Chapter 11, Legilimency, Shaken Preconceptions. *******************Hogwarts****************************
September 21, 2004
5:30 am
"Damn it Mad-Eye, this is 2004, no one has to chase people on horses anymore, we have cars and brooms, dammit." Harry sputtered, as once again Moody thought it would be a great thing for Harry to do to end his morning combat training, after already practicing his spellcasting under stress for an hour straight, by running after him, while he was on his horse. I got to start getting to bed earlier, or maybe I can audit History of Magic so at least I can sleep during the day. Harry thought grimily as he jogged after Mad-Eye and his horse.
"But lad, what if you don't have a broom, and there is no gas for your car, after all I remember the seventies." Mad-Eye pulled up suddenly and without warning he pulled his sword from under his cloak and swung at Harry's head.
"Oh Shit" Harry muttered as he tumbled to his left out of Moody's reach. Moody chased Harry; he was remarkably quick for a one-legged man almost four times Harry's age. Harry ducked another swing and dove forward under a third, all the while looking around for something to even out the odds. Moody was keeping Harry so busy he couldn't aim a counter spell, and couldn't take the second to conjure his sword. Besides, they had run outside the wards of Hogwarts this morning. Wait, Harry thought as he snapped up a small log to block which Mad-Eye promptly cut in half. Looking around again, you screwed up Mad-Eye, we're back on the grounds. When in doubt cheat, "LUMOUS MAXIMA"
A sudden ball of light erupted from the end of Harry's wand, he didn't have time to aim, but he didn't need to for this. While Moody was blinded, Harry quickly incanted a second spell, this one more than evening the odds. "Appero Sword." As Mad-Eye swung blindly through the brightness, his steel met not air or flesh, but steel as old as the castle itself. CLANK. With a quick tap and a sudden reverse, Moody's blade went flying through the grass, and as his vision cleared, he could see the edge of Harry's sword splitting the morning daylight about an inch from his neck. "Give Alastor?" Harry grinned, slightly panting.
"Just seeing if you were awake, lad" Alastor Moody said chuckling. A squirrel chattered in a tree above him and his magic eye pivoted up to look at it while he continued to look at Harry with his normal one.
"And was I?" Harry asked, carefully not taking his eyes off Moody as he backed away and lowered his blade, just in case he wasn't done. He was however.
As the sun finished rising, and started to burn of the early morning mist, Mad-Eye gave a crooked smile and said, "Aye you were, head on back Harry, you won't be any more fun today, try not to get in trouble eh?"
"Ok Alastor" Harry watched him for a moment more then as he had backed off enough to run, just in case, "ENVESCO SWORD." The Sword of Gryffindor vanished in a flash, to return to Harry's trunk until needed. After a moment of walking back toward the castle, Mad-Eye at his side leading his horse back to the stables, "Alastor, do you do that with everyone you train?" Harry asked, curious to see what the Auror training causality rate was.
After a moment of contemplation Mad-Eye decided the truth was best, "No Harry, not usually, and even if then, not until later, especially not out where the dueling wards are not effective."
"Why me then?" Harry asked, a little nervously, as he contemplated that answer.
Mad-Eye shrugged slightly, "No choice lad, not enough time to bring you up slowly, normally in Auror training, you'd be taking administration classes, and prisoner control, and other crap you don't need yet, as it is you are doing straight magic, and combat. Between me, Albus, Remus and Tonks, and your native abilities you are probably at a second or third year equivalent to an Auror Cadet, at least with regards to your magic and combat skills, maybe much further depending on what we are talking about. It's experience and adaptability that you need more than anything now." Mad-Eye, stopped and petted his bay calmly for a moment on the nose then went back to it's midsection and loosened the saddle.
"But I haven't graduated yet" Harry objected.
