Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Guardians of the Eternal Phoenix
Tonks and Training
Drake lay awake late into the night, thinking over the things that had happened over the course of the day. He was making a mental note of the things he had accomplished so far and the things he still had to accomplish in the near future.
‘Ok, so let’s see what I have achieved: successfully arrived at Privet Drive, made friends with Harry, setup a training program, acquired knowledge about his relatives.’
Drake grimaced at the last point. To say that he was disgusted and beyond angry with the Dursleys would be an understatement. Evening tea with the Dursleys was an informative encounter. From what little he had heard about them from Harry, he had guessed that they disliked him and his heritage. But now he was almost sure that the Dursleys didn’t dislike Harry, they outright hated him. He would not be surprised if this hate had progressed from mental level to the physical level. Drake made a mental note to have a talk with Dumbledore sometime in the future. If this was his idea of protection, then the old man was seriously in need of a break, a long break.
Shaking himself from this depressing line of thought, he focused on his future plans. ‘First things first, I have to visit Gringotts soon, probably tomorrow. Next I need a wand. Although it was not needed, but it would prove useful to hide my true potential. Next, I have to get some books on Occlumency. Finally, I need a job.’
‘What job to get?’ Drake thought. ‘I have no formal degrees, so Ministry jobs are out of the question. Anyway, who wants to work under corrupt Ministry officials. So, I have to find some job that do not require any degrees. Also it should be a good source of information about the current affairs of the magical world. It would prove useful for my mission.’
Deciding to call it a day (or night, in this case), Drake drifted away into a dreamless sleep. If anybody was outside his house at that moment, they would have heard a beautiful trilling sound drifting through the open window of Drake’s bedroom.
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Drake had never been what one would call a morning person. So it was a highly groggy Drake who stumbled out of his room at 6 am the next day. Although he hated it, jogging and exercises were necessary to stay in shape. Besides, he wanted to go to Diagon Alley as early as possible. He wanted to avoid its crowded state since he hated crowds.
Drake put on a tight-fitting t-shirt and track pants and went out for a morning jog around Privet Drive. The houses of Privet Drive were just beginning to show signs of life. Drake jogged at a steady pace enjoying the cool morning air. It was rejuvenating and filled him with energy. Soon he reached the park and started doing some free-hand exercises.
By the time he returned to his home, it was nearly 8 am. After a quick shower and breakfast, Drake quickly donned a simple yellow colored shirt and black fullpants. Then he touched his forehead with the forefinger and middle finger of his right hand and vanished.
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Meanwhile, in a small house in a London suburb:
“Nymphadora Tonks, will you kindly get down this instant! We are getting late and I still have to go to work later” The irate voice of a woman rang through the house.
The girl in question winced at the voice. She was in her room getting ready, a feat she had been trying to achieve for the past one hour. ‘I wish mom would stop using my stupid name’, thought Nymphadora angrily. ‘Nymphadora! Really? What in nine hells caused my mother to bless me with this ridiculous name?’ She stared at her reflection in the mirror, scowling. Whether it was from her mother’s use of her name or from being unable to decide on the perfect look for the day, was unclear, though at the present time one could hazard a guess that it was mostly due to the use of her name. Presently, she scrunched up her face in a pained expression and her hair began to cycle through various colors and shape-blonde and shoulder length (Nah! Too common.), purple and shoulder length with curls at the end (Cool, but already used it yesterday), lightning blue, short and sporting spikes (Wow! I look like some goddess of lightning! Cool!). Apparently satisfied with her hair, she turned her attention to her eyes. She decided to keep it cool ice blue which she felt went well along with her hair and her pale heart shaped face. Satisfied with her look, she bounced out of her room wearing a purple Weird Sister t-shirt and a pair of frayed and faded blue jeans. A pair of Nike sports shoes completed the look.
“Finally! Thank you for blessing us mere mortals with your presence!” , said an irritated looking woman who was standing at the foot of the stairs, tapping her foot impatiently.
A cheeky answer was almost on her lips before Nymphadora bit it back reluctantly. She felt that it would not be wise to provoke her mother’s temper further this early in the day. So, she apologized for her tardiness and grabbing a piece of toast from the table, made her way to the fireplace. She took a handful of green powder from a pot on the mantle( called Floo powder) and threw it into the fire. The color roared an emerald green color. Stepping into the fire, Nymphadora shouted “Diagon Alley” before vanishing from view. She was shortly followed by her mother.
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Nymphadora stumbled out of the fireplace in Leaky Cauldron. She got a brief glimpse of the bar, the barkeeper Tom entertaining numerous customers before she tripped on seemingly nothing and fell flat on her face. ‘Just great! Me and my bloody clumsiness!’ Nymphadora thought furiously as the whole bar roared with laughter at her plight. Her clumsiness had always been a constant source of embarrassment for her. She mostly took it sportingly and laughed along with the others but it still hurt sometimes for being a laughing stock for a problem that was just a side-effect of her special skill and obviously not under her control. Like it was hurting now, not only physically but also emotionally. That was until she heard someone speak.
“Miss, are you hurt?” asked a voice laced with concern.
Nymphadora looked up from her position and her icy blue eyes were met with light blue ones. Slowly her eyes took in the rest of his handsome oval shaped face. He looked to be a boy around her age and appeared to be one of the customers of the bar. But while the other occupants of the room were still chuckling with mirth, his face was scrunched up in a slight frown and his eyes showed only concern.
“Yes, I am fine, thank you”, Nymphadora smiled as she took his proffered hand to help herself up.
“Good! I saw you fall down and you did not seem to be getting up, so I thought that you must have been hurt.” The boy said still sounding concerned but also slightly relieved.
‘You don’t know how right you are’, thought Nymphadora.
“No, no, it was nothing, it happens to me all the time”, she said cheerfully, though it sounded slightly forced.
The boy seemed to perceive the forced nature but didn’t comment on it. At that moment, the fire roared again and a regal looking woman wearing black robes stepped out of it.
“Well, I must be getting along. Have a nice day , Miss.” He smiled. “And do try to be careful. I may not always be there to help you.” He added, grinning cheekily at her over his shoulder as he exited the bar.
A slight blush crept up on her face inspite of herself. “Who was the boy, Nymphadora?” The voice of her mother made her aware of her arrival. At that moment realization hit her, she hadn’t asked him his name nor had she introduced herself. ‘So much for manners, Nymphadora’, she thought.
“I don’t know mom. I forgot to ask him”, she said, pushing aside the uneasiness caused by her name.
“Did you atleast introduce yourself? From what little I heard, he appeared to have helped you in some fashion.” her mother asked sternly.
Nymphadora winced at her mother’s tone. “No mom”
“Really Nymphadora! Have you forgotten all your manners?” her mother asked. “Ah well! If you meet him again make sure to introduce yourself. Now let’s hurry, we have much shopping to do.” Nymphadora nodded and followed her mother out of the bar.
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Diagon Alley was the only magical market apart from the infamous Knockturn Alley, which incidentally was also an offshoot of Diagon Alley, in London. It was filled with restaurants, shops selling potions, pets and practically everything magical. However that was not all about it. Diagon Alley also housed Gringotts, the magical bank run by goblins, which held the fortune of thousands of witches and wizards living all over England. The imposing pure white building was sort of a landmark in Diagon Alley. A set of double doors led to the lobby of the bank. A sign, warning potential thieves of dire consequences of thievery, was etched in golden letters on the door. The lobby housed dozens of goblin tellers, each catering to the needs of various customers.
