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Sunday, September 1, 1996

"Ladies first," Bill said flirtatiously, gesturing toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten. "None of that age before beauty rubbish."

"You calling me beautiful Bill?" Tonks asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

"You're a vision," he replied in a serious tone.

Harry smiled at the interaction between the two, knowing this was a game for them. He recalled over the holidays, his reaction to spying Bill chatting up an attractive Muggle woman who had been jogging past the park where they'd been training. He'd been immediately worried that Tonks would be upset. After all, from the teasing and banter he regularly witnessed between the two, he'd come to the conclusion that they were an item. Or an almost-item at the least.

When he confronted Bill however, he was quickly informed that the teasing was just that teasing and not anything serious for either of them. Tonks, who had overheard the conversation, agreed with Bill's claims, saying the redhead was just a terrible flirt.

Of course Harry's understanding soon turned to embarrassment when Bill asked if he'd never had anyone play-flirt with him before. When Harry had honestly answered no, Bill had said he'd have to change that, giving him a wink as Tonks nodded agreement, giving him a once over. Both actions had made him blush in embarrassment, and stutter excuses that they should get back to training.

"A vision? Well, who am I to argue with that?" Tonks laughed, skipping forward to disappearing through the barrier.

Bill then turned to Harry.

"You next gorgeous, and I'll follow along."

He was proud of himself for barely blushing at all at the compliment, merely smiling and stepping through onto platform nine and three quarters. Under the teasing attentions of Bill and Tonks he had become a bit better adjusted to the casual flirting. It was, he admitted, more self preservation than anything else. Since he'd spent so much time with the pair, what with all his training, it had been a case of 'get used to it' or else spend half the summer the colour of a tomato.

Shaking his head as Bill appeared behind him, his mind went back to his summer and the training he'd received. He recalled his first lesson, with Tonks and Moody.

..ooOOFlashbackOOoo..

After finishing explanations in his bedroom, the group of witches and wizards had trooped down to the warded park. Once there Bill and Healer Vance had stepped back allowing Moody and Tonks to take the lead first.

"Now," Moody announced in his usual gruff tone, "as we said, Tonks and I'll be your duelling instructors."

"Can I ask," Harry inquired curiously, "why I need two teachers for this?"

"Simple lad. Tonks here will be your duelling partner if and until you get good enough to duel me. As things stand, I'd flatten you in short order; you wouldn't last two seconds against me."

That seemed a bit discouraging, but Harry had to admit that Moody was probably right. He was a legendary Auror after all; the bane of dark wizards in his day.

"Now," Moody continued, "to start off I need to gauge your skill level. Best way to do that is some practice duelling. Tonks!" He gestured her toward Harry."Get over there. I want you two a goodly distance apart, wands drawn and ready to cast."

"Aye-aye, Captain." She saluted, skipping over to her place.

As he gripped his wand, looking across the field at Tonks who sent him a grin, Harry was feeling cautiously optimistic.

"On three, two, one," Moody counted down, "DUEL!"

Half a minute later, as Harry was revived and his wand returned, he realised his optimism was misplaced. Tonks might not look like much but she could out-duel him without too much trouble. He still had a long way to go. Fortunately for his ego, Tonks was actually complimentary.

"Wow Harry," she said, "I didn't expect you to last that long. I'm a fully qualified Auror after all, and the training for that's nothing to sniff at. It's pretty impressive you managed to keep me on my toes for any time at all."

Moody nodded. "By all rights she should have had you down in seconds."

He wasn't sure whether to be discouraged by their low expectations or encouraged by the fact that they seemed impressed. He might well be the best Defence student of his year at Hogwarts, but it was quickly becoming apparent to Harry that he had nothing on a trained Auror. He supposed he should just be grateful that he exceeded expectations and had two such skilled trainers to help him improve.

..ooOOEndFlashbackOOoo..

Harry was jolted from his thoughts by Tonks plastering herself to his side, linking her arm through his and looking up at him, batting unnaturally elongated lashes and pouting swollen lips. He stared at her confused for a moment before Bill spoke up.

"Well," the redhead asked teasingly, "aren't you going to give the lady a kiss goodbye?"

Tonks batted her eyelashes further, puckering her lips slightly, as if in anticipation. Biting his tongue, Harry drew on every reserve of composure he'd managed to build up since the duo had started teasing him. Then, instead of blushing and getting flustered, he took the Metamorphmagus's arm from his, bowed over her hand and chivalrously brushed a kiss across her knuckles, looking up at her adoringly from beneath his lowered lashes.

"My Lady," he whispered huskily or as close to huskily as his voice could manage.

