Harry Potter: The Making of a Dark Lord

He was met with silence, until a fuming Croaker responded. "We need time, Dumbledore. I need to think about this, and to compare this prophecy to others. 'Neither can live while the other survives' is ambiguous at best, and I refuse to act hastily with so much at stake. I think you're wrong about all this, but if it turns out you're right, we'll find a way for Potter to confront the Dark Lord without emasculating the boy's magic first."

"Very well," Dumbledore said, after a brief pause. "I shall have to accept that for the time being."

"Who else knows about this, Dumbledore?" Bones asked testily. "Do you have an army of people trying to get Potter killed?"

"I…object to your phrasing, Amelia," Dumbledore stated, "but to answer your question, I am the only who knows the prophecy. Several others know that Harry must be sacrificed, and the rest know only that Voldemort is back."

Croaker snorted. "Well, you better tell your little army to be ready, Albus, because things could get really ugly in a hurry. Thanks to your bloody secrecy, we've had no time to plan and the Ministry will fall like a stack of cards if Fudge is as rotten as he seems. We're preparing for the worst, but there's only so much we can do."

Dumbledore sighed. "I admit that my plans have not worked out as I anticipated. But the sooner you return Harry Potter to me, the sooner we can rectify this situation. Do not delay."

The moment that Bones and Croaker left his office, Dumbledore activated his floo.

"Severus," he said authoritatively, "I don't think it likely that they will release Mr. Potter to my custody. We need to be ready with Plan B."

Snape smiled maliciously. "As you wish, Headmaster."

Bones Manor, Dueling Room

"I have had some training, Tonks. You don't have to teach me the bloody disarming spell," Harry snapped in irritation.

Today was the first day of 'real' training he was to receive, and so far Tonks was treating him like a first year. After being restrained for so long, his magic was singing in his veins, desperate to be put to use. Learning 'expelliarmus' again did not satisfy it in the least.

"Alright, then, stud," Tonks smirked. "If you're so sure of yourself, let's just go straight to dueling. Twenty-five paces, stunners, bludgeoners, and shields only. No piercing, cutting, or blasting. Got it?"

"Got it," Harry smiled, looking forward to testing his skills against a full-fledged Auror.

They took their positions, wands raised, and Tonks winked at him. "Do your worst, Harry Potter."

Harry took that as his signal to begin, and promptly sent off a bludgeoning curse at Tonks' midsection, followed by a stunner that she would step into if she dodged.

Tonks attempted to bat away the bludgeoner with a simple nonverbal protego, but suddenly found herself sitting on her arse, knocked backwards when her shield buckled.

The force of Harry's spell momentarily shocked her, and she had to roll quickly to her left to avoid a pair of stunners that he sent her way.

"Not half bad, Harry," she nodded at him, holding a more powerful shield in front of her, "but let's see how you do when someone's throwing spells back at you."

Tonks tossed two quick stunners in Harry's direction, then followed up with a bludgeoner and another stunner. The barrage was seamless and precise, and Harry dove to the ground to avoid having to shield against multiple spells.

He cast a stunner from the floor, and then leapt up just in time to encounter another bludgeoner approaching his chest. His hasty shield reflected it back toward Tonks, giving him a moment's respite, or so he thought.

A nonverbal bludgeoner slammed into Harry's right shoulder, spinning him around and forcing him to the ground to recover his balance and avoid the follow-up stunner.

Merlin, she's fast, thought Harry.

And, indeed, that was Tonks' primary advantage over Harry. She was using a rapid-fire technique that chained spells together for overwhelming offensive firepower, something Harry had never encountered before.

Deciding he needed to keep her on the defensive, Harry sent one powerful bludgeoner after another at Tonks. She dodged the first few, then was forced to cast a shield. The third time it was hit, Harry noticed it waver.

He could see the perspiration forming on Tonks' brow, and knew instinctively that he could overpower her shielding spells.

He sent a stunner at her knees to catch her attention, then put all his focus on a bludgeoner aimed directly for Tonks' chest. Just as he thought, her shield buckled and broke, the spell impacting her chest with a dull thud.

Tonks fell backwards to the floor, but rolled quickly and was on her knees facing Harry in less than a second. She was breathing heavily from the hit.

"Satisfied yet, Tonks?" Harry smiled, feeling very good about himself.

"Oi, you're a bit too big for your britches, Potter," Tonks said breathlessly, and promptly whispered an incantation and tapped herself on the head.

To Harry's dismay, she disappeared from view.

Bugger, he thought. Disillusionment. What do I do now?

Momentarily panicked, Harry began throwing stunners left and right where he thought Tonks might be. She didn't use a shield, so he couldn't locate her position. He slowly backed up, keeping 'protego' on his lips in case Tonks launched a spell from nearby.

He discovered his error belatedly when he felt a wand pressed into the back of his neck.

"Shite," he breathed.

"Indeed," said Tonks' voice from behind him. "If this were a real fight, you would now be a candidate for the Headless Hunt at Hogwarts."

Harry lowered his wand as Tonks removed her disillusionment and reappeared.

"I thought I bloody had you," Harry griped.

"You nearly did, Harry," she smiled, still slightly out of breath, "but you caught me by surprise. Those bludgeoners were really bloody powerful."

"Yeah, well, wait till next time, Tonks. I'll figure out a way to hit an invisible target, and you'll be toast."

"Listen to me, Harry," Tonks said, suddenly serious. "You've obviously got a lot of power, but that doesn't count for much versus experience, and you've got bugger-all of that. The duel we just had was for fun, and because I needed to get a measure of you. Don't get overconfident, Harry—I would have wiped the floor with you in a real fight, and so would a Death Eater."

"Alright, Tonks," frowned Harry, still disappointed by his loss and by the fact that he had failed to impress Tonks. Since her slight of his patronus skills this summer, he had felt the need to prove himself to her. "I know I've got a lot to learn, but can we skip 'expelliarmus' please?"

"All in good time, Harry. We're going to start from the ground up. First we're going to work on your accuracy, then we'll move on to expanding your offensive and defensive spells. Don't look at me like that—it doesn't matter if your bludgeoner can crack marble if you can't hit anything."

Tonks moved toward the end of the room and placed three archery-style targets about thirty feet away from Harry. "Now," she grinned, "you're going to work on hitting the bulls-eyes from various standing and moving positions, while I sit back and enjoy a butterbeer."

"Right, boss," snorted Harry, rolling his eyes as she conjured a chair and called for an elf.

"Oh, and Tonks?" Harry asked innocently.

"Yes, Cadet Potter?" Tonks said lazily as she sat down.

"Expecto patronum!"

At Harry's summons a huge corporeal stag burst from his wand and charged swiftly at Tonks.

As she instinctively backed away, Tonks' chair fell over backwards with her in it. Harry heard a muttered curse as he watched the great silver stag prance around Tonks' position on the floor. She leaned up and glared at Harry.

Harry laughed at her expression. "I told you I could do that bloody spell two months ago, and you didn't believe me."

Tonks huffed at him and shot a stinging spell at his crotch, despite being laid out on her back. It seemed to be her favorite form of retaliation against males.

.....

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