It took them over a week before they started destroying us again," explained Sirius. "But what a wonderful week. Now, Remus and I can't beat them, even when it's two on one."
"So you called me here to fight some kids you can't beat together?" commented Tonks sarcastically, "Thanks a lot." She then winked at Harry to show she wasn't mad. "Remus, would you start the match?"
Within seconds, Harry found himself moving as fast as he could while the auror kept firing shot after shot at him. He had tried to move away from each blast, but knew that some had only been stopped by his shield. He knew he'd have to stay on the defensive against this opponent, and simply look for openings when he had the chance. After several minutes, both of them were sweating profusely. Harry had managed to get a few shots at the auror, but she'd dodged them all. Harry tried to come up with a strategy. Her shield was probably too strong to penetrate even if he could get a shot in, but what about the floor?
He pointed his hand toward her, and she instinctively moved out of the way, onto a piece of floor that broke loose, causing her to trip and fall. He saw her grip on her wand falter for a second. That was all it took for the wand to fly into Harry's hand. He pointed it at his opponent, but she raised her hands while panting, "I give. You don't have to stupefy me." Harry, while catching his breath himself, walked up to her and helped her up. He then looked at the floor, which instantly repaired itself. "You didn't point your hand at the floor to make it fix itself, and a minute ago, you were pointing your hand at me, but the floor a few feet away from me broke. How did you do that?"
Harry and Hermione both smiled. She explained, "Wandless magic has nothing to do with where our hands are pointing. We only move our hands out of habit."
"Well then," instructed the obviously impressed auror, "You should stop using your hands at all. The only reason I lasted as long as I did was because Harry was moving his hands, indicating his intention. If you don't move your hands at all, no one will know what you're doing. They won't even know it was you that did it! They'll be looking around for whoever cast the spell. I think the best use of our dueling time will be breaking you of that habit. Give me a few minutes to catch my breath, Hermione, and I'll duel you next."
They spent the next hour or so taking turns dueling Tonks, who was always able to hold her own until they stopped pointed their hands where they were aiming. After they took a break for the lunch Dobby prepared, Tonks announced, "Now we're going to start with the physical combat training, although I'd be surprised if anyone ever gets close enough to you two for you to use it."
"Nymphadora," countered Lupin, earning a glare from the young auror, "you know that Death Eaters don't fight fair. Harry and Hermione may find themselves greatly outnumbered, and be forced to use this training. That's one of the reasons their training has to be secret, so that anyone who wants to attack them will underestimate them."
"All right, all right. At least this is something I should be able to beat you two at, at least for now. By the way, Lupin, if you ever call me that again, I'll use you as a shield against these two."
After spending time showing them basic fighting moves, she had them practice first on the air, and then on each other. At first, Harry objected to fighting his girlfriend, but Hermione firmly stated, "I need this training! If you don't try to attack me, I won't be prepared to fight someone who's really trying to hurt me!" Tonks gave them specific things to practice during the week and, to Hermione's delight, a book on martial arts.
-MITAB-
A few days later, Harry was outside sitting near the pool while Hermione was swimming. He was playing on his Gameboy Advance, when an old owl Harry recognized as Errol, the Weasley's owl, flew into his hand, causing the small game system to fall out of his hand and into the pool."
"You stupid owl! Hermione, you want some roast owl for dinner tonight?"
"No," answered a smirking Hermione. "I'll get your toy."
"Won't it be ruined?" asked a concerned Harry.
"It would be if I hadn't thought to make the system and the games impervious before I gave them to you."
"The same thing you did to my glasses at that match where I fell?"
"Yes. Your broom was destroyed, your body was hurt, but your glasses were perfectly intact. I did the same thing to my laptop."
"Could you do that to mine?"
She sighed. "I suppose so, but I should make you do it yourself."
"Okay, we can summon it and you can show me how after I read the letter this bloody bird brought me."
Hermione got out of the water and wandlessly summoned Harry's Gameboy out of the water, and then his laptop out of the house while Harry read the note. Harry had a big smile on his face when he got through. "The note's from Ginny. Mr. Weasley got the tickets! We're going to the Quidditch World Cup!"