"Harry, please, you can try to fool your teachers and yourself all you want, and if you tell them this I'll come after you, but. I remember, my sixth and seventh years here, they shouldn't have changed that much, but I've seen some of the stuff Dumbledore, and McGonagall and the others are planning on teaching your class this year and next. What your are learning now in classes, is beyond NEWTS on occasion in some of your classes, DADA alone never gets as far as Albus is planning for this year and next. Snape, and Minerva, and probably Flitwick too are also going to push your class, and it's all mostly because of you."
"ME?" Harry asked incredulously."
Mad-Eye nodded as he finished loosening his horse's saddle, "Dumbledore is upping the curriculum partially to give his other students a fighting chance, but you, and a few others like Granger were already far beyond any of the others. Did you not realize that between the two of you, you stunned or otherwise incapacitated more Death Eaters than anyone else at the ministry, except Dumbledore himself? You should have figured out by now that you could take the DADA, NEWT right now and pass it along with, most likely the Transfiguration and Charms and Potions. You might not get Os because you might not yet have covered some of the happy, feel-good stuff yet, but the other stuff would probably at least get you an E." Alastor replied matter-of-factly, as Harry looked at him stunned.
"And the sword and unarmed work, and the other stuff?" Harry queried.
Moody started walking off, but as he reached about twenty yards away he threw back, "Granger has the mindset, maybe the Weasleys and Longbottom too, but they need focus. She already has it for some reason. I'm moving her training up, she'll start soon, tell her, but not the rest." He vanished into the mist, leaving Harry alone with these revelations.
7:00 am
Harry had gone back up to Gryffindor tower after leaving Moody near the doors to the castle, his words ringing in his head. Harry didn't know what to believe, he still believed in his heart that the battle in the Ministry was a series of screw-ups on his part, he still believed somewhere in his heart that it was his fault Sirius had died, that Hermione, and Ron and Ginny and Neville and Luna, all had been injured in the fight because of him. Of all of them, Harry had probably been damaged the least, which might account for some of his guilt.
He had quickly showered, and headed to breakfast. As he walked down the length of the long Gryffindor table, in the Great Hall, he spotted all of his friends that had recently filled his thoughts with guilt. He nodded to Neville as he sat down in an empty space next to Hermione; he had this weird feeling that she had saved him the seat, though he was sure she hadn't actually asked anyone to not sit there.
"Hi Harry," she muttered as he sat down, and helped himself to some eggs. "Have fun with Moody this morning?"
"Great fun, crazy, one-eyed guy swinging swords at my head and making me chase his lazy ass while he's on a horse. Yep, great fun" Harry replied sarcastically, though quiet enough that only she and Ron heard him.
"Could be worse, mate" Ron put in from the other side of Hermione with his mouth full. Hermione glared at him, and he visibly swallowed his food before he went on. "Tonks told me that he used to make trainees chase him though London while he drove one of the Ministry cars, imagine chasing him on foot through Trafalgar Square, before the Ministry said he couldn't drive anymore, " Ron shuddered at the thought.
Harry didn't reply he was sure if Moody somehow heard, he would have Tonks doing the driving, and that was even scarier. As he glanced around the room he caught Dumbledore's eye, he looked as if he wanted to ask something, but didn't want to say it right now. He turned back to his friends, mentally working out when he could talk to Hermione, though he didn't know why Moody didn't want him to tell anyone else.
*****************Hagrid's Hut*******************************
Harry and friends had survived Potions again, barely. While boiling Dragon's blood down to make a paste, Ron had forgotten to watch his caldron and had let it dry up totally, which of course made it explosive. This error would have been manageable, except Crabbe had cast a tripping spell on Ron as he picked up the caldron causing him to drop it and the dried blood to detonate. Fortunately the heavy caldron had contained the detonation, but the noise it had made, had made blood come out of Snape's ears, a series of events that of course cost Gryffindor 30 points and Slytherin 1 point.
"If you had just watched your damn cauldron Ronald" Hermione said a little loudly as they headed down the stairs outside, her ears still ringing from the explosion. She looked forward to Hagrid's hut, trying to see what he had in store for them today, really hoping that what ever it was, it was quiet.