It was one of these numerous tellers, in front of whom Nymphadora stood presently, impatiently shifting her weight from one leg to another while she waited for her mother to finish her negotiations with the goblin. She gazed around observing long queues of magical folk in front of some tellers. She also noticed several people waiting for their turn, wearing glum early morning looks, sitting on the various benches laid out along the walls. However, mindless observation of people and goblins going about their routine jobs was hardly the purpose of her staring around. ‘Ok, at least not all of it’ Nymphadora corrected herself. True, she was bored, but she also hoped to get a glimpse of her boyfriend who had just started working at Gringotts.
Her boyfriend. In the past year, he had become the constant source of her excitement and annoyance. Excitement of the fact that he was quite handsome. ‘With his flaming red hair tied in a ponytail and his toned figure, he looked quite dashing and yummy.’, Nymphadora thought with a blush. The fact that he didn’t view her differently because of her skill was an added bonus. Of course, her mother disagreed with her. This had become a constant source of annoyance. Her mother did not like her boyfriend. She firmly believed that he was just like the rest and only wanted her daughter because of her ability to change her appearance at will. Nymphadora had of course tried to assure her mother that it was not so. During the one year that they had been dating, he had never asked her to change. ‘Ok, there was that one time when he asked her to change her hair color and then there was that other time when he had asked her to change the shape of her nose’, Nymphadora admitted grudgingly to herself. ‘But it was not such a big deal. After all, she herself changed those features almost on a regular basis’, she argued fiercely with her more logical mental counterpart. ‘Also it didn’t hurt that he knew how to please me. Sure we haven’t gone all the way, but still….’, she thought, fighting off another blush.
It was during these observations and less than appropriate thoughts that her eyes fell on a boy talking to a goblin a short distance away. It was the same boy who had helped her earlier. He seemed to be talking to the goblin in a strange language and even more surprising was the fact that the goblin was talking to him respectfully with a smile on its face, a phenomenon which had never been encountered by any wizard in living memory. ‘Who is that boy?’, thought Nymphadora. ‘He looks to be about the same age as me. In fact he may even be a few years younger than me.’
While all these thoughts were coursing through her mind, she had not realized that she had been staring at the boy for quite sometime. So unsurprisingly, when he turned around, their eyes met. He smiled at her and nodded in recognition before walking away towards the carts. Nymphadora came out of her momentary stupor and cursed herself for ruining another chance to know the boy’s name. Also unbeknownst to her , her cheeks had taken on a slight pink tinge.
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“Mom, would you please stop calling me Nymphadora, at least in public places. You know how I hate that name”, Nymphadora complained loudly as they entered Madam Malkin’s shop for her school robes.
“But dear, it’s such a lovely name. And how would it sound if your own mother calls you by your surname?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t like it.”, Nymphadora grumbled.
“Hogwarts dear?” the voice of a plump woman interrupted their argument.
“Yes. I would like to buy two sets of school robes and two sets of formal dress robes for Nymphadora”, her mother told Madam Malkin.
“Such a lovely name!”, exclaimed Madam Malkin, while Nymphadora scowled at her mother.
“How much time would it take for you to select your robes?” her mother asked.
“Half hour, I think”, Nymphadora replied, not looking at her mother.
Her mother sighed. “Ok, I would finish the rest of our shopping. Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron when you are done here.”
Nymphadora nodded absentmindedly.
As soon as her mother left the shop, she let out a frustrated sigh. It was of no use. No matter how many times she told her mother , she would still call her by that stupid name. She went from rack to rack, choosing and discarding robes whole muttering about stubborn mothers and stupid names. She was so lost in her complaining that she did not register neither the opening of the door of the shop nor Madam Malkin speaking to a new customer. Until…
“I take it that you don’t like your given name”, someone said from behind her.
Nymphadora, startled out of her thoughts, spun around, tripped and fell over again. She closed her eyes and braced herself for hitting the floor but it never came. Instead, she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a pair of light blue eyes.
The boy to whom those eyes and arms belonged, smiled at her and Nymphadora found herself blushing, again. ‘Damn it! I am blushing a little too much today’, she thought furiously.
The boy helped her regain her footing and bowed exagguratingly before her. “Your savior at your service, my lady.” There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
Nymphadora burst out laughing. “Why, thank you good sir.”
The boy laughed a little himself.”Anyway, where are my manners? My name is Drake Jones. Pleased to meet you.”
“Tonks. And same here.”
Drake arched an eyebrow. “Hmm, I realized from your mutterings that you don’t like your name. If you don’t mind, may I know why, Miss Tonks?”
“You would too if your fool of a mother named you Nymphadora”
“It’s quite a beautiful name. Hmm, but for some reason, you don’t like people calling you by it.” Drake looked thoughtful.
“And you would refrain from using it too, if you know what’s good for you.” Tonks warned, her eyes narrowing menacingly.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. No, I was wondering, if you don’t like it, why haven’t you ever done something about it?”
“What can I do? It’s not like I can change my name. I just threaten to hex and sometimes really hex people who call me by my name.”
Drake nodded, before a smile broke out on his face. “Do you like pranking people?”
“Wha-?” Tonks said dumbly, a little thrown off by this sudden change of topic.
“I asked ‘Do you like pranking people?’ You know, as in pulling practical jokes on people and such”
“Oh! I love it! I am after all the best prankster at school” Tonks proclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest.
Drake chuckled at her antics. “Great! So would you like to pull a massive prank on a number of people?”
“What sort of prank?” Tonks asked, a little wary but also a little excited.
“To begin with we will be making your name a taboo. So if anyone calls you by your name without your permission….Well, let’s just say that they will feel the effects of a mild stinging hex in certain regions of their body which are not usually publicly displayed.” Drake said, a mischievous grin playing on his lips.
Tonks’ eyes lit up at the prospect and her hair color changed to bright bubblegum pink indicating her happiness and excitement.
“A Metamorphmagus!” Drake muttered softly.
“What?”Tonks asked, evidently not having caught what Drake said.
“You are a Metamorphmagus”
“I know I am. What of it?” Tonks asked a little defensively.
“Nothing bad. I can now relate what you said back at the bar about frequently falling over. I take it that it’s due to this skill of yours”
“Yes, it is. Speaking of which, thanks again for your help back there.”, Tonks said sincerely.
“You are welcome. Now shall we finish our shopping and discuss our prank elsewhere, preferably over a cup of tea?” Drake said, grinning.
“Sure!”
Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting at a table in a coffee shop across the street from Madam Malkin’s.
“So, how do I go about pulling the prank?” Tonks asked excitedly, practically bouncing in her seat.
“I’ll teach you how only if you promise never to include your parents in it. I met your mother outside Madam Malkin’s shop. She seemed to be a nice and caring lady.”
Tonks sighed. She was feeling guilty about being short with her mother earlier. “Yeah sure, I promise.”
“Great!” Drake exclaimed, rubbing his hand excitedly. He wandlessly conjured a piece of parchment , a bottle of ink and a quill and began to write something.
Tonks looked on with a gobsmacked expression. Wandless magic was nearly unheard of. In her life, she had seen only Dumbledore perform it effortlessly. Yet this boy, who looked to be about her age, had done it with ease. It looked as if it was second nature to him.
Drake finished writing and looked up to find Tonks staring intently at him. “What?” Drake asked, a little puzzled.
“You performed wandless magic” Tonks stated in an awed voice.
“Yeah. So what?”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen”
Tonks nearly choked on her tea. “F-fifteen? And you can perform wandless magic? Wow!”
Drake shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable, and gave the parchment to her. Tonks took it and saw three lines of incantation written on it.
“The top one is for setting up the taboo, the second one is for granting someone permission and the last one is for reversing the effect of the second one.” Drake explained.
