Harry lay down on the grass in a nearby park as he read the Standard Book of Spells for first years, Alberto or Dumbledore or whoever the hell he was dropped off the equipment he needed for school considering the attack had interrupted him. And from what he could gather about the book it was incredibly simple stuff. He sat up from the grass and drew his wand from his waistband. 

"Lumos." He uttered and the tip of his wand brightened, even without using his eyes this all felt easy. All he had to do was follow the instructions for the spell, though he could understand for most people this would be easier said than done. From the book he had on magical theory, he'd been able to theorise that he had near-perfect control of his magic that he narrowed down to his six eyes, the wand waving and the words were just used to focus a wizard, what truly mattered was control and intent. He had control down so as long as he mastered intent then his spells would never fail. 

"Nox." The tip of his wand darkened and the light went out. Harry then took off the glasses Dumbledore had given him and held out his left hand "Lumos." A light appeared in his hand, he was able to control the size and intensity of it just as well as he could with his wand. He put his glasses back on, he'd try and keep his wandless magic to himself as it would be a good advantage to keep to himself. 

He lay back down in the grass as his thoughts drifted to the Potter family grimoire that was currently hidden under the floor in his room. He kept meaning to read it but he hadn't had the chance to, he was sure the book would have a lot more interesting spells than this kiddie book. 

Harry palmed his wand as he held it above his face, the runes that were carved into the wood looked beautiful and ever since he chose the wand they started to glow slightly "You are a pretty cool wand." He said though he felt slightly ridiculous talking to a piece of wood which was why he nearly jumped when he felt it vibrate in his hand. 

He sat up and inspected the wand carefully "Can you understand me?" He quickly asked in awe. He felt the wand in his hand vibrate once again making his jaw drop "Ollivander didn't mention this..." he said as he twirled his wand in his hand. 

"I wonder if there are any books on wand crafting." He said to himself as he looked at his wand closely, he'd already tried inspecting it with his six eyes but it seemed that some things went beyond his vision. 

"There are but they are quite closely guarded, can't have too many unregulated wands after all." A voice said from behind him, Harry rolled across the grass before standing up and pointing his wand at the person who managed to sneak up on him. 

Standing there with her arms folded and an amused expression on her face was the girl who had saved him in the train station "That was quite dramatic though it did look pretty cool." She said with a chuckle at the end. 

Harry sighed and let his arm drop down "What're you doing here? As far as I know, there aren't any Cursed Spirits around." He asked. 

"Rude... you could at least be a little happy to see me I did save you after all," Tonks said as she sat down on the grass in front of him. 

Harry chuckled "Avoiding the question are we?" He said rhetorically. 

"Boo you're no fun," she said giving him a thumbs down and making a fart noise with her mouth. 

Harry just continues to look at her with a blank expression "Fine... Dumbledore's orders are to keep an eye on you and make sure no one else comes after you." She explained. 

"And he sent you aren't you still a student?" He asked. 

Tonks got what Harry was hinting at "I'll have you know I'm one of the strongest students at our school." She said as she pointed her finger in front of Harry's face. 

Harry smirked at her "Oh yeah?" He said sceptically. 

"Damn right." She replied 

"And I'd show you right now if you didn't have that dumb trace on your wand." She said with slight disappointment. 

Harry looked at her with apparent confusion "What's a trace?" He asked. 

Tonks flicked her wrist and her wand fell out of her sleeve "Every student below third year gets a trace placed on their wand, it's against the law for underage wizards to perform magic outside of Hogwarts." She explained. 

"What happens if you do?" He asked as his curiosity was building. 

"Ministry sends you a letter the first time, the second time you get expelled from Hogwarts and the third you get your wand snapped." She replied. 

Harry snickered "Mine must not be working then, I've been using magic ever since I got back from Diagon Alley." He said as he held up his own wand, not seeing the look of shock Tonks was giving him. 

Tonks walked straight up to him getting close enough to make Harry a bit uncomfortable "That is bloody brilliant!" She said as she looked at his wand. 

She then looked up at him with a smirk on her face "I guess there is nothing stopping us then!" She said excitedly. 

She whipped up her own wand which had a dark purple glow at the tip "Concelare!" She shouted and a large purple dome erupted from her wand and covered a large area around them. 

"Not as good as Protego Totalum but it will do in a pinch." She said with a fierce grin on her face. 

Harry laughed nervously as he looked at Tonks "Come on Tonks I've barely learnt any spells you wouldn't want to hurt me would you?" He said hoping to reason with her. 

Tonks thought about it for a moment before shrugging "Shame." She said before holding up her wand. 

"Expulso!" She shouted and a bright white light shot out of her wand hitting Harry and sending him flying across the air. Harry managed to channel magic through his body and then midair before shooting a spongify at the ground, the now softened ground broke his fall as he bounced off it and onto the hard ground. 

'Do I take my glasses off? Dumbledore warned me not to.' He thought to himself as he sized up Tonks, though he ultimately decided not to as this was a friendly match. 