Ron rolled his eyes at the back of her head, "Well if you had warned me that it was explosive instead of ..."
"Instead of what? Making you learn your bloody assignments?" She replied indignantly, as she stepped around someone's cat that was taking a nap on the steps. She reached in her bag one-handed to grab her planner. The cat had reminded her to get treats for Crookshanks as she was out.
Ron of course, misunderstood her intentions, "making a note to do what?"
"Oh shut up Ron," Harry muttered behind him, only to have Ron turn on him.
"Taking her side are you?" Ron said in a huff and pushing past Harry and Hermione he hurried to Hagrid's hut.
"What the hell got in him?" Harry asked to which Hermione just shrugged. "Anyway I needed to talk to you a second, Moody is starting your training sooner than Christmas, Mione."
"Great" She replied with a touch of bitterness, dragging out the word, "and Dumbledore passed me a note this morning saying he wanted to start Legilimency this evening after dinner."
"No rest for the wicked" Harry said with a smile, which after she thought about that statement for a second, got him thumped on the back of the head. "Ow"
*******************Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts***********************
9:00 pm
Harry came hesitantly up the stairs to Dumbledore's office, Hermione should already be there. Harry was doubtful about this; he still didn't understand the sudden jump in his abilities in Occlumency and now this training in the related discipline of Legilimency.
As Harry entered the room he saw his friend in one of the large armchairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. He walked
in silently as not to disturb them, but his plans were nixed as Fawkes trumpeted his arrival, "Aw Harry, I see
that you have made it"
Dumbledore said a twinkle in his eye.
"Sorry Professor" Harry muttered.
"Not at all Harry. Hermione and I were discussing her new training schedule" Dumbledore said smiling. He stopped and poured himself a cup of hot chocolate from a carafe on his desk. He motioned to the cups. Harry poured himself one as he settled in the chair next to Hermione. "Once again your abilities as a teacher have come to the fore Harry" Harry raised an eyebrow, questioning Dumbledore's meaning. "As you have been teaching your friends much of what I have taught you since August, Hermione will concentrate for now, with Alastor, Remus and Nymphadora, on using the magic she has learned from you and others including myself and on her combat skills."
Harry frowned slightly, not wanting to offend Hermione, "Sir, wouldn't it be better for her to finish with the magical skills first" Even as he said the words he knew that they weren't right, at least not how he should say it, but there they were.
"Why Harry are you trying to protect her?" Dumbledore asked teasingly, to which both of the students bristled. "I was just joking, however, no Harry, I'm afraid that the Death Eaters do not discriminate in their victims or foes, and so we can't in our training to fight them." He gestured with his wand and the carafe of hot chocolate vanished. "Tonight however, our goal is Legilimency, both of you have demonstrated skills in Occlumency, the inverse of this skill. I will ask you to focus on plucking thoughts from each other's mind and guiding the thoughts to something of interest. Unfortunately this is not a skill that a simple incantation and a precise wand movement are needed for it is more a matter of feeling and experience. As this skill is more about finesse instead of raw power, I will ask Hermione to go first, as you enter Harry's thoughts try to guide them to remember something you both remember. Compare those memories to your own so you will have a feeling of what a true memory is like."
Hermione gulped, and turned from Dumbledore to meet Harry's eyes. Now that she was here, who am I kidding I didn't want to do this in the first place, she was worried about what thoughts might pop out. "Legilimens" she incanted softly and in a rush she started seeing images, of her and Ron on the train as first years, Were we really that tiny? of Harry's wonder on receiving his Hogwarts letter, of Hagrid crashing in the door of some old musty building to take him away or more properly to bring him home. Then like a sea change, the images turned sour, pictures of Ron laying unconscious on the chessboard in first year, of herself, laying in the hospital after the basilisk attack, of Sirius falling through the veil, and finally of Harry's hand on her shoulder, visibly shaking as he tried to wake her as she lay on a stone floor. She felt a wall slam down and she was suddenly back in her own thoughts, wiping sweat from her eyes, she could see Harry visibly trembling in the chair next to her. Hermione felt an almost overpowering urge to hold him just like she had this summer; she knew that the last images she had seen were the ones that haunted his dreams. He had described them to her and somehow she knew that he had not confessed their depth to any of his other friends, or even to the wizard in front of whose desk they were sitting. It was the last image that particularly shook her, before Harry's autonomic reflexes had kicked in, she had been overwhelmed by the sheer feelings of panic, guilt, and gut-wrenching sadness associated with her lying injured on the floor. He said he couldn't think when he thought I was hurt, I thought he was exaggerating, would I have done the same if I thought it was him lying there like he had so many times before...If I thought he was dead, yeah, a voice very similar to Harry's answered her.
