Tonks wiped the floor with Harry. Well and truly. Harry hadn't lasted five minutes, and she made him get up and try again. At least twenty times. But now, he was wiped out. The poor boy was laying flat on his back, arms spread to his sides, eyes closed and breathing hard. She was ruthless, much like her mother, only with a wand and not a book, or music.
She was also being mean and laughing at him. Twit.
"That's what you need to learn," Sirius said, leaning over the prone boy, a smug smile on his face. "You will not learn it in a few weeks. It'll take years to get as good as her. Decades to get as good and me, when I get back up to speed, and Moony. Even longer for someone of Moody's caliber. Old as he is, that man is a beast with a wand. I won't even touch on Riddle or Dumbledore."
"How am I supposed to defeat—" Harry started, his arm over his eyes.
"You're not. We know that there's a prophecy that might state that it's you, but Harry, we ignored that for a reason. You know all about self-fulfilling prophecies. I know you learned at least that much in Divinations. The others and I are doing our best to make sure that you don't have to fight anyone," Sirius said seriously.
"Fine," Harry said, huffing out the word, uncovering his eyes and glaring at the man. Not because he was angry, more because he was being put on the sidelines. Ah, teenagers. Harry huffed again, and then tried to sit up, but his body said 'no, rest, stupid', so he fell back down. "You will teach me, right?" was the almost plea. He turned his head towards his brother and smiled. "Even if I don't have to fight him, odds are that I will face him in some capacity."
"I said I would, didn't I?" his brother answered, reaching down and helping the teen sit up, then joining him on the floor. "If you find yourself face to face with Riddle, I want to make sure you know enough to get away."
"You're not bad for a going on fifth-year student," Tonks said, morphing back to her original state. "You are actually pretty good, for a fifteen-year-old. But, you need to learn to duck and dodge too. I'm not sure how you survived Riddle five times, but it wasn't you dueling skills. If what you believe will happen, happens, then yes, you need to be able to get away," she added with a knowledgeable nod of her head.
"I know," Harry sighed, leaning against Sirius. "It was luck mostly."
"Potter Luck is legendary," his older brother agreed, nodding his head sagely, though a grin split his face. "Your dad could get into the weirdest shite. One time he found himself hanging from the Astronomy Tower. No idea how he got there, but as luck would have it, pun intended, his pajama pants were caught on a jutting brick. He was able to pull himself up with little problem."
"Did you guys ever find out who did it?" Harry asked, feeling empathy with his dad.
"No, but we narrowed it down to either Lily or Snivellus."
"Oh, why mum?" the tired boy asked, sitting up straight.
"Your mum hated your dad until sixth year. This was in our third. He would constantly badger her for dates, or lay into her for being friends with Snape," the dogman answered, with eyes misty from the memories. "The arguments those two got into were legendary."
"Sounds like Ron and Hermione," Harry mused, wondering if would end up married like his parents.
"Yeah, it does. I don't know how many times I've made that comparison," Sirius said with a chuckle.
"Wait, Snape was friends with my mum?" the boy exclaimed, falling backwards to land on his elbows. That was a shocker. To think his mum was nice to that… person.
"Yeah, didn't you know that?" was the question. "I would have thought someone would have told you by now. Wasn't Remus your teacher for a whole year?"
"Yeah, but I didn't find out his was my dad's friend until almost the middle of the year," Harry explained.
"Hmmm, I'm going to have to ask him about that. I'm sure the answer will start with 'Dumbledore said,'" Sirius said with a bitter bite to his tone.
"Probably," Harry agreed. "Still he was friends with mum?"
"From before Hogwarts. Your dad on the other hand was hated enemy, well, as much as an eleven-year-old can be. I have to say, the things we did to Snape, looking back were pretty bad."
"Did you bully him?" Harry asked tentatively.
"Yeah, I'd say we were tough on him. I would apologize to the man, but there isn't anything I can say to him to change his mind. He's been festering those feelings for years. I'm sure if James knew that he would someday take it out on you, we would never had done what we did," Sirius said, hanging his head a bit. He still didn't like Snape, and the man was a bastard of high caliber. But, they were out of line as teens.