"Confringo!" A large stream of flames shot at him which he was able to dodge before shooting the explosion spell that Beth had used against him at her feet. Tonks was so caught off guard by the Bombarda that Harry shot at her she didn't defend herself in time and was sent tumbling to the ground by the force of the explosion. 

Tonks shook the soil out of her hair as a large smile crept onto her face "Now where did an ickle firstie get his hands on a spell like that..." she asked in a low tone, though she didn't expect Harry to answer. 

"I guess that means I don't have to hold back as much," Tonks said before holding up her wand again. 

"Bombarda Maxima!" She shouted as a spell shot from her wand towards Harry. 

"Protego!" Harry shouted as he cast the spell he remembered Tonks using in the underground, though as the spell collided with his shield it managed to crack it and break through sending him skidding back slightly. 

'I need to disarm her, without her wand she'll be useless.' He reasoned to himself as he started running parallel to her avoiding the flames and shots of light she kept shooting at him. Turning on his heel he started running straight towards Tonks, he cast a Confringo at her which she channeled away from her with the tip of her wand though she didn't see the Diffindo that had come right after. Her wand dropped as she felt her hand go slightly limb due to the deep cut in the tendons. 

Harry then tried to finish it off with a Bombarda but it seemed he'd made a miscalculation as Tonks started to run towards him instead much faster than she had been moving before. She had already grabbed his wand hand before he could fire his spell and lifted upwards she then went to throw a punch at Harry using her other hand though it was one that Harry caught by channeling magic through his body again making him stronger. 

Tonks smiled as she saw Harry catch her punch "You keep getting better and better, do you think you can handle more." She said with wild eyes as she pivoted on her feet moving around Harry though she still had a grip on his wand hand, she promptly flipped him onto his back before letting go "In the third year you'll get the chance to pick optional classes, I'd recommend you pick Magic Enhancement as one." She told him. 

Harry rolled out of the way as Tonks punched down on the ground making the earth tremble slightly, he then rushed towards her and threw a punch of his own that she avoided and then countered by slamming her shoulder into Harry knocking him away. Harry who still had his wand shot a Bombarda in mid-air at Tonks who jumped at the moment it hurt the ground, the force set her towards Harry and she drew her fist back before slamming it into his stomach. 

Though Harry managed to grab her fist before she drew it away and cracked her across the face with his fist. They both clattered to the floor before standing up and fighting once more, Harry had not had much formal training in fighting so Tonks had the edge. In fact, Tonks outclassed him in almost all aspects apart from the amount of magic he had and how well he could control it. 

"Confringo!" Harry sent a stream of fire towards her confident she wouldn't be able to dodge this time. And he was right Tonks couldn't avoid the stream of flames without it singeing some of her skin. 

'Magical Technique: Metamorphic'

As the flames died down Mark saw that Tonks had managed to shield herself from the fire with her... hand?

Tonks chuckled as she ran towards Harry with a comically large hand, Harry could think of nothing to do but run in the opposite direction "How do you like my technique, Harry? Cool isn't it." She said laughing as she slapped the ground behind him making it tremor. 

The mention of that gave Harry a realisation, the fact that he hadn't used his own technique yet was quite embarrassing but the fact he forgot about it made it at least ten times worse. 

'Twelve Stars Summoning Technique: Aries'

A bright light manifested making Tonks cover her eyes with her normal hand. When it dimmed she was created with a large ram charging towards her, she shifted her other hand and made it larger to hold the ram back but it still managed to push her back. Thought the surprise didn't end there as it was all a diversion for Harry to jump over the Ram and land a kick straight to the side of Tonk's face sending her to the ground. 

Tonks rubbed the side of her head as she stood up, her hands shrunk and she grabbed her wand that she had landed next to "No holding back..." she said with an ominous grin. 

"Baubillious!" She shot a white bolt of lightning straight towards Harry, though it never reached him. In front of Harry was a golden shimmering shield that Aries had cast. Harry looked down at the Ram "Thanks buddy that spell looked painful." He said. 

"No problem sir," Aries replied. 

Harry paused for a moment before sighing "Of course you talk..." 

Meanwhile, outside of the shield, Tonks threw spell after spell at the shield which started to crack "Come out and fight firstie!!!" She shouted as she cast another Bombarda at the shield.  

*CRACK*

Tonks stopped casting as she looked to her right to see Dumbledore standing there with an unimpressed look on his face "Just what do you think you are doing Miss Tonks." He asked in a stern voice. 

Tonks smiled nervously as she rubbed the back of her head "Just a little fun." She said with a nervous laugh. 

Harry dismissed Aries and lowered the shield seeing that the fight was over "Just a little fun is it?" Dumbledore said with a small smile on his face. 

Tonks who was starting to sweat a bit tried to keep the smile on her face but was struggling "Y-Yeah just a bit of fun." She insisted. 

"Then I suppose anyone is welcome to join this little spot of fun you're having on this wonderful afternoon?" Dumbledore asked. 

Harry didn't get why Tonks was so worried, he was probably pretty powerful but he couldn't be that strong "Sure I don't see why-"

...

Harry woke up in bed the last thing he remembers being those words he uttered, on his chest was a note that he lifted and read. 

