CHAPTER FORTY –
And So, It Begins
Harry was awoken by an angry orange fuzzball. Resisting the urge to shave the cat and dangle him from a tree (which, while undoubtedly cruel, would have been so very satisfying...), Harry glared at the doorway, listening for anything that would indicate someone else was listening.
"Right, Crooks, you little shite. I'm sick of your bloody attitude."
Crookshanks, predictably, just glared at Harry. Even though he wasn't a Legilimens, Harry could almost read the little bastard's mind.
"Yes, we both know I'm hiding stuff from Hermione, and as a Kneazle-cross, you can't stand that, but Hermione knows I'm hiding it from her and that I have a good reason. Would you please tone down the hostility?"
The evil orange animal just stared at Harry.
"Oh, bloody hell... Hermione!" Harry called, climbing out of his bed and grabbing a t-shirt. When Hermione poked her head around his bedroom door, he was suitably dressed in sweats and a shirt.
"You okay, Harry? Oh, good morning."
"Morning, My Only. Since Crooks is your familiar, would you pleasetell him to stop glaring at me?"
Hermione blinked. "Eh?"
"Crooks isn't just a cat, as you know. Since he's part-Kneazle, he can detect people who're hiding stuff. Since you know that I'm hiding stuff, would you tell him to stop picking on me?"
Having to stifle a giggle, Hermione came into the bedroom, plucking Crookshanks off the bed. "Crooks, are you picking on Harry?"
Crookshanks looked up at his human, sending his feelings of distrust through the still-forming familiar bond. Hermione frowned slightly as she picked up on feelings that weren't her own. "That's... peculiar."
Harry looked up. "Hmm? Oh, animal emotions. Yeah, weird, aren't they? I get them from Hedwig all the time."
"How d'you deal with them?" Hermione asked, still trying to filter them.
"It's something you get with practice. Most familiar bonds start off slowly, but the one between Hedwig and I pretty much formed at warp speed." Harry smiled as a hoot from his windowsill announced the presence of his familiar. With a slight wave of his hand, Harry opened the window, allowing Hedwig into the room. As soon as she landed on his shoulder, she began barking and snuffling at Crookshanks, who glared for a moment, before mewing pitifully.
Harry chuckled as Hedwig bollocked Hermione's cat, before reporting to him. "Yes, dear." Harry said agreeably. "I've got some in a bowl downstairs."
With a slight snuffle, Hedwig nipped lightly on Harry's ear and ghosted out of the doorway.
"I still think it's creepy that you can understand her so well." Hermione said, looking down at her familiar with a little disappointment. Crookshanks looked up pitifully, eyes wide and ears plastered back. Predictably, Hermione melted at the 'cute' picture.
"God, it's nauseating..." Harry muttered as he pressed a kiss to Hermione's temple on his way into the bathroom.
Once showered and dressed, Harry led Hermione into the Portkey Box, closing and sealing the doors. Making his way to the console, Harry quickly began making calls.
"Potter to Bones."
A few moments later, a clearly half-asleep Susan answered her mirror. "Bones..." She trailed off with a yawn, "here..."
"Good morning, Susan." Harry said politely. "Hermione's decided that it's time for us to begin our defence training. With Sirius Black on the loose, it's not enough to rely on the normal defence curriculum."
"Not to mention both teachers we've had so far have been bloody useless." Hermione groused softly.
In the mirror, Susan nodded. "Yeah... can we do this at a reasonable hour, Harry? It's barely daylight."
"It's 9am, Sue." Harry said dryly. "I'll give you a half-hour to wake up and have a coffee."
"And then?"
"I'll become... insistent."
Taking the threat as intended, Susan swallowed another yawn, before acquiescing. "Fine... half hour. I'll call you back." The image blinked away as Susan complied. Harry smiled to himself, before calling the next on his list.
"Potter to Longbottom."
Less than two seconds later, Neville's face, smudged with dirt, appeared on the console. "Morning, Harry. You're up early."
"Clearly not as early as you, Nev." Hermione said, stepping next to Harry, wrapping an arm around his waist absently.
"Dealing with the Alder Blossoms." Neville said in explanation. "They're always the most docile at dawn, so you have to be ready while it's still dark."
