Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.

If there are still grammer or spelling mistakes, please let me know. English isn't my native language (plus I have dyslexia), so it is possible that there are still a few mistakes in my stories even though I edit them before I post them. I hope you'll enjoy the story.

Taking control - chapter 15

The realization that they should start training, posed a few new problems. In America, they tracked magic that was used repeatedly in the same area, so they could uphold the statue of secrecy. If they saw areas where a lot of magic was used, especially over long period of time, they started to investigate as to why that was and to see if there were possibilities for breaches of the statue of secrecy.

The rules around the statue of secrecy were a lot more strict than in Britain, even though they had already loosened up a lot. In the past, magical people and mundane people couldn't interact with each other. That law had been discarded a few decades back, but there were still a lot of rules in place. For example, when a witch or wizard wanted to be together with a mundane person, the non-magical person was placed under a special oath so they couldn't reveal the magical world. The same was done with kids who were born from two mundane parents, plus their parents. That way, nobody could accidently slip up with what they said, or couldn't say something in envy or anger. If a person didn't want to take the oath, they would be obliviated. This was to assure no information could be leaked towards the mundane world.

Since Harry and Tonks didn't want to break the rules from MACUSA, the magical congress of the United States, they would just make sure that they stayed under the radar to be safe.

If Harry and Tonks would start training, they would use a lot of magic and an investigation could follow swiftly even with the simple ward Tonks had put up when they had arrived. They had no idea how the Americans would react if they knew that Harry was in their country, since the relations between Britain and the United States weren't good at all. So that meant that it could go both ways and if they could avoid detection, it was always their safest bet.

They had started researching ways to mask the usage of magic while they still were in Britain and they had found the answer in a few obscure books about wards they had picked up from the Black library. However, they still had to research them better, if they wanted to be certain that they would be put up correctly.

The wards they had found, were based on a ward that would absorb all the ambient magic that kept lingering after a spell was used. That magic would then be transferred towards a ward that strengthened the wards. On top of that, there was also a ward that hid wards from being picked up, or at least with the usual ways of scanning for them. That would hide them even better from the scanners that looked for areas with a lot of ambient magic.

It was mostly Tonks that did the research, as she knew the most about runes, Arithmancy and wards, but Harry tried to help, which aided his learning of those subjects. Especially since Tonks took the time to explain the things Harry didn't understand.

During that time, they tried not to use magic for every little thing, which was the most difficult for Tonks, as Harry was used to living without magic from his life with the Dursleys.

A few days before the first of September, Tonks felt ready to put up the wards, where Harry would mostly help with providing strength to empower them. They had planned as much as they could and felt like they understood the wards and knew how to put them up. They had already tried doing so over a small area, which had worked really well.

They had bought eight pieces of quartz crystals which they had embedded with runes, those formed the basis for their ward scheme. They started to bury the pieces of quartz at the edges of their property, activating them by pushing magic in it. When those crystals linked once the last crystal was activated, it formed the start for their wards to be put up. By doing it with the crystals, like the old pureblooded families, it would make it easier to add wards and to make them stronger.

Once they were done doing that, Tonks started to erect the actual wards, layering them carefully according to their calculations. It would make their property a lot safer, especially for people with ill intent. Plus MACUSA wouldn't be able to find them because of their magic spent.

It took them the entire day and by the end of it, they were completely spent. Thankfully, Dobby cared for them by providing food and making sure they got to their beds, since Tonks actually collapsed from fatigue while eating and Harry wasn't faring much better.

After a good night rest, they decided to test the wards, hoping they would hold. If someone from MACUSA started knocking on the front door, they'd know that it hadn't worked. That would also mean that they were detectible for others, so they preferred MACUSA possibly knowing.

They went to the training room and started applying spells to protect the actual room. They would look into warding the room as well, but at that point, they just wanted to start their magical training, so they would just recast the protective spells every day to protect the room.

They had made sure that the room couldn't be harmed by spell fire and by physical blows. On top of that, they also applied a spell that padded the walls, but also the floor. However, that spell only activated when something with a huge force hit it.

Once they were ready with that, they were finally ready to start their training. They had previously agreed that they would just start with Harry's first year, performing those spell until they came naturally for both and also silently. For Tonks, this was mostly repetition, but it would help her master those spells even better. She would also try a few of those spell without a wand, to give her a challenge.

While training those spells, they also discussed how they could be used in a duel or in battle, that made it interesting as well to repeat practicing those spells.

It took them three days to repeat the spells from Harry's first to fifth year in Defense, Transfiguration and Charms. After that, they had agreed that they would make their training program a bit more versatile.