Tonks was shocked at his response and for a moment she gaped at him, hair cycling through an array of colours. Bill laughed loudly, squeezing Harry's shoulder.

"Well done," he congratulated. "I think you win that round. You're finally learning."

"Aww," Tonks cooed, regaining control of her wits. "Our little apprentice of flirtation is all growed up."

Harry just grinned at the pair.

"What can I say? I had good teachers," he responded.

"Flatterer," Tonks said, slapping his arm lightly. "Now get on the train you. It's about to leave."

Looking around he realised for the first time just how close they were cutting it. That made sense though the less time he was in the open, the less risk. Looking around the platform he spotted Mrs Weasley hustling one of her children (Harry didn't know which; only spotted the red hair) onto the train. She looked up then and caught sight of him, quickly hurrying over.

"Bill dear. And Tonks it's good to see too. And Harry, there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere. I worried you might be late," she said, giving him a quick hug. "You had a good summer I hope?"

"Productive." He shrugged, shying away from her measuring expression.

"Harry, you better get on the train before it leaves without you," Bill said as the train whistle sounded, saving him from Molly's mothering.

Harry sent the older boy a thankful look and then focussed on hauling his trunk aboard. Boarded and standing at the door, he looked at the three faces before him.

"It was good seeing you again Mrs Weasley-"

"It's Molly dear."

"Molly," he corrected awkwardly. "Well I better go." He looked at the other two."I'll see you guys soon then?" he asked, since his training was to continue at school.

"You betcha," Tonks chirped.

"Can't keep us away green eyes," Bill nodded with a smile.

Molly looked confused, but none of them filled her in. His training sessions weren't common knowledge yet.

Just then there was one last whistle before the train gave a lurch.

"Bye!" Tonks said waving.

"Your friends are two compartments up," Molly hurried to tell him.

"See you soon," called Bill.

Then the train was pulling away from the station and he shut the door. Through the window he could see Bill and Molly standing in place waving, whilst Tonks skipped down the platform, trying to keep up. He laughed at her efforts, waving back, and soon the train picked up speed and platform nine and three quarters was left behind.

Grabbing his trunk he began dragging it down the train. Two cars down he stopped and opened the compartment door.

"Harry, mate!" Ron greeted him. "Get in here."

He smiled, glad to see his friends again, and entered the compartment, Ron and Neville standing up to take his trunk and heave it up into the luggage rack overhead. He took a seat opposite Hermione and Luna, and once they were done Ron and Neville sat down on either side of him. It was almost the whole ministry crew together again. The only one missing was...

"Where's Ginny?" he asked and Ron scowled.

"She's with Dean," Hermione answered him. "And stop sulking Ron. She's fifteen. Old enough to have a boyfriend."

"But it's Dean."

"I thought you liked Dean," Neville said. "I mean you two have never argued or anything."

"I did like Dean." Ron nodded. "Till the rat started dating my baby sister."

"She's not a baby Ronald," Hermione scolded.

Harry rolled his eyes and tuned out the habitual bickering. His gaze landed on Luna

"Hello Harry," she greeted him dreamily. "I hope you've not been too terribly sad about your godfather being dead and all."

From anyone else that would have sounded cold and uncaring. Fortunately Harry knew Luna well enough by now to know that she was just rather blunt at times. She was also very honest so he knew that when she said she hoped he'd not been too sad, she meant just that. Ignoring the sudden silence of the compartment he smiled softly at her.

"I was a bit of a mess that the beginning of summer," he admitted. "But I woke up around my birthday and I've been feeling better ever since, though I still miss him, and I still feel guilty."

"Oh Harry," Hermione breathed. "You do know it wasn't your fault don't you?"

Harry winced and looked away from her. Desperately, he sought a way to change the subject.

"So, I've been training this summer."

It worked. Immediately his friends were asking questions. Well, except for Luna, but she did look very curious. Before he could answer any of them the compartment door slid open.

"What's with the racket?" Ginny asked, taking a seat beside Luna. "I could hear you lot from the corridor."

Wincing, Harry immediately raised his wand and cast a privacy charm on the compartment. Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow at his actions.

"Part of my training was with Moody. I've had 'constant vigilance' drummed into my brain all summer," he explained,'Always use privacy charms when having private conversations, not matter that they seem innocuous; you never know who might be listening and what information might prove useful to an enemy'," he quoted in a mimicry of Moody's gruff tone.

"Training?" Ginny asked. "Is that what you did this summer?"

He nodded. "I just told the others. That's what the fuss was all about."

"And was this training the reason you wrote to us so little after those letters on your birthday?" Hermione questioned him, clearly disapproving at his lack of contact.