“Cool!” Tonks exclaimed cheerfully and pulled out her wand. Drake raised an eyebrow at this. Understanding the look, Tonks assured, ”Relax! I came of age a few months ago.” Drake nodded and Tonks began chanting the incantation. Moments later, she was briefly surrounded by a reddish glow. “Is it done?” she asked uncertainly. Drake smiled widely and nodded.
Tonks’ eyes took on a mischievous glint as she looked at Drake. “Now all we need is someone to test it on.”
Understanding the look, Drake raised his hands defensively. “Oh no, no, no. No way am I going to be your test subject. Find someone else .”
“Spoilsport!” pouted Tonks. Then her eyes lit up as she apparently spotted something behind Drake. Drake looked behind him and saw a redheaded figure approaching them. As the man reached their table, Tonks got up and threw herself in his arms and proceeded to kiss him passionately. “I have missed you.”
“I missed you too, Tonks”, the man said.
“Ah! Call me by my name.” Tonks said while discreetly winking at Drake. ‘This is going to be fun.’ Drake thought.
The man looked startled. “You want me to call you by your name? I thought you hated it?”
“Not anymore. Pleaseeee!” Tonks said, making puppy dog eyes at the man.
“ Ok, Nymphadora-YIKES!” The man jumped a foot in the air as a sudden stinging sensation shot through his private regions. Tonks was rolling on the ground laughing hysterically and in turn drawing some curious glances from passerbys. Drake was also laughing, though in a much more dignified manner.
“What the hell was that? And who is he?” the man asked, evidently only now having noticed Drake.
“Well with the help of Drake” Tonks pointed at Drake after getting her laughter under control, “I have made my name a taboo. Anyone who speaks it without my permission, will feel the same effect as you felt-“ she looked questioningly at Drake, “- and if I am not mistaken, the effect adds up each time you speak it.” Drake nodded in agreement. “By the way, Drake , this is my boyfriend, Bill Weasley. Bill, this is Drake Jones.”
“Nice to meet you Mr. Weasley” Drake greeted, standing up and extending his hand.
Bill ignored Drake. Instead he glared at Tonks. “What the hell were you thinking, Tonks? Making your name a taboo. Reverse it this instant. And you Mr. Jones” Bill said, rounding on Drake, “Who the hell do you think you are, corrupting my girlfriend and teaching her Dark Arts?”
Drake snorted while Tonks bristled with anger. ‘Ignorant fool!’, thought Drake.”For your kind information your girlfriend is not a child. She is perfectly capable of making her own decisions. I have not corrupted her. I merely proposed the idea to her. Besides, it’s not Dark Arts. Strange, you British people seem to name any magic you don’t fully understand or don’t like as Dark Arts.”
“Yes Bill. It was my choice. It’s the perfect solution to my name problem.” Tonks said, glaring at Bill.
“FINE!” Bill shouted. He calmed himself a little and said, “Well, I must get going. Oh, Tonks don’t forget Charlie’s birthday party this evening. I would like you to meet my parents. And please, make your hair long and red before coming over. My mother likes redheads.”
“Sure Bill!” smiled Tonks, although Drake noticed that the smile did not reach her eyes. Tonks stood staring at Bill’s retreating figure with a strange expression on her face.
“Well, I too must get going. I have enjoyed our time together immensely, Miss Tonks.” Drake smiled.
“Please call me Tonks” Tonks smiled.
“Ok Tonks.” Drake started walking but stopped after taking a few steps. “Umm, I hope you don’t mind giving you a piece of advice, Tonks, but I believe that you shouldn’t have to change yourself to make someone love or accept you.” With that parting statement and a small wave, Drake walked away, leaving behind a confused and thoughtful looking Tonks.
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It was late afternoon when Drake returned to Privet Drive. He stretched a little to loosen his stiff muscles and let out a sigh of relief when he felt his back pop. ‘It had been a rather productive day’, Drake thought as he sat down with a cup of tea and began enlarging his various purchases. He had claimed the account his mentor had opened for him at Gringotts. His vault was not filled to the brim with money but it had enough to last a few months. He had also gotten a wand (oak, twelve inches with phoenix feather core). It had been rather amusing for Drake to see almost half the contents of the shop being piled up on the countertop before Ollivander found the perfect wand for him. ‘The wand, though good, is just adequate’ Drake mused. There was no way he would be able to use the full extent or range of his powers using it. Then again, he wouldn’t be able to do that using any wand or staff in the world.
He had also secured a job as an assistant bartender at the Leaky Cauldron. ‘A perfect place for hearing news and gossips’, thought Drake. He had also permanently booked a room in the Leaky Cauldron. The less people knew about his house at Privet Drive, the better.
The best part of the day, however, was his chance meeting with Tonks. Her bubbly and rather colorful personality interlaced with the underlying insecurities had almost immediately endeared her to him. Drake smiled fondly as he remembered her childlike excitement at the prospect of pulling a prank and her carefree and unrestrained laughter at its success. Despite her age, her actions showed that she still possessed a little innocence deep inside her. Her boyfriend, though, was a cause of worry. He laughed a little at the thought of the havoc his little spell is going to cause at Hogwarts. He felt a little guilty and worried that she might get into trouble because of it.
Pulling himself from his thoughts, Drake made his way to the training room to prepare it for his training sessions with Harry. The faster they could start the training, the better it was.
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Drake was casually flipping through the pages of a trashy romance novel a week later when he felt a pull at his energy. He understood that Harry had activated his portkey and was requesting his permission to come to his house. Drake glanced at his watch and saw that it was past midnight. Though a little surprised, Drake gave the permission and made his way to the training room.
Moments earlier at the Dursley household:
Harry was sitting on his bed inside his cupboard, slowly running his fingers across his ring. He had waited for a week with difficulty since he could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of learning magic. Today was the day he was supposed to start training and throughout the day he had looked for oppurtunities to escape to Drake’s house. Alas, he had found none. So when he finally retired for the day to his cupboard, he decided to activate his ring. He hoped that Drake would ignore the inappropriate timing of his request and accept it. Very softly he muttered ‘phoenix’ and waited for something to happen. For a few moments nothing happened. Just as Harry was starting to lose hope, the ring glowed brightly and a small yellow ring of light appeared under his feet. The ring enlarged until its diameter was about the same size as the width of his body. Harry could make out strange symbols around the circumference of the ring. The internal area of the ring was as black as night. Suddenly he felt a pull and the next moment he was sucked into the ring. The next moment he found himself lying in a heap on soft ground. He looked up to see the yellow ring shrinking back into nothingness . He got up and looked around to find himself in a strange place. It looked like the middle of a garden. There was soft earth underneath him and the place was filled with plants, shrubs, flowers, etc. The place oozed calmness and a sense of peace. He turned around just as he heard the sound of a door opening followed by the sound of footsteps.
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Drake entered the training room to find a slightly dazed looking Harry looking in his direction. “Welcome to the training room” Drake chuckled at his gobsmacked expression.
“This is inside your house?” Harry asked disbelievingly. “How?”
Drake winked mysteriously. “Magic!”
Harry huffed.”Why a garden though?”
“Peaceful atmosphere is required to learn Occlumency. But before we begin…” Drake waved his hand and a cake appeared in his hand, “…Happy belated birthday, Harry!”
Harry looked too shocked to say anything. He kept looking from the cake to Drake’s smiling face as if to determine whether it was a joke or not. Then tears formed in his eyes and he choked out an emotion-filled thank you.
“How did you know that July 31st was my birthday. I don’t recall telling you.” Harry managed to ask, even though his mouth was stuffed with chocolate flavoured cake.
Drake chuckled. “I forgot to mention that you are kind of a celebrity in the magical world. So your birthday is not exactly a secret.”
“Why am I a celebrity?”