"I guess that's why he hates me. I don't know whether to feel sorry for him or pity the fact that he has become what he despises," Harry said, thoughtfully, looking back on all his interaction with the Potions Master.
"You are a kid, it's his fault he's a right arse. Since you're not going back you don't have to worry about him ever again," Sirius almost growled his response.
"Hey, Sirius," Tonks interrupted, getting off the wall and sitting on the floor next to Harry, "what ever happened to you two suing Fudge. I mean that was weeks ago." She had been standing at the door to let the two talk but decided that they needed to switch subjects.
"What article?" Harry asked, turning toward Tonks.
"The one that Fudge tried to have printed about Sirius here. Something about him being to blame for all the shite that they've been saying about you and the Headmaster," she explained, tapping her wand on her knee. "He's was even going as far as to say that Sirius had confounded you in your third year. So, it was plausible that he was doing the same now."
"Yeah, I tried to tell him that Sirius was innocent, but Snape told the man we were confounded, and that Sirius has always been a bad apple," Harry said, anger lacing his voice.
Now that he knew the history, somewhat, he could understand why the Potions Master hated Sirius, but that didn't mean he liked the man. Or that he would forgive him for not listening to him and his friends. Because now that he thought about it, the man just wanted to see Sirius dead. He didn't care if he was innocent.
"Right, well, it was all poised to get custody of you away from him. I'm not 100% sure, but I'll lay bets that it was either Malfoy or Dumbledore is behind it," she added thoughtfully.
"You're probably right. I got it stopped and put Waters on it, but the stupid man got Lucy to pay others off. More than likely to cover his own involvement. Fudge is on probation though, and it's going as evidence for my lawsuit, which is still being stalled by red tape." Sirius was both smug and upset.
"What red tape?" Harry asked.
"Bureaucratic bullshit, mostly," his brother said, sighing at the injustice of it all.
"How did you stop the article?" Tonks asked, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.
"Well, I've purchased the Daily Prophet, so now there will be no more articles that are defamatory," the older man said, twirling his wand with his fingers. "Skeeter is a thing of the past. She will never print another article in the Prophet, and if she's smart she'll go abroad."
"Wait, you bought the Prophet?" Harry asked, completely floored by that. So many surprises in one night. At least this one was a good one.
"It wasn't easy. I had to use quite a bit of my aunt's book, but I got it done," the dogman said, once more looking smug. "Didn't you notice all that vitriol had stopped?"
"Yeah, I just thought they were tired of dragging my name through the mud," the teen said, wiggling his shoulders to get the kinks out. He tilted his head side to side, and heard his neck pop. Sighing in relief, he just relaxed.
"Nope, I required them to take a vow," was the still smug reply. "Which is why Skeeter is gone. She couldn't tell the truth if you Imperiused her."
"Ain't that the truth," Harry grumbled, rubbing his nose under his glasses.
"Don't let my mum hear you use that word. 'It's not proper'," Tonks said, changing her face and voice to match her mum's.
"I wonder why the book list isn't here," Harry said, ignoring Tonks with practiced ease. She had been trailing him for weeks now, and she was getting pretty good at being him.
Sirius said he was trying to find a pensieve so they could see his reactions to others, like Malfoy and his gang of thugs. Not to mention Snape. It would all be for naught if that man got wind of what they were doing. Sure, he told Moody something important, doesn't make him a good man.
"With Umbridge joining Hogwarts Merry band of professors, I'll bet it's taken her this long to find a worthless book," Sirius said, standing up and heading for the door. The other two joining him.
"Why do you think that?" Tonks asked, bringing up the rear.
"She's useless. Since she can't teach, she'll need something that will make her look smart," the dogman said with shrug.
"Probably," the other two grumbled, walking up the stairs to the kitchen, one dead tired, the other mildly winded.
"We need to get your stamina up. Knowing all the spells in the world doesn't do a thing if you tire this quickly," Tonks said, putting her arm around his waist, giving him something to lean on.
"One would think that all those stairs at Hogwarts would make the students fitter. I mean, there's millions of them," Harry said, using her as a crutch.
"Yeah, but you get used to them after first year, so you're not putting anymore effort into exercising," she said, using her free hand to pat his head.