"Sorry, Mione" Harry said quietly, he quickly got up and went to the door, turning back, "Professor I can't do this tonight." With that Harry left the room quickly and ran down the steps.
Hermione glared at Dumbledore, and followed Harry, without even the apology that Harry had managed. As she gained the bottom of the stairs, Harry was nowhere to seen. Great, now it's find the vanishing Potter, she thought to herself. Why is it one of us is always disappearing and the others have to find them, we're sixteen not six. She walked down the hall a little while longer and stopped, this is hopeless; I know that he didn't go back to the tower, where would he have gone? Wait, then with a sudden glee, Harry your wards might work against Ron... "APPERO MARADER'S MAP" instead of the unusual instant response when the spell worked normally, she felt a curious resistance, and then almost as if the security wards recognized her, the map suddenly appeared in her hand. Smiling slightly at the turn in events, that had her tracking Harry with his own map, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map started to fill in as usual, but as the ink reached the center a curious thing happened. Normally the map displayed a message greeting Harry, or gave the nicknames of the Marauders, but this time the message was different, to her slight shock it said, "Welcome, Hermione, it is good to see the Marauder's ride again, go to him in his hour of need." What the hell was that? she wondered, shocked, the map had only ever greeted Harry, and then as the son of Prongs or something like that.
She glanced down at the map and saw that Harry was sitting still in the exact center of the Quiddich Pitch. I should have known. Erasing the map, she took off at a run for the Quiddich stadium.
****************************Quiddich Pitch, Hogwarts***********************
9:47pm
As Hermione approached the center of the stadium she could only see a flash of pale skin from the side of Harry's face, his black robes and hair blended well into the evening. She pulled up a patch of grass and sat in front of him, waiting. For almost fifteen minutes they both sat there, each silently weighing what they would say to each other. Finally Harry summoned the courage to speak, but not well.
"Mione, I'm sorry you had to see that." He said, his eyes avoiding hers.
Reaching out she touched his arm, "For what? For seeing...Hell, Harry, I'm just glad you went first, I was afraid..."
Harry interrupted bitterly, "why are you my friend, Hermione? You saw yourself lying there, I could have got you killed, and Moody, you might get hurt..."
Sighing, she picked some grass from the field and rolled it around in her palms, she was quiet for a long moment before she responded, "Is that why you tried to convince Dumbledore to hold off on my training? To only do the magic, not the other. Harry...I don't know why, at least not so I can put into words, I guess its because you are really the only person here who just expects me to be me, not the brain, not your sidekick, but me, does that make sense?"
Harry nodded slightly, then mustering his courage he looked up at her, "but damn, its you Hermione, not Ron or Ginny or anyone else that have been hurt more or put in danger more for being my friend than any of the others. Do you want me to count? Shit." Harry said the last in a murmur, dropping his vision once again to the ground.
"You dufus," Hermione half-snapped and half-laughed, throwing the grass in her hands at him, where it stuck in his hair, "Do you think it's any different for me...for the rest of us when we see you come back from some adventure, and be laid up in the infirmary for a week, or when I see you crash into this bloody field." She finished, her fist pounding the earth of the Quiddich pitch in emphasis. She pulled herself up and stood over Harry, reaching down she grabbed the hood of his robe and used it to drab him to his feet with a grunt of effort. "Heavy arse"
"You better get in better shape than that if you want to keep up with Moody, by the way, He likes to start at around five" Harry replied, the corner of one side of his mouth curling up.