Drake’s expression sombered. “You remember I mentioned about your parents not dying in a car crash?” Harry nodded. “You see, 10 years ago the magical world was in a state of war. This war was going on for quite a few years. The war was against an evil wizard called Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. Many good people were murdered at the hands of Voldemort and his followers. Many fought valiantly and were a thorn at Voldemort’s side. Your parents were among such people. For reasons unknown, Voldemort personally targeted your parents, a rare occurrence in itself since Voldemort usually let his followers do the dirty work. So on Halloween’s Eve 9 years ago, he arrived at your house and murdered your parents. They fought bravely but were no match for him. Then he decided to kill you also. This is where it gets weird. For some strange reason, the curse he fired at you apparently rebounded and he himself got hit by it. What exactly happened, nobody knows for sure. But when others arrived at your house, they only found you and the charred remains of Voldemort’s clothing. Some say he died, some believe he is still out there somewhere. But whatever happened, the war ended because of it and you were and still is considered as the Boy Who Lived, since before you nobody has ever survived his curse.”
Tears were running silently down Harry’s cheeks as for the first time in 9 years he mourned for his parents whom he never got to know.
Drake allowed Harry to mourn for sometime before he broke the silence. “I guess we should call it a day. It has been a rather emotional night for you.”
Harry wiped his eyes. “No, no, let’s begin training. I am alright. My school starts in a week. I don’t know how much spare time I can afford then.”
Drake nodded. “Ok, Occlumency, as I have said earlier, is a type of mind magic. In simple terms it basically involves gathering all your memories and emotions in one place and building shields around them so that they can neither come out nor can somebody get in.” Harry nodded, indicating that he had understood thus far.
“To most magical people, mental shields form the only and most important part of occlumency. Therefore they solely concentrate on building the strongest mental shields possible. Although this method requires relatively less magical energy, it has a big flaw. You see, our mind is made up of two parts- the conscious and the subconscious. An active mental shield can only protect the conscious mind since the blocking of intrusion has to be actively done by the person. It however cannot protect the subconscious mind. So if you are asleep or unconscious, it will be child’s play to retrieve memories from your mind.
“This is where the second part of occlumency comes into play, a part which is ignored by most. This part involves the creation of a mindscape which protects the subconscious mind passively. For now, however, we will not worry about the second part. We will worry about it only after you have perfected your active mental shields.” Again Harry nodded.
“So how do we build this shield?”
“Through meditation. First close your eyes and put aside all useless thoughts and emotions. Then focus on a single image of something constant, unending and uniform, like say a body of water, a single color and such. Basically it can be anything as long as it is composed of only one element. Now do it and tell me when you are ready.” Harry assumed the lotus position and began his meditation.
So began Harry’s training. Not much progress was achieved that night since Harry’s thoughts kept drifting towards his parents. During the course of the next week, Harry came to Drake’s house every night and trained for 2-3 hours. He often tried to meditate when he got some free time at the Dursleys but it proved to be rather hard to focus when there was so much noise around him.
Once school started, Harry’s visits became less frequent but he assured Drake that he was practicing whenever he got time. On certain weekends, Harry tried to come during the day when his relatives were out of the house but Drake was unable to grant him permission since he worked fulltime at the Leaky Cauldron. His shifts often extended late into the evening, so training during the day or in the evening was out of the question.
It took Harry more than a month to clear his head of unwanted thoughts and completely focus on the mind image. In Drake’s opinion, for someone as young and inexperienced as Harry, this was a remarkable feat. At the start Harry often complained about a mental image of a flash of green light interrupting his focus. A few weeks later, he got the idea of using a vast expanse of green color as his mind image. The idea seemed to have worked and Harry was ecstatic that he could now completely focus and maintain his mind image. Drake was impressed by Harry’s ingenuity.
“Now harry I am going to try to invade your mind.” Drake informed Harry as he sat in front of him a month later. At the alarmed look on Harry’s face, Drake soothed, ”Relax. No need to get so worried. I will be gentle. Now any invasion will appear as a spot or blemish on your mind image. Now think of your mental image as a flexible sheet of green color. Since you have put so much effort in creating it, you don’t want some spot or blemish to spoil it, now do you? So your aim should be to keep your image blemish free. Whenever you spot some blemish or deformation in your image, you will wrap a part of your image around that area, completely enclosing it so that the overall image remains blemish free. Understood?”
Harry nodded. “Ok, now get ready. Leglimens!”
During the first few attempts, Drake managed to bypass Harry’s shields and got a glimpse of a few of his memories. He withdrew quickly, not really interested in invading his privacy but the few memories he saw, left Drake fuming and Harry extremely embarrassed and sad. If it was not for his extremely strong occlumency shields, Drake felt that he would have gone and cursed the Dursleys to hell for beating a child with a belt for wanting more food and other similar atrocities.
After a few more tries, Harry finally managed to block Drake’s attack successfully. He did a sort of happy jig in celebration. A few more successful tries later, Drake decided to call it a day and sent Harry away with the instruction that he should now try to keep his shields up at all times and try to go about doing his everyday tasks with his shields up. He was not required to comeback for training until he has achieved it.
It was nearly six months before Harry contacted Drake again. He happily regaled how he could now do his tasks with his shields up. He confided with a hearty chuckle that in the beginning when his shield was up, he saw green everywhere and bumped into stuff, much to the annoyance of the Dursleys. Then slowly he was able to see other stuff but through a sort of green haze. Presently, he could see everything clearly and was able to bring up his shield at a moments notice. It was confirmed when Drake caught harry unawares with leglimency attacks several times during their following training sessions. Much to the delight and pride of Drake, all his attacks were successfully thwarted by Harry.
“Now Harry, comes the second part of Occlumency…the mindscape. The mindscape is basically a mental rendition of a place you are familiar with. It is usually a house or a room, though it can practically be anything as long as it is complicated and unfamiliar to most people. In this mindscape you organize and store all your memories, thoughts and emotions. You may check up on the book I gave you for your birthday for details. In simple terms, the more complicated the layout of your mindscape, the better it is. A very important thing you need to remember is that the location you choose as your mindscape should be such that it’s known only to you. In that way, it will be harder for the intruder to find your hiding spots, where you have stored your most private and important memories.
Say, you chose No.4 as your mindscape. Now it’s layout is very similar to that of my house. So, it would not be very difficult for me to find your hiding spots. Any questions?”
“A mindscape is passive defense, right? So technically the intruder can take all the time in the world to search for my hiding places and I will be sitting ducks” Harry asked confusedly.
Drake smirked. “You have been living at No.4 for more than 9 years, correct?”
“Yes…” Harry answered, now more than a little confused by this sudden change of topic.
“So I assume I am not wrong when I say that even when you are locked in your cupboard, you are able to get a fairly good idea of what’s going on in the rest of the house from sounds and general atmosphere in the house? You are also able to detect if something is amiss?”
Harry nodded affirmatively.
“Your mindscape also works in a similar way. As you become more and more attuned to your mindscape and magic, your subconscious will be able to detect anomalies pretty quickly and if your will is strong enough, it may even be able to throw the intruder out. Otherwise, your subconscious will just wake you up, then you can do the honours consciously.”
“Cool!”
“Yeah, it’s cool, isn’t it? So, shall we begin?”
The next few months were spent by Harry trying to build up the perfect mindscape, organizing his memories and storing them securely within his mindscape. Drake also kept testing his outer shields occasionally to ensure that they are in optimum condition. He often gave tips and suggestions for improving and fine-tuning his defences.
In no time, one year since the day Drake arrived at Privet Drive, was almost complete. Harry’s eleventh birthday was fast approaching.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Anyway, can anyone guess Drake’s method of transportation? Also, please guys, RATE & REVIEW!