They realized that they couldn't just focus on running and training spells if they wanted to be prepared for what might come. They'd need to do a lot more.

Harry would need to learn more about Runes and Arithmancy, as well as defense and the dark arts. Tonks on the other hand would focus on healing and stealth, two subjects than she had never mastered. They would study those subjects during their mornings, together with whatever seemed interesting to them. For example, it was interesting to study Transfiguration and think how they could be applied in real life and in a battle, which lead to a part of Transfiguration, namely Battle Transfiguration, which was a course on its own. Even just studying the first chapter from a book they had bought made them realize that it could be the difference between winning in a fight or losing.

Apart from studying, they'd also practice a lot of magic and their dueling and battling. The first times Harry had gone against Tonks had made him realize how lucky he had been in his previous fights and he knew he couldn't count on luck every time. It made him determined to practice as much as he could, so he would become better.

Both Tonks and Harry also knew that they couldn't just focus on fighting the other, so they had decided to make a very expensive investment by buying a few fighting dummies. But to do so, they'd have to travel to San Francisco's magical warehouse, so they could contract someone to make them. They were quite expensive and even the auror department in Britain only had three of them because of their cost. Luckily, since their bond had been finalized, they had more resources than they could dream of, so money wasn't a problem.

From observing a few battles in the pensive they had bought priory, they realized that witches and wizards tended to trust on their magic and their wands, but that they were completely useless without them. It made them recognize the need to learn mundane ways, as they called it in the United States, to fight an opponent, or to react to an opponent. For example, if they didn't have their wands anymore, but were still able to dodge curses, it could mean their survival. Also, if they would manage to come close enough, they'd be able to strike out with their body, instead of their wands. It was something Harry had thought about thanks to his cousin Dudley, who had started boxing classes the year prior.

Those things, plus working on their metamorphmagus skills, their occlumency and even the animagus transformation, meant that the only way to achieve all those goals would mean a very full schedule.

The rudimentary schedule they had made, started with running in the mornings, apart on Wednesdays and Sundays, since they had reserved the evenings before those days to go on dates. After going on a run, they wanted to go to a gym, to learn fighting as a mundane person. Once their physical training was over, they'd study some, so they could prepare for the afternoons, where they'd train and duel. The evenings were reserved for fine-tuning their metamorphmagus skills and occlumency shields, but also to start working on becoming an animagus, something they both really wanted.

The schedule meant that they'd start their days at five in the mornings and that they'd only be finished at nine. However, they knew that it was crucial, most of all for Harry, to be as ready as possible.

They were sitting in the living room, cuddled next to each other discussing their schedule, but mostly where they would search for their non-magical martial arts training.

"Do you think that we should just follow classes or see if we can find a personal trainer, or multiple?" Tonks enquired, since that was the last part of their training they still had to figure out.

Harry thought about that question for a while, thinking about the pros and cons about that question. "I believe that we'd learn the most if we had individual training, however, it would be beneficial if we followed one class a week, so we could work with other people, instead of just each other and the instructor"

Tonks nodded as his reasoning was quite logical. "And would you take one instructor for both, or one for each?"

"In the magical world, a wand compensates a lot, but I think that mundane fighting is different for a male and a female, so it would be better if you had a female instructor and for me a male instructor. A female instructor will know better how a woman has to use her body in the best way and with the most effect. It's the same for me with a male instructor" Harry said, but it was clear that he wasn't so sure about how Tonks would react.

"That sounds logical, women normally have less bulk muscles than men" Tonks agreed quickly, having seen Harry's face and it was then that she noticed that she had felt some fear herself, which had disappeared when she saw the fear disappearing from Harry's face.

It wasn't difficult for Tonks to deduce that she had actually felt Harry's emotions, since they were probably quite extreme at that point. That was the first time she had actually felt some of Harry's emotions and she was a little bit surprised with it, even though they had warned them that it could happen.

Deciding that she shouldn't focus on it at that point, but merely observe it if happened more often, she continued their conversation. "So we should try and find an instructor for each"

They both agreed that they would visit some gyms in the neighborhood in search for two instructors that wanted to give them lessons practically every morning.

Since they were done with the heavy decisions, they sat a little bit closer, Tonks' head on Harry's shoulder and they merely enjoyed the closeness of each other. It was quite cozy in their new living room. They had put an illusion on their extended fireplace so it still looked small, it was decorated a little, but not overly so. It just felt like home, but the person they were sitting with also had an important part in that feeling.