September 22, 2004
5:00 am
Harry showed up for his usual "Special Projects" class to find not Dumbledore, or Moody or even Lupin waiting for him, but Tonks. "Wotcher Harry" She waved at him as he showed up, she was dressed to work out, unlike Moody or Remus who usually wore street clothes, this morning her hair was long and emerald green and pulled back into a tail.
"Going to break a sweat Tonks?" Harry asked with a grin as he indicated her workout gear, quite similar to the sweats he himself was wearing.
"Unlike my lazy elders," she said with a matching grin, "some of us are still in shape. I thought that we'd start with a slight jog to warm up. We're just waiting." Tonks bent almost double in a stretch, "if you really want to be an Auror as a career, you'll learn that the bad guys always run."
"Waiting on what?" Harry said as he tied one of his trainers.
"Her" Harry looked up and saw someone coming down the stairs from the castle in the pre-dawn light. He couldn't tell whom it was for sure as they had their hood up, but whoever it was they seemed very familiar.
"Morning" Hermione said with a massive yawn as she came even with them, she was dressed as they were, her breath forming clouds in the early autumn chill.
"Since we're all here now, lets go" Tonks took off at a rapid pace, Harry following. After several minutes, of what was a relatively blistering pace, Harry looked back, slightly concerned about Hermione, but he was shocked to see that she was keeping pace handily, much better than he had at the start of the school year. Harry permitted himself enough energy to shake his head and kept following Tonks. It was different running with Tonks, unlike Moody who made you chase him, you really couldn't get mad at her like you could him, she was running too after all, so you didn't have that motivation.
The entire time, Harry was waiting for something, a trick, or a plot, something to test one or both of them. He wasn't disappointed, as Tonks passed out of sight around a turn in the path, "STUPEFY". He dove forward under the spell, and around the corner.
Sliding forward, he shot a disarming spell at Tonks; her wand flew into the trees, and under some bushes. Before she could utter another sound a bolt of red light took her high on the shoulder and she slumped bonelessly to the ground. "Thanks Hermione, I don't know what Tonks was thinking taking both of us on two to on..." In an instant Harry saw a bolt of red hit Hermione in the back, then with another flash of red, everything went black.
Several Minutes later
"Enervate" A deep voice, uttered with its usual undercurrent of barely suppressed humor. As Harry regained consciousness he could see Hermione sitting up next to a tree, obviously having just been revived. To add insult to injury, a squirrel knocked a small branch from the tree above, it fell and hit Harry on the head.
"Ow" he muttered, looking around. He could see Tonks; she had seemingly been revived before either of them, most likely by her mystery partner.
"Harry, Hermione" Dumbledore's deep voice came from behind Harry's right ear. Out of a corner of one eye he caught a disgusted look sweep over Hermione's face before she carefully blanked it. Harry twisted and saw the great wizard sitting on a log, calm as could be, a slight twinkle in his eye. "I did that for a reason"
"To show us how stupid we were?" Hermione muttered as she stood up.
Dumbledore gave a slight shrug, and pointed at Tonks, She looked a little sheepish, but smiled and answered the question, "To a degree, tricks like that are often played on cadets in Auror training, usually the first ambusher gets at least one of you, but that's not really the point, the point is to trust your partner to take care of the threat, while you look for the unexpected one." She paced a little, picking up a twig and using it like a wand. "I've seen the security orb recordings at the Ministry" Hermione gave a little shudder at the reminder of the Department of Mysteries fight last June, she paced over to the tree Harry was sitting up against and leaned on its trunk, her eyes not leaving Tonks. "I'll be honest, not to pump either of you up, but you are better than the majority of the Aurors and security troops the Ministry has out there right now. In some areas you are better than me, but the key is teamwork, you have to learn to work together to where you don't have to think about what the other is doing, even Professor Dumbledore is not invincible by himself."