Drake lay awake late into the night, thinking over the things that had happened over the course of the day. He was making a mental note of the things he had accomplished so far and the things he still had to accomplish in the near future.
‘Ok, so let’s see what I have achieved: successfully arrived at Privet Drive, made friends with Harry, setup a training program, acquired knowledge about his relatives.’
Drake grimaced at the last point. To say that he was disgusted and beyond angry with the Dursleys would be an understatement. Evening tea with the Dursleys was an informative encounter. From what little he had heard about them from Harry, he had guessed that they disliked him and his heritage. But now he was almost sure that the Dursleys didn’t dislike Harry, they outright hated him. He would not be surprised if this hate had progressed from mental level to the physical level. Drake made a mental note to have a talk with Dumbledore sometime in the future. If this was his idea of protection, then the old man was seriously in need of a break, a long break.
Shaking himself from this depressing line of thought, he focused on his future plans. ‘First things first, I have to visit Gringotts soon, probably tomorrow. Next I need a wand. Although it was not needed, but it would prove useful to hide my true potential. Next, I have to get some books on Occlumency. Finally, I need a job.’
‘What job to get?’ Drake thought. ‘I have no formal degrees, so Ministry jobs are out of the question. Anyway, who wants to work under corrupt Ministry officials. So, I have to find some job that do not require any degrees. Also it should be a good source of information about the current affairs of the magical world. It would prove useful for my mission.’
Deciding to call it a day (or night, in this case), Drake drifted away into a dreamless sleep. If anybody was outside his house at that moment, they would have heard a beautiful trilling sound drifting through the open window of Drake’s bedroom.
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Drake had never been what one would call a morning person. So it was a highly groggy Drake who stumbled out of his room at 6 am the next day. Although he hated it, jogging and exercises were necessary to stay in shape. Besides, he wanted to go to Diagon Alley as early as possible. He wanted to avoid its crowded state since he hated crowds.
Drake put on a tight-fitting t-shirt and track pants and went out for a morning jog around Privet Drive. The houses of Privet Drive were just beginning to show signs of life. Drake jogged at a steady pace enjoying the cool morning air. It was rejuvenating and filled him with energy. Soon he reached the park and started doing some free-hand exercises.
By the time he returned to his home, it was nearly 8 am. After a quick shower and breakfast, Drake quickly donned a simple yellow colored shirt and black fullpants. Then he touched his forehead with the forefinger and middle finger of his right hand and vanished.
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Meanwhile, in a small house in a London suburb:
“Nymphadora Tonks, will you kindly get down this instant! We are getting late and I still have to go to work later” The irate voice of a woman rang through the house.
The girl in question winced at the voice. She was in her room getting ready, a feat she had been trying to achieve for the past one hour. ‘I wish mom would stop using my stupid name’, thought Nymphadora angrily. ‘Nymphadora! Really? What in nine hells caused my mother to bless me with this ridiculous name?’ She stared at her reflection in the mirror, scowling. Whether it was from her mother’s use of her name or from being unable to decide on the perfect look for the day, was unclear, though at the present time one could hazard a guess that it was mostly due to the use of her name. Presently, she scrunched up her face in a pained expression and her hair began to cycle through various colors and shape-blonde and shoulder length (Nah! Too common.), purple and shoulder length with curls at the end (Cool, but already used it yesterday), lightning blue, short and sporting spikes (Wow! I look like some goddess of lightning! Cool!). Apparently satisfied with her hair, she turned her attention to her eyes. She decided to keep it cool ice blue which she felt went well along with her hair and her pale heart shaped face. Satisfied with her look, she bounced out of her room wearing a purple Weird Sister t-shirt and a pair of frayed and faded blue jeans. A pair of Nike sports shoes completed the look.
“Finally! Thank you for blessing us mere mortals with your presence!” , said an irritated looking woman who was standing at the foot of the stairs, tapping her foot impatiently.
A cheeky answer was almost on her lips before Nymphadora bit it back reluctantly. She felt that it would not be wise to provoke her mother’s temper further this early in the day. So, she apologized for her tardiness and grabbing a piece of toast from the table, made her way to the fireplace. She took a handful of green powder from a pot on the mantle( called Floo powder) and threw it into the fire. The color roared an emerald green color. Stepping into the fire, Nymphadora shouted “Diagon Alley” before vanishing from view. She was shortly followed by her mother.
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Nymphadora stumbled out of the fireplace in Leaky Cauldron. She got a brief glimpse of the bar, the barkeeper Tom entertaining numerous customers before she tripped on seemingly nothing and fell flat on her face. ‘Just great! Me and my bloody clumsiness!’ Nymphadora thought furiously as the whole bar roared with laughter at her plight. Her clumsiness had always been a constant source of embarrassment for her. She mostly took it sportingly and laughed along with the others but it still hurt sometimes for being a laughing stock for a problem that was just a side-effect of her special skill and obviously not under her control. Like it was hurting now, not only physically but also emotionally. That was until she heard someone speak.
“Miss, are you hurt?” asked a voice laced with concern.
Nymphadora looked up from her position and her icy blue eyes were met with light blue ones. Slowly her eyes took in the rest of his handsome oval shaped face. He looked to be a boy around her age and appeared to be one of the customers of the bar. But while the other occupants of the room were still chuckling with mirth, his face was scrunched up in a slight frown and his eyes showed only concern.
“Yes, I am fine, thank you”, Nymphadora smiled as she took his proffered hand to help herself up.
“Good! I saw you fall down and you did not seem to be getting up, so I thought that you must have been hurt.” The boy said still sounding concerned but also slightly relieved.
‘You don’t know how right you are’, thought Nymphadora.
“No, no, it was nothing, it happens to me all the time”, she said cheerfully, though it sounded slightly forced.
The boy seemed to perceive the forced nature but didn’t comment on it. At that moment, the fire roared again and a regal looking woman wearing black robes stepped out of it.
“Well, I must be getting along. Have a nice day , Miss.” He smiled. “And do try to be careful. I may not always be there to help you.” He added, grinning cheekily at her over his shoulder as he exited the bar.
A slight blush crept up on her face inspite of herself. “Who was the boy, Nymphadora?” The voice of her mother made her aware of her arrival. At that moment realization hit her, she hadn’t asked him his name nor had she introduced herself. ‘So much for manners, Nymphadora’, she thought.
“I don’t know mom. I forgot to ask him”, she said, pushing aside the uneasiness caused by her name.
“Did you atleast introduce yourself? From what little I heard, he appeared to have helped you in some fashion.” her mother asked sternly.
Nymphadora winced at her mother’s tone. “No mom”
“Really Nymphadora! Have you forgotten all your manners?” her mother asked. “Ah well! If you meet him again make sure to introduce yourself. Now let’s hurry, we have much shopping to do.” Nymphadora nodded and followed her mother out of the bar.
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Diagon Alley was the only magical market apart from the infamous Knockturn Alley, which incidentally was also an offshoot of Diagon Alley, in London. It was filled with restaurants, shops selling potions, pets and practically everything magical. However that was not all about it. Diagon Alley also housed Gringotts, the magical bank run by goblins, which held the fortune of thousands of witches and wizards living all over England. The imposing pure white building was sort of a landmark in Diagon Alley. A set of double doors led to the lobby of the bank. A sign, warning potential thieves of dire consequences of thievery, was etched in golden letters on the door. The lobby housed dozens of goblin tellers, each catering to the needs of various customers.