Harry nodded, not having a clue what Alder Blossoms were. "Okay... er... damn, I've lost my train of thought."
"Defence training." Hermione supplied helpfully.
"Right! Neville, Hermione's pointed out that with Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban, it's time we moved into high gear with our DADA training. Since I'm quite knowledgeable, she suggested that we start intensive studying."
In the mirror, Neville was nodding as he placed the mirror on something, and began washing his hands. "I can be ready in ten minutes, Harry. Where are we meeting?"
Harry thought for a moment. "Well... I was hoping to arrange a conference call between everyone, really, to see what's best. What'd be best for all of us? A series of lectures? Practical exercises? A mix of both?"
"A mix of both." Hermione said quickly.
"Seconded." Neville added. "It's always best if we get some information about a spell, then practice it. Plus, we can work some more on physical defence. I remember Susan asking you last year about self-defence, but we never really covered that."
Harry nodded. "Ah, yes... her 'breast defence'." He caught Hermione's half-hearted swat without looking, making Neville raise an eyebrow in the mirror.
"Yeah, like that."
"Okay... how about I come and collect you all, and we work on our defence casting here in the Box? It'll be undetectable, plus there's room for us to move around."
Neville shrugged, before glancing from side-to-side, and leaning in close to the mirror. "Keep this quiet, Harry, but Longbottom Manor has anti-detection wards over the whole property. We could train here and the grounds are quite large."
Hermione growled low in her throat. "Anti-detection wards on pureblood homes... means that only Muggleborns can perform underage magic."
"Yes." Neville said quietly. "It's not something I agree with."
"I know." Hermione groused. "Doesn't make it any less fair, though."
"Hermione." Harry said softly, placing a hand on her arm. "It's a long-term project for us. As much as I agree with you that it's completely biased and horrendously wrong, it's not something we can fix now."
"I know..."
"So, put it out of your mind. If you need to do any magic, you can do it in here, and it's completely clear."
"Fine." Hermione sighed. "But I'm not gonna forget this." She promised.
"No doubt." Neville said, grinning at Hermione's sheer determination. "I can be ready in about fifteen minutes, Harry. Just let me grab a fast shower and a change of clothes, and I'll be there."
Harry nodded. "Make it a half-hour, Nev. Need to clear the trip with the others first. But, thanks for volunteering your place." Harry gave a mock-salute, before ending the channel.
"Hermione, would you wake up the others while I clear it with your folks?" He asked, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she nodded, before he headed for the door.
Harry had cleared the trip out with the Grangers, but they'd instructed him that one of them would be going with them. Dan and Emma had come up with a rotating shift pattern for the summer, so that one of them would always be available to the children. Today, it was Dan's turn.
Once inside the Box, Harry sent the ship hurtling through the magical vortex towards the Ossuary. Having learnt his lesson from earlier in the summer, Harry made certain to materialise well away from the house, not wanting to smack straight into the anti-portkey wards again.
"So..." Dan was sat in one of the chairs at the side of the console, filling in the crossword from the Times as the Box travelled, "tell me what's going on today."
Harry glanced up from his incessant tapping. "We're meeting up with the rest of the gang and heading over to Neville's place. Since Black escaped, we decided that it's time to get things moving."
"And 'things' would be..." Dan trailed off.
"Preparation." Harry replied simply. "That black and terrible storm I told you about a year ago hasn't gone away, Dan. If anything, it's closer, blacker and more terrible than before. We have to be prepared."
Dan cocked his head slightly. "Prepared for what?"
Harry looked deathly serious, and for a moment, Dan didn't see an thirteen year old boy with a powerful gift. Instead, he saw an old man, slightly stooped with age and old injuries, but possessing a will of steel. He shook his head, the image fading back to the Harry he knew... or thought he knew. When Harry spoke, the words were intense, heart-felt and rather intimidating.
"When the war comes, Dan... I shall stand and I shall fight."
Even more shocking for the rather mild-mannered dentist was his daughter's addition. "And when that time comes, Dad, I shall be standing by his side, fighting with him." Hermione was, if anything, slightly more scary than Harry.
"O-Okay..."