Albus Dumblescore: 1

Harry Loser: 0

'Doesn't even rhyme.' He thought to himself as he scrunched up the ball and threw it away. He didn't think Tonks was so bad, he did have a lot of fun with her though it's a shame Uncle Scrooge had to come and ruin it. 

Harry turned on his side and looked at the date he'd carved into the wall of his closet 'September 1st' That was the day everything would change, it was the day he'd finally be able to escape this boring place. 

'Not long now.'

———————————————————-

"You know you didn't need to bring me here," Harry said with a blank expression as he pushed his trolly along platform 9 at Kings Cross. 

"Poppycock if I didn't bring you here then that oaf Dumbledore might of," Bellatrix said as she walked beside Harry. 

Harry still wasn't sure about Bellatrix, while she insisted that she was rather close with the Potter family it didn't explain why she'd been absent most of his life 'There is something she's hiding from me.' He thought to himself and he reasoned that until she told him he wouldn't get too close to her. 

"If we can Apparate then why are we taking a train that takes nine hours to arrive?" Harry asked, he still wasn't sure about that aspect of this journey. It would be like people still riding horses to work after the car was invented. 

"Oh you can Apparate now, can you? Well please do not hesitate to show me." She said with a sarcastic voice. 

Harry sighed "I get your point... but it still seems pretty pointless." He insisted. 

Bellatrix shrugged "It's tradition, the Hogwarts Express has become sort of a right of passage for those who wish to step onto the path of Wizardry." She explained. 

"Still though... nine hours..." he said as he looked up at her with a disheartened expression on his face. 

"Stop whining we are here." She said as she put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him. They were standing in the middle of a platform in front of a column between platform 9 and platform 10, Harry looked at Bellatrix with a raised eyebrow. 

"Run at the column."

"No."

"That's how you get to the platform."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"I don't believe you."

Bellatrix huffed before marching towards the column and disappearing through it surprising Harry. Though when he saw her about to do it a small part of him was hoping that she would run straight into the wall or pick the wrong column. 

"Oh well, here we go." He said before running straight at the column, he closed his eyes at the last second instinctively as his body thought there would be a collision however he didn't feel anything. However, when he opened his eyes his senses were overloaded with different sights sounds and smells. 

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. Hanging above the train was the name of the platform, platform 9 3/4. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted at each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.

Bellatrix was standing in front of him with a smug smile on her face that annoyed him "Now before you go and find a compartment I have something to give you, think of it as a late birthday present." She said with a smile as she opened her purse abnormally wide and reached down only to pull out a cage. 

Inside the cage was one of the most beautiful animals he'd ever seen in his life. It was a pure white snowy owl that looked almost regal as it perched on the bar in its cage "I thought that this Owl was a good match considering your weird hair." Bellatrix said teasingly. 

However, Harry ignored her jibe and took the cage off of her holding it closer to his face "You're quite amazing aren't you." He said with an increasingly widening grin. The Owl leaned forward and nippled a strand of his hair making him laugh a little. 

He turned to Bellatrix "Thank you Bellatrix, she's brilliant." He said with a smile. 

Bellatrix smiled back at him as she rubbed his back "Please call me Bella..." she said softly. 

"Now run along your train will be leaving soon." She said as she tapped him on the back pushing him forward slightly. 

Harry nodded and quickly put the cage on his trolley and pushed it forward. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his trolley off past lots of families who were waiting to say goodbye to their children, he passed a rather muscular boy who looked disinterested as he was being disciplined "By the time you get back from your first year I expect you to have mastered all the spells, do you hear me boy!" The old woman shouted at the boy. 

Harry pressed on through the crowd and continued until he started reaching sparsely occupied compartments. Getting on the train he opened the first one he could see and saw it was empty, whipping his wand out he levitated his trunk up to the storage above the seats and put his new owl on the seat next to him. 

"You're not supposed to use magic outside of school you know." 

Harry whipped around with his wand in hand only to see that the compartment wasn't empty and had a girl already sitting inside of it. She was sat with her knees to her chest just to the left of the door, she had a history of magic in her hands that she looked to be halfway through. 

She had bushy brown hair that seemed to be almost filled with static "Well I'm sure they won't mind." Harry said with a smile. 

"And why is that?" She asked in an almost annoyed tone. 

"Because I'm not going to tell them." He said with a smirk. Harry did manage to catch the small smile that appeared on her face before it disappeared. 

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I don't suppose you mind if I share your cabin? I didn't see you in here when I first came in." Harry asked politely. 

The girl nodded "That's okay you can stay." She said before looking back down at her book. 

"Thanks I wasn't looking forward to moving my bags again." He said with a slight chuckle though she didn't respond to him.  

Feeling a little awkward he decided to introduce himself "Anyway my name is Harry nice to meet you." He said holding out his hand. The girl put her book down and reached over to take his hand and shake it. 

"I'm Hermoine Granger."

(AN: Another chapter done, they are off to Hogwarts, by the way, I'm gonna be changing some things when I do this mostly because I think the first book was boring so I hope you don't mind. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)