It was one of these numerous tellers, in front of whom Nymphadora stood presently, impatiently shifting her weight from one leg to another while she waited for her mother to finish her negotiations with the goblin. She gazed around observing long queues of magical folk in front of some tellers. She also noticed several people waiting for their turn, wearing glum early morning looks, sitting on the various benches laid out along the walls. However, mindless observation of people and goblins going about their routine jobs was hardly the purpose of her staring around. ‘Ok, at least not all of it’ Nymphadora corrected herself. True, she was bored, but she also hoped to get a glimpse of her boyfriend who had just started working at Gringotts.
Her boyfriend. In the past year, he had become the constant source of her excitement and annoyance. Excitement of the fact that he was quite handsome. ‘With his flaming red hair tied in a ponytail and his toned figure, he looked quite dashing and yummy.’, Nymphadora thought with a blush. The fact that he didn’t view her differently because of her skill was an added bonus. Of course, her mother disagreed with her. This had become a constant source of annoyance. Her mother did not like her boyfriend. She firmly believed that he was just like the rest and only wanted her daughter because of her ability to change her appearance at will. Nymphadora had of course tried to assure her mother that it was not so. During the one year that they had been dating, he had never asked her to change. ‘Ok, there was that one time when he asked her to change her hair color and then there was that other time when he had asked her to change the shape of her nose’, Nymphadora admitted grudgingly to herself. ‘But it was not such a big deal. After all, she herself changed those features almost on a regular basis’, she argued fiercely with her more logical mental counterpart. ‘Also it didn’t hurt that he knew how to please me. Sure we haven’t gone all the way, but still….’, she thought, fighting off another blush.
It was during these observations and less than appropriate thoughts that her eyes fell on a boy talking to a goblin a short distance away. It was the same boy who had helped her earlier. He seemed to be talking to the goblin in a strange language and even more surprising was the fact that the goblin was talking to him respectfully with a smile on its face, a phenomenon which had never been encountered by any wizard in living memory. ‘Who is that boy?’, thought Nymphadora. ‘He looks to be about the same age as me. In fact he may even be a few years younger than me.’
While all these thoughts were coursing through her mind, she had not realized that she had been staring at the boy for quite sometime. So unsurprisingly, when he turned around, their eyes met. He smiled at her and nodded in recognition before walking away towards the carts. Nymphadora came out of her momentary stupor and cursed herself for ruining another chance to know the boy’s name. Also unbeknownst to her , her cheeks had taken on a slight pink tinge.
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“Mom, would you please stop calling me Nymphadora, at least in public places. You know how I hate that name”, Nymphadora complained loudly as they entered Madam Malkin’s shop for her school robes.
“But dear, it’s such a lovely name. And how would it sound if your own mother calls you by your surname?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t like it.”, Nymphadora grumbled.
“Hogwarts dear?” the voice of a plump woman interrupted their argument.
“Yes. I would like to buy two sets of school robes and two sets of formal dress robes for Nymphadora”, her mother told Madam Malkin.
“Such a lovely name!”, exclaimed Madam Malkin, while Nymphadora scowled at her mother.
“How much time would it take for you to select your robes?” her mother asked.
“Half hour, I think”, Nymphadora replied, not looking at her mother.
Her mother sighed. “Ok, I would finish the rest of our shopping. Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron when you are done here.”
Nymphadora nodded absentmindedly.
As soon as her mother left the shop, she let out a frustrated sigh. It was of no use. No matter how many times she told her mother , she would still call her by that stupid name. She went from rack to rack, choosing and discarding robes whole muttering about stubborn mothers and stupid names. She was so lost in her complaining that she did not register neither the opening of the door of the shop nor Madam Malkin speaking to a new customer. Until…
“I take it that you don’t like your given name”, someone said from behind her.
Nymphadora, startled out of her thoughts, spun around, tripped and fell over again. She closed her eyes and braced herself for hitting the floor but it never came. Instead, she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a pair of light blue eyes.
The boy to whom those eyes and arms belonged, smiled at her and Nymphadora found herself blushing, again. ‘Damn it! I am blushing a little too much today’, she thought furiously.
The boy helped her regain her footing and bowed exagguratingly before her. “Your savior at your service, my lady.” There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
Nymphadora burst out laughing. “Why, thank you good sir.”
The boy laughed a little himself.”Anyway, where are my manners? My name is Drake Jones. Pleased to meet you.”
“Tonks. And same here.”
Drake arched an eyebrow. “Hmm, I realized from your mutterings that you don’t like your name. If you don’t mind, may I know why, Miss Tonks?”
“You would too if your fool of a mother named you Nymphadora”
“It’s quite a beautiful name. Hmm, but for some reason, you don’t like people calling you by it.” Drake looked thoughtful.
“And you would refrain from using it too, if you know what’s good for you.” Tonks warned, her eyes narrowing menacingly.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. No, I was wondering, if you don’t like it, why haven’t you ever done something about it?”
“What can I do? It’s not like I can change my name. I just threaten to hex and sometimes really hex people who call me by my name.”
Drake nodded, before a smile broke out on his face. “Do you like pranking people?”
“Wha-?” Tonks said dumbly, a little thrown off by this sudden change of topic.
“I asked ‘Do you like pranking people?’ You know, as in pulling practical jokes on people and such”
“Oh! I love it! I am after all the best prankster at school” Tonks proclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest.
Drake chuckled at her antics. “Great! So would you like to pull a massive prank on a number of people?”
“What sort of prank?” Tonks asked, a little wary but also a little excited.
“To begin with we will be making your name a taboo. So if anyone calls you by your name without your permission….Well, let’s just say that they will feel the effects of a mild stinging hex in certain regions of their body which are not usually publicly displayed.” Drake said, a mischievous grin playing on his lips.
Tonks’ eyes lit up at the prospect and her hair color changed to bright bubblegum pink indicating her happiness and excitement.
“A Metamorphmagus!” Drake muttered softly.
“What?”Tonks asked, evidently not having caught what Drake said.
“You are a Metamorphmagus”
“I know I am. What of it?” Tonks asked a little defensively.
“Nothing bad. I can now relate what you said back at the bar about frequently falling over. I take it that it’s due to this skill of yours”
“Yes, it is. Speaking of which, thanks again for your help back there.”, Tonks said sincerely.
“You are welcome. Now shall we finish our shopping and discuss our prank elsewhere, preferably over a cup of tea?” Drake said, grinning.
“Sure!”
Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting at a table in a coffee shop across the street from Madam Malkin’s.
“So, how do I go about pulling the prank?” Tonks asked excitedly, practically bouncing in her seat.
“I’ll teach you how only if you promise never to include your parents in it. I met your mother outside Madam Malkin’s shop. She seemed to be a nice and caring lady.”
Tonks sighed. She was feeling guilty about being short with her mother earlier. “Yeah sure, I promise.”
“Great!” Drake exclaimed, rubbing his hand excitedly. He wandlessly conjured a piece of parchment , a bottle of ink and a quill and began to write something.
Tonks looked on with a gobsmacked expression. Wandless magic was nearly unheard of. In her life, she had seen only Dumbledore perform it effortlessly. Yet this boy, who looked to be about her age, had done it with ease. It looked as if it was second nature to him.
Drake finished writing and looked up to find Tonks staring intently at him. “What?” Drake asked, a little puzzled.
“You performed wandless magic” Tonks stated in an awed voice.
“Yeah. So what?”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen”
Tonks nearly choked on her tea. “F-fifteen? And you can perform wandless magic? Wow!”
Drake shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable, and gave the parchment to her. Tonks took it and saw three lines of incantation written on it.
“The top one is for setting up the taboo, the second one is for granting someone permission and the last one is for reversing the effect of the second one.” Drake explained.