"Fine," Harry grumbled and then went to his room. The other two did the same.
Another week went by, with Harry training almost 24/7. Well, not quite, but it felt like it. Seems the adults had taken him at his word and started a harsh training regimen. The other teens joined in when they could, which was often. Most of them were happy for something to do, but they weren't sure if exercise was better.
Ron, Hermione and Ginny took to it at a slow pace. They had never done anything like this in their lives. Hermione had always put the least amount of effort in P.E. She was not an athlete, so did not consider it something she should participate in. It was the only class she ever got below a high score.
Still, they trudged on, and were getting better by the day.
The twins, on the other hand, took Tonks down two times out of five. Their chaotic style was not something she had run across before. It was like dueling monkeys on a sugar high. They were everywhere, and they were noisy. Constantly taunting her and each other. It was… interesting, to say the least.
Though, it did give her some practice for when she would have to fight someone like her aunt, Bellatrix. Hopefully, that will never happen. That woman was crazy before Azkaban.
During that week, Sirius did score a pensieve and he and Tonks got to learn what the Golden Trio got up to their first four years. It was an eye-opening experience. She would now know how to react to his teachers, acquaintances, and enemies. She knew just what to do to trip Umbridge up as well.
Harry had no filter on his mouth. If he thought it, nine times out of ten, he said it. Since that woman was going to be there to catch Dumbledore in the act, and debase Harry, so to speak, it should be easy to get in trouble.
Finally, the book list showed. Sirius took one look at it and scoffed. "Like I said, a useless book. You would do better buying a fifth-year defense book and glamoring it to look like this trash," he said, throwing the list on the table.
"Is it really that bad?" Hermione asked, studying the titles on her list to see if she had any of them. She did, about five.
"It is," stated Tonks, reading Harry's list. This was going to be her first foray into being Harry. She was going to do his shopping. He was going under glamor, and not with the group. He would be with Remus, and they would get the books needed for his tutoring.
"That book is all theory. There are no spells, or defensive moves. It's all theoretical. It's like the Ministry doesn't want you guys to learn how to defend yourselves. Remember, Umbridge is there to prevent Dumbledore from forming an army," Sirius said, rolling his eyes at the stupidity of the man.
"If Moody ever caught me reading that book, he'd burn it from my hands. That's how bad it is. I have no idea how it even got published as a schoolbook," Tonks said, putting the list on the table and watching their reactions.
The twins' lips thinned; they would probably follow Sirius' advice.
Ron and Ginny were torn, they didn't want their family to spend money on a worthless book, but they didn't want to get caught either. If that woman was as bad as Tonks and Sirius said, then who knows what kind of detention she would force them to do. And wasn't it sad that they would fear punishment from their school.
Hermione looked like she was just going to grab every book in the store that was associated with the OWLs. She wasn't going to let some faux teacher ruin her perfect grades. She already had a plan in mind to help those in her house, and maybe others as well.
"Well, not sense dillydallying, let's go to Diagon Alley," Sirius said, hauling himself out of the chair. Then lifting an eyebrow that the others were too slow in his opinion.
"Wait, we don't have any money. Dad was going to give us some after he got off work," Ron said, looking around the room like his dad was going to pop out of the fireplace.
"Don't worry, I've got you covered. Your dad can pay me back later," Sirius said, waving his hand dismissively.
"Are you sure?" Fred asked, giving him a hairy eyeball.
"You're not trying to give us charity, are you?" George asked, also suspicious.
"No, I'll make sure that your dad knows how much he owes," the man prevaricated. So, what if what Sirius thought the man owed, and what the cost was, wasn't the same. Who would know?
"We're watching you," the twins threatened. Not that they were in any way serious. After all, they could afford to buy their own stuff, what with the profits they've had so far on their mail order joke products. The closer it got time for school, the more orders they got. Sirius had let them be added to the mail wards so they could make some money. Who was he to stand in the way of budding entrepreneurs.
"Go on, get ready," Sirius said, ignoring them with practiced ease. He waved his hands shooing the teens along. Harry and Remus weren't going today, they would go when Hogwarts started, so Harry was a bit miffed that he was staying put. But he did understand the need for Tonks to go.
He really hoped nothing happened.