"Yeah," Ron added in an offended tone. "Dumbledore had mentioned us maybe visiting you, but when I asked Mum about it she said you weren't interested."

Harry sighed but quickly hurried to explain. He was glad to see his best friends after so long, but Hermione could be so nagging sometimes and Ron's feelings were so easily bruised.

"There's a war going on guys," he said tersely, "and like it or not I seem to be a major target. I had to focus on my training. I'm sorry I didn't pay as much attention to you all as I maybe should have, but learning all I could seemed more important."

The pair was reluctantly appeased at his explanation. Silence followed for a moment.

"Purple knickers!" Luna suddenly spouted and they all looked at her strangely.

"What?" Ron questioned, baffled.

"The silence was awkward. I decided to break it."

"By saying purple... you know."

"Knickers?" she repeated and Ron flushed, carefully not looking in Hermione's direction.

"Yeah. Why that?"

"Why not?" was her Luna-logical reply.

Ron had no counterargument. Still, her efforts had worked as the awkwardness was dissipated. Harry looked over at Ginny.

"I thought you were riding with Dean. Are things alright with you two?"

She shrugged. "We like each other and all but it's just casual. We're not joined at the hip or anything. I said I wanted to ride with you guys and he was fine with that."

Ron looked pleased to hear his sister's relationship was not too serious.

"So Harry," Neville asked, "what was your training like?"

The others perked up, eager to hear what he had to say.

"Well, I had four trainers. First were Moody and Tonks for duelling and combat. Well, that and general paranoia."

"Paranoia?"

"Yeah, from Moody. You know'constant vigilance'if it seems to good to be true then it probably is'if anything can go wrong, it will'be alert; someone is always watching'. Those sort of things."

Ron, Neville and Ginny found the Moody quotes amusing. Hermione seemed torn between taking notes (Mad Eye had sort of been a teacher after all, so his advice should be given due respect) and disapproving of the ex-Auror's pessimism. Luna just looked vaguely intrigued.

"Who else was teaching you?" Hermione questioned.

"There were two others. Bill-"

"Bill?" Ron interrupted. "My brother Bill?" Harry nodded. "That git he never said!"

"Honestly Ron. He was probably told to keep silent," Hermione interjected.

Harry nodded."Not even your mum knows."

"And thank goodness for that," said Ginny. "If she knew one of the 'children'were training to fight she would've chucked a fit."

Ron shuddered and nodded, obviously agreeing.

"So what did Bill teach you then?"

"He covered warding and a few rare spells he'd picked up over the place. He knows some really cool ones."

Ginny grinned. "I know. Where do you think I learnt my famous Bat Bogey Hex? That little gem was in graffitied in Incan script on some ruins he was sent to check out in Peru."

Harry grinned in return. Bill really did know some interesting spells. And that was to say nothing of his skill with wards. Though he specialised in curse breaking, and thus the dismantling of spells and wards, he was also very adept at putting them up as well. Harry had enjoyed learning from him.

They had started with simple things like privacy wards, before moving onto the more common basic wards like fire repelling lines, and eventually got into more complex spells like intention based wards. His mind drifted to a particularly interesting lesson he'd had with the redhead.

..ooOOFlashbackOOoo..

Harry made his way down Privet Drive, feeling particularly eager. Bill had said last lesson that they were going to be doing something interesting today. As he finally reached the park he spotted Bill sitting at the picnic tables. His curiosity was roused by the sight of a small shed-like building nearby. It was a wooden structure about as tall as he was with a single door.

"What's that for?" he asked, as he came to a halt before his teacher.

"This," Bill said, gesturing expansively toward the shed, "is the home of Mr Pumpkin."

Harry blinked,"What?"

"I've decided we've done enough theory and practice castings by now to know your strengths and weaknesses. You'll never have the mathematical mind for the Arithmancy required for breaking curses or bringing down wards, but you seem to instinctively understand how to put them up," Bill explained, critiquing Harry's performance in his lessons thus far, "so I've decided it's time now to put it all into practice."

Harry, beginning to get an idea, looked toward the shed again.

"You mean..." He gestured at the building and the other man nodded.

"Yep. Your job today is to ward this 'home' to protect the 'occupant'," at this he hopped up from his seat and opened the door to reveal the orange vegetable occupant,"Mr Pumpkin."

Harry was a bit shocked. After all, they'd not done much casting yet excepting to gauge his current skills. He hadn't expected his first full on practical lesson to be so involved and told Bill so. The redhead just shrugged.

"I think it's best to just jump in feet first."

"Do or drown?" he asked and Bill rolled his eyes.