“Cool!” Tonks exclaimed cheerfully and pulled out her wand. Drake raised an eyebrow at this. Understanding the look, Tonks assured, ”Relax! I came of age a few months ago.” Drake nodded and Tonks began chanting the incantation. Moments later, she was briefly surrounded by a reddish glow. “Is it done?” she asked uncertainly. Drake smiled widely and nodded.
Tonks’ eyes took on a mischievous glint as she looked at Drake. “Now all we need is someone to test it on.”
Understanding the look, Drake raised his hands defensively. “Oh no, no, no. No way am I going to be your test subject. Find someone else .”
“Spoilsport!” pouted Tonks. Then her eyes lit up as she apparently spotted something behind Drake. Drake looked behind him and saw a redheaded figure approaching them. As the man reached their table, Tonks got up and threw herself in his arms and proceeded to kiss him passionately. “I have missed you.”
“I missed you too, Tonks”, the man said.
“Ah! Call me by my name.” Tonks said while discreetly winking at Drake. ‘This is going to be fun.’ Drake thought.
The man looked startled. “You want me to call you by your name? I thought you hated it?”
“Not anymore. Pleaseeee!” Tonks said, making puppy dog eyes at the man.
“ Ok, Nymphadora-YIKES!” The man jumped a foot in the air as a sudden stinging sensation shot through his private regions. Tonks was rolling on the ground laughing hysterically and in turn drawing some curious glances from passerbys. Drake was also laughing, though in a much more dignified manner.
“What the hell was that? And who is he?” the man asked, evidently only now having noticed Drake.
“Well with the help of Drake” Tonks pointed at Drake after getting her laughter under control, “I have made my name a taboo. Anyone who speaks it without my permission, will feel the same effect as you felt-“ she looked questioningly at Drake, “- and if I am not mistaken, the effect adds up each time you speak it.” Drake nodded in agreement. “By the way, Drake , this is my boyfriend, Bill Weasley. Bill, this is Drake Jones.”
“Nice to meet you Mr. Weasley” Drake greeted, standing up and extending his hand.
Bill ignored Drake. Instead he glared at Tonks. “What the hell were you thinking, Tonks? Making your name a taboo. Reverse it this instant. And you Mr. Jones” Bill said, rounding on Drake, “Who the hell do you think you are, corrupting my girlfriend and teaching her Dark Arts?”
Drake snorted while Tonks bristled with anger. ‘Ignorant fool!’, thought Drake.”For your kind information your girlfriend is not a child. She is perfectly capable of making her own decisions. I have not corrupted her. I merely proposed the idea to her. Besides, it’s not Dark Arts. Strange, you British people seem to name any magic you don’t fully understand or don’t like as Dark Arts.”
“Yes Bill. It was my choice. It’s the perfect solution to my name problem.” Tonks said, glaring at Bill.
“FINE!” Bill shouted. He calmed himself a little and said, “Well, I must get going. Oh, Tonks don’t forget Charlie’s birthday party this evening. I would like you to meet my parents. And please, make your hair long and red before coming over. My mother likes redheads.”
“Sure Bill!” smiled Tonks, although Drake noticed that the smile did not reach her eyes. Tonks stood staring at Bill’s retreating figure with a strange expression on her face.
“Well, I too must get going. I have enjoyed our time together immensely, Miss Tonks.” Drake smiled.
“Please call me Tonks” Tonks smiled.
“Ok Tonks.” Drake started walking but stopped after taking a few steps. “Umm, I hope you don’t mind giving you a piece of advice, Tonks, but I believe that you shouldn’t have to change yourself to make someone love or accept you.” With that parting statement and a small wave, Drake walked away, leaving behind a confused and thoughtful looking Tonks.
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It was late afternoon when Drake returned to Privet Drive. He stretched a little to loosen his stiff muscles and let out a sigh of relief when he felt his back pop. ‘It had been a rather productive day’, Drake thought as he sat down with a cup of tea and began enlarging his various purchases. He had claimed the account his mentor had opened for him at Gringotts. His vault was not filled to the brim with money but it had enough to last a few months. He had also gotten a wand (oak, twelve inches with phoenix feather core). It had been rather amusing for Drake to see almost half the contents of the shop being piled up on the countertop before Ollivander found the perfect wand for him. ‘The wand, though good, is just adequate’ Drake mused. There was no way he would be able to use the full extent or range of his powers using it. Then again, he wouldn’t be able to do that using any wand or staff in the world.
He had also secured a job as an assistant bartender at the Leaky Cauldron. ‘A perfect place for hearing news and gossips’, thought Drake. He had also permanently booked a room in the Leaky Cauldron. The less people knew about his house at Privet Drive, the better.
The best part of the day, however, was his chance meeting with Tonks. Her bubbly and rather colorful personality interlaced with the underlying insecurities had almost immediately endeared her to him. Drake smiled fondly as he remembered her childlike excitement at the prospect of pulling a prank and her carefree and unrestrained laughter at its success. Despite her age, her actions showed that she still possessed a little innocence deep inside her. Her boyfriend, though, was a cause of worry. He laughed a little at the thought of the havoc his little spell is going to cause at Hogwarts. He felt a little guilty and worried that she might get into trouble because of it.
Pulling himself from his thoughts, Drake made his way to the training room to prepare it for his training sessions with Harry. The faster they could start the training, the better it was.
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Drake was casually flipping through the pages of a trashy romance novel a week later when he felt a pull at his energy. He understood that Harry had activated his portkey and was requesting his permission to come to his house. Drake glanced at his watch and saw that it was past midnight. Though a little surprised, Drake gave the permission and made his way to the training room.
Moments earlier at the Dursley household:
Harry was sitting on his bed inside his cupboard, slowly running his fingers across his ring. He had waited for a week with difficulty since he could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of learning magic. Today was the day he was supposed to start training and throughout the day he had looked for oppurtunities to escape to Drake’s house. Alas, he had found none. So when he finally retired for the day to his cupboard, he decided to activate his ring. He hoped that Drake would ignore the inappropriate timing of his request and accept it. Very softly he muttered ‘phoenix’ and waited for something to happen. For a few moments nothing happened. Just as Harry was starting to lose hope, the ring glowed brightly and a small yellow ring of light appeared under his feet. The ring enlarged until its diameter was about the same size as the width of his body. Harry could make out strange symbols around the circumference of the ring. The internal area of the ring was as black as night. Suddenly he felt a pull and the next moment he was sucked into the ring. The next moment he found himself lying in a heap on soft ground. He looked up to see the yellow ring shrinking back into nothingness . He got up and looked around to find himself in a strange place. It looked like the middle of a garden. There was soft earth underneath him and the place was filled with plants, shrubs, flowers, etc. The place oozed calmness and a sense of peace. He turned around just as he heard the sound of a door opening followed by the sound of footsteps.
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Drake entered the training room to find a slightly dazed looking Harry looking in his direction. “Welcome to the training room” Drake chuckled at his gobsmacked expression.
“This is inside your house?” Harry asked disbelievingly. “How?”
Drake winked mysteriously. “Magic!”
Harry huffed.”Why a garden though?”
“Peaceful atmosphere is required to learn Occlumency. But before we begin…” Drake waved his hand and a cake appeared in his hand, “…Happy belated birthday, Harry!”
Harry looked too shocked to say anything. He kept looking from the cake to Drake’s smiling face as if to determine whether it was a joke or not. Then tears formed in his eyes and he choked out an emotion-filled thank you.
“How did you know that July 31st was my birthday. I don’t recall telling you.” Harry managed to ask, even though his mouth was stuffed with chocolate flavoured cake.
Drake chuckled. “I forgot to mention that you are kind of a celebrity in the magical world. So your birthday is not exactly a secret.”
“Why am I a celebrity?”