"That I am not, Nymphadora" Dumbledore said gravely, though the smile was still in his eyes. "It is always best to have friends. This part of the exercise is over for now, however I think it would best if we spilt off, Harry come with me" Dumbledore parted his robe to show Harry the hilt of his sword, Harry nodded and walked over to him. "Hermione please go with Tonks, I feel that she is a good match for you." Hermione and Tonks watched as Harry and Dumbledore ambled off together, Harry said something quietly and Dumbledore laughed. Hermione smiled slightly; glad to see Harry crack a joke, especially after the two of them had just been beaten.
"Don't feel bad, Hermione, you lost to Albus Dumbledore." Tonks said as if reading her mind.
Hermione gave a slight pout, "I hate loosing period, besides you aren't Harry, you aren't supposed to read my mind" she said as she watched the two wizards mentioned slip out of sight.
Distracted there girl? Tonks thought mischievously. "The reason Dumbledore put me with you, honestly is because I'm about your size and can match your speed. Here." Hermione watched as Tonks conjured a pair of wooden swords and flipped one to her.
"Swords, I know Harry has the Gryffindor sword, but" Hermione asked as she caught the wooden sword by the hilt, her hands finding a comfortable grip instinctively, unconsciously.
Tonks shrugged this time looked off in the distance for a second as if recalling a memory then turned back to her, "Wizards are weird, girl, hell your Muggle born and I'm the next best thing to it, we both know it. If Mad-Eye taught me one thing, its be prepared, in a fight wands are great for when you are across the room, but few people can use them well when you are in spitting distance. Hell right now, I have this wooden sword, a knife hanging around my neck and a couple of other surprises just because you never do know. Anyway, many of Voldemort's followers have been known to carry and use swords..." Tonks almost exactly repeated the initial test Alastor Moody did to Harry on this very subject several months ago, with more or less the same result. Tonks' wooden sword crashed on to Hermione's, Hermione's form wasn't quite as good as Harry's instinctively was, she fell back a little with the strike, but she did block it. Damn, maybe Dumbledore is right. They are soo going to kick his arse for holding shit out on them, again, She thought with a touch of glee.
After a while, Tonks called it a morning and sent Hermione back to the castle. Hermione was rubbing a sore shoulder, she wasn't used to it, but Tonks just waved and sent her packing. After Hermione had left out of sight, Dumbledore appeared beside her, evidently he had completed work with Harry. "How was she?" He asked though he had an idea.
"A lot better than I was at that stage, it's like Mad-Eye said about Harry, its like she has the reflexes, but hasn't incorporated them yet. She's already faster than me, and not as clumsy," Tonks conceded grudgingly. "It's the other exercise I'm worried about, Professor."
"I haven't been your professor for almost five years, Nymphadora, anyway how so."
"Its their..." Tonks broke off uncomfortable with the subject.
Dumbledore smiled down on her, "You mean that the two of them are shall we say repressing certain thoughts, or that they haven't decided on those thoughts yet...Yes I agree, they will be a formidable team, they already are, but several things may have to happen for them to realize their full potential, and those events may not transpire, or they may transpire too late. As it is they trust each other, but not quite to the level they need?"
"Yeah, to a degree I was bullshiting them Pro...Albus" Tonks corrected herself with a grin to his raised eyebrow, "most Aurors, aren't that trusting with their partners, but they will have to be won't they?" Her tone dropped as the subject darkened.
Dumbledore sighed, and using his wand he summoned a flower from a nearby plant which he examined as he replied. "It's like this flower Nymphadora, it's a union of the light of the sun and the earth below, they have to learn to be that union, and to do so they will have to face certain realities...In the end, Harry will most certainly have to be the one to end it, if anyone does, however, he does not have to be alone when he does so."
(A/N) That's it, the end of Chapter 11, are ya'll having fun yet? In the next chapter,
Harry's back on the Quiddich pitch, and the Halloween ball,