"Well it's not all that dramatic it's only Mr Pumpkin on the line after all but yeah, I guess so. Now, I'm going to cast a ward of silence around myself and turn around so I'll have no idea what defences you put up. You start warding then tap me on the shoulder when you're ready and I'll try to get at Mr Pumpkin."

"Does it have to be called Mr Pumpkin?" Harry asked with an amused smile at the continued use of the name.

"Why, it look like a 'Miss' to you?"

"Not particularly. It just isn't very creative, is it?"

"It's that or Miss Cucurbita."

"What's cucurbita mean?"

"It's Latin for pumpkin," he said and Harry huffed a laugh.

"Nah, let's stick to the first one."

Once Bill had spun around and cast the silence ward, Harry turned his attention to Mr Pumpkin's abode. As he stared at the building, he remembered an idea he'd been thinking about during his warding study. Raising his wand, he decided to start with the basics: anti-Apparition and anti-Portkey wards. But then he laced a delicate, almost unnoticeable spell between the two. It was tricky casting and nothing he'd ever tried before. To be honest he hadn't even known it was really possible, but Bill said he had an instinctive understanding and it seemed right. The real test would come when Bill brought them down.

Twenty minutes later he tapped the curse breaker on the shoulder and the redhead turned his attention to the warded building. Harry was a bit depressed at how easily Bill began to dismantle the protections he'd set up. He held his breath as the other wizard stripped the spells away one at a time till he reached the anti-Apparition and anti-Portkey wards. Just as Bill released the pair, a frown creased his brow.

"Wait, what is he began but was too late. "Gah!"

Harry let loose a whoop of laughter. He looked up at Bill who was looking quite surprised and rather soggy, having been hit by a sudden spray of water, and laughed some more. Well, until the redhead turned his wand on him and said"Aguamenti", that is. He spluttered and wiped the water from his face before glaring up at the older man who was grinning unrepentantly.

"Tsk, tsk, Harry," he chided. "What would Mad Eye say at you being caught off guard like that. Constant vigilance!" he barked then grinned again."That was brilliant though Harry. How'd you think to thread a water charm hidden in between the other two? I wasn't planning to teach you about hidden trigger wards for a while yet."

Harry shrugged."It was just an idea I had; hiding a spell between some others. I figured the water spell was a good one because it's..." He struggled to explain."It's 'basic' somehow."

Bill nodded,"Yeah, it's a first level elemental charm. Simple, uncomplicated and low power, and so not really noticeable, especially hidden by the more complex anti-Apparition and anti-Portkey wards. Under normal circumstances I would probably have caught it, but I was lazy because I underestimated you. Really, that was brilliant of you. Most wizards wouldn't think something like that up on their own. You really do have a knack for this stuff."

Harry tried not to make his pleasure too obvious, but like flying, it seemed he'd found something he was naturally good at. Oh sure, he was the best in his age group in defence, but that wasn't natural talent so much as practice and necessity. He couldn't wait to learn more.

..ooOOEndFlashbackOOoo..

"Well, who was your last teacher then?"

Coming back to himself at the sound of Ron's question, Harry shook his head and answered.

"Emmeline Vance."

"She's the woman in the Order who always wears a shawl, isn't she?" Hermione said, recalling the witch. "Very formal looking. And isn't she a healer?"

Harry nodded."Yeah. Dumbledore figured it might be a good idea to learn some Medimagic too."

"Why?" Ron asked and it was Luna who answered.

"Imagine if someone you love was injured and died before you could get them medical attention," the girl said, sadness in her voice. "Wouldn't you wish you could have helped them?"

Harry remembered her telling how her mother had died whilst experimenting with spells when Luna was only nine. He suddenly had a strong suspicion that Luna had been with Mrs Lovegood as she died, and that the feeling of being unable to help haunted her. He sent Luna a sympathetic smile and she gave him a grateful look before her gaze went unfocussed and dreamy once more.

He thought back to his lessons with Healer Vance. The training had not been as intriguing as warding, nor elicited the need to excel in him that duelling did. And he was most certainly not a natural. Still, he had worked hard despite that, remembering the injuries his friends had sported at the Department of Mysteries Battle. He had worked hard in all areas of training in fact, and his effort and focus had paid of as he learnt at a rate that impressed all four of his tutors.

From there followed more questions about his training. Moody had rubbed off on him a bit however, as he recalled the man warning him to 'never reveal the extent of your abilities unless absolutely necessary'. And so he kept his explanations brief and light on details, though it clearly annoyed Hermione who as always wanted to know everything. Eventually he changed the topic, asking the others how their own holidays were. Luna promptly piped up regaling them with the tale of her Snorkack hunting and the rest of the train ride passed amicably.