Drake’s expression sombered. “You remember I mentioned about your parents not dying in a car crash?” Harry nodded. “You see, 10 years ago the magical world was in a state of war. This war was going on for quite a few years. The war was against an evil wizard called Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. Many good people were murdered at the hands of Voldemort and his followers. Many fought valiantly and were a thorn at Voldemort’s side. Your parents were among such people. For reasons unknown, Voldemort personally targeted your parents, a rare occurrence in itself since Voldemort usually let his followers do the dirty work. So on Halloween’s Eve 9 years ago, he arrived at your house and murdered your parents. They fought bravely but were no match for him. Then he decided to kill you also. This is where it gets weird. For some strange reason, the curse he fired at you apparently rebounded and he himself got hit by it. What exactly happened, nobody knows for sure. But when others arrived at your house, they only found you and the charred remains of Voldemort’s clothing. Some say he died, some believe he is still out there somewhere. But whatever happened, the war ended because of it and you were and still is considered as the Boy Who Lived, since before you nobody has ever survived his curse.”
Tears were running silently down Harry’s cheeks as for the first time in 9 years he mourned for his parents whom he never got to know.
Drake allowed Harry to mourn for sometime before he broke the silence. “I guess we should call it a day. It has been a rather emotional night for you.”
Harry wiped his eyes. “No, no, let’s begin training. I am alright. My school starts in a week. I don’t know how much spare time I can afford then.”
Drake nodded. “Ok, Occlumency, as I have said earlier, is a type of mind magic. In simple terms it basically involves gathering all your memories and emotions in one place and building shields around them so that they can neither come out nor can somebody get in.” Harry nodded, indicating that he had understood thus far.
“To most magical people, mental shields form the only and most important part of occlumency. Therefore they solely concentrate on building the strongest mental shields possible. Although this method requires relatively less magical energy, it has a big flaw. You see, our mind is made up of two parts- the conscious and the subconscious. An active mental shield can only protect the conscious mind since the blocking of intrusion has to be actively done by the person. It however cannot protect the subconscious mind. So if you are asleep or unconscious, it will be child’s play to retrieve memories from your mind.
“This is where the second part of occlumency comes into play, a part which is ignored by most. This part involves the creation of a mindscape which protects the subconscious mind passively. For now, however, we will not worry about the second part. We will worry about it only after you have perfected your active mental shields.” Again Harry nodded.
“So how do we build this shield?”
“Through meditation. First close your eyes and put aside all useless thoughts and emotions. Then focus on a single image of something constant, unending and uniform, like say a body of water, a single color and such. Basically it can be anything as long as it is composed of only one element. Now do it and tell me when you are ready.” Harry assumed the lotus position and began his meditation.
So began Harry’s training. Not much progress was achieved that night since Harry’s thoughts kept drifting towards his parents. During the course of the next week, Harry came to Drake’s house every night and trained for 2-3 hours. He often tried to meditate when he got some free time at the Dursleys but it proved to be rather hard to focus when there was so much noise around him.
Once school started, Harry’s visits became less frequent but he assured Drake that he was practicing whenever he got time. On certain weekends, Harry tried to come during the day when his relatives were out of the house but Drake was unable to grant him permission since he worked fulltime at the Leaky Cauldron. His shifts often extended late into the evening, so training during the day or in the evening was out of the question.
It took Harry more than a month to clear his head of unwanted thoughts and completely focus on the mind image. In Drake’s opinion, for someone as young and inexperienced as Harry, this was a remarkable feat. At the start Harry often complained about a mental image of a flash of green light interrupting his focus. A few weeks later, he got the idea of using a vast expanse of green color as his mind image. The idea seemed to have worked and Harry was ecstatic that he could now completely focus and maintain his mind image. Drake was impressed by Harry’s ingenuity.
“Now harry I am going to try to invade your mind.” Drake informed Harry as he sat in front of him a month later. At the alarmed look on Harry’s face, Drake soothed, ”Relax. No need to get so worried. I will be gentle. Now any invasion will appear as a spot or blemish on your mind image. Now think of your mental image as a flexible sheet of green color. Since you have put so much effort in creating it, you don’t want some spot or blemish to spoil it, now do you? So your aim should be to keep your image blemish free. Whenever you spot some blemish or deformation in your image, you will wrap a part of your image around that area, completely enclosing it so that the overall image remains blemish free. Understood?”
Harry nodded. “Ok, now get ready. Leglimens!”
During the first few attempts, Drake managed to bypass Harry’s shields and got a glimpse of a few of his memories. He withdrew quickly, not really interested in invading his privacy but the few memories he saw, left Drake fuming and Harry extremely embarrassed and sad. If it was not for his extremely strong occlumency shields, Drake felt that he would have gone and cursed the Dursleys to hell for beating a child with a belt for wanting more food and other similar atrocities.
After a few more tries, Harry finally managed to block Drake’s attack successfully. He did a sort of happy jig in celebration. A few more successful tries later, Drake decided to call it a day and sent Harry away with the instruction that he should now try to keep his shields up at all times and try to go about doing his everyday tasks with his shields up. He was not required to comeback for training until he has achieved it.
It was nearly six months before Harry contacted Drake again. He happily regaled how he could now do his tasks with his shields up. He confided with a hearty chuckle that in the beginning when his shield was up, he saw green everywhere and bumped into stuff, much to the annoyance of the Dursleys. Then slowly he was able to see other stuff but through a sort of green haze. Presently, he could see everything clearly and was able to bring up his shield at a moments notice. It was confirmed when Drake caught harry unawares with leglimency attacks several times during their following training sessions. Much to the delight and pride of Drake, all his attacks were successfully thwarted by Harry.
“Now Harry, comes the second part of Occlumency…the mindscape. The mindscape is basically a mental rendition of a place you are familiar with. It is usually a house or a room, though it can practically be anything as long as it is complicated and unfamiliar to most people. In this mindscape you organize and store all your memories, thoughts and emotions. You may check up on the book I gave you for your birthday for details. In simple terms, the more complicated the layout of your mindscape, the better it is. A very important thing you need to remember is that the location you choose as your mindscape should be such that it’s known only to you. In that way, it will be harder for the intruder to find your hiding spots, where you have stored your most private and important memories.
Say, you chose No.4 as your mindscape. Now it’s layout is very similar to that of my house. So, it would not be very difficult for me to find your hiding spots. Any questions?”
“A mindscape is passive defense, right? So technically the intruder can take all the time in the world to search for my hiding places and I will be sitting ducks” Harry asked confusedly.
Drake smirked. “You have been living at No.4 for more than 9 years, correct?”
“Yes…” Harry answered, now more than a little confused by this sudden change of topic.
“So I assume I am not wrong when I say that even when you are locked in your cupboard, you are able to get a fairly good idea of what’s going on in the rest of the house from sounds and general atmosphere in the house? You are also able to detect if something is amiss?”
Harry nodded affirmatively.
“Your mindscape also works in a similar way. As you become more and more attuned to your mindscape and magic, your subconscious will be able to detect anomalies pretty quickly and if your will is strong enough, it may even be able to throw the intruder out. Otherwise, your subconscious will just wake you up, then you can do the honours consciously.”
“Cool!”
“Yeah, it’s cool, isn’t it? So, shall we begin?”
The next few months were spent by Harry trying to build up the perfect mindscape, organizing his memories and storing them securely within his mindscape. Drake also kept testing his outer shields occasionally to ensure that they are in optimum condition. He often gave tips and suggestions for improving and fine-tuning his defences.
In no time, one year since the day Drake arrived at Privet Drive, was almost complete. Harry’s eleventh birthday was fast approaching.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Anyway, can anyone guess Drake’s method of transportation? Also, please guys, RATE & REVIEW!
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