Using the fantastic powers of his incredible Portkey Box, Harry quickly assembled the group of friends and took them to the Longbottom estate. Dan happily took his conjured chair and newspaper and sat down, accepting the house elves' offer of a hot coffee to fight off the final remnants of the night's rest.
"Good morning, team." Harry said as he stood in front of his Box. "As Hermione explained, we're here to start working on our defence skills."
Blaise was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "And while this is, I'm sure, a marvellous idea, why does it have to be so bloody early?"
Hermione offered an answer. "The early bird gets the worm."
"Ah," Blaise said, holding up his hand, "while that may be true, it's the second mouse who gets the cheese."
Rolling his eyes, Harry cleared his throat. "Both valid points. However, we're not worms and we're not mice. What we are is the people who'll be facing Voldemort when he gets his body back. It's happening. And I know it's happening fairly soon. We have to prepare ourselves. Physically, mentally and magically."
"Things to do, places to go and people to see?" Neville asked, looking a little unconfident at using a 'Mugglism'.
"Sort of." Harry said. "That reminds me; need to speak to Hagrid at some point in the not-too-distant future. But, that can wait." Rolling his neck, Harry sighed in relief at the series of gut-churning cracks.
"That's not healthy." Dan called, not looking up from his newspaper. "Give yourself arthritis if you keep doing it."
"If I live long enough." Harry muttered under his breath, making certain to speak quietly enough that Hermione wouldn't hear him. "As Neville so crudely pointed out on the mirror earlier, I thought we'd start with some basic physical training today. I have no intention of trying to become some kind of super-ninja or muscle-bound fighter. But, I know a few tricks, courtesy of watching the martial arts studio near the Dursleys, that could come in handy if we're in a fight."
"Not to mention helping Sue defend her boobies." Luna pointed out, her usual dreamy mask in place.
Closing his eyes, Harry just grimaced as Blaise and Neville snickered, only to be cut off by three potent glares from the ladies present. Luna, of course, just looked vague. "Yes." He said finally. "These moves will also help Susan protect herself." He knew enough to not mention Susan's generous chest while there were ladies present... not to mention the father of the girl he was hoping to corrupt within the next few years.
"So, shall we begin with some anatomy lessons?"
At this, Dan looked up, curious as to what Harry would be teaching. Approximately ten seconds into Harry's speech, he crossed his legs.
"The vast majority of the Death Eaters, not counting Mad-Bitch Lestrange, are male. This means that they have one critical pressure point which will rob them of any fighting ability. They have testicles. A good, solid shot to the pills will put any man down and out of a fight." Harry stifled a grin as he watched Neville and Blaise clamp their legs together. The girls, naturally, looked intrigued. "I've been hit in the crotch before, and I cannot emphasise enough just how much it hurts. The pain grows and grows, you feel sick, there's a pounding in your head that just doubles, and doubles... it takes a good five minutes before that wonderful fading sensation kicks in."
"A lot can happen in five minutes." Dan said helpfully from his chair.
"True." Harry said, nodding. "So, ladies, there's a target for you to concentrate on." He held up his hand as Hermione began to open her mouth. "No, you can't practice on us." Hermione's jaw clamped shut. "Now, onto something less scary; other body parts that you can target..."
The lesson lasted for approximately four hours of lecturing, before Harry disappeared inside the Portkey Box, coming out with a mannequin that had clearly been filched from a department store somewhere.
"Right..." He propped the mannequin against a tree, and pulled a black marker from his pocket. "We've talked about body parts that you can hit, so let's give you a bit of practical demonstration." He drew a small circle on the mannequin's throat. "Hit someone here, they can't breath." Another circle, directly on the sternum. "Makes them breathless, and if you hit it right, will drop them." A circle just below the left armpit. "This one's a bit grim, but if you hit hard enough here, you'll cause heart palpitations." Taking a moment to think, he drew a circle on the mannequin's nose. "If you hit someone in the nose properly, you'll put them out of a fight. Hit them wrongly, and you could kill them."
Harry tucked the marker back in his pocket. "It's all well and good telling you about them, but without practical exercise, it's just academic. So, we're gonna start off with some basic punches..."
Hermione moaned as the hot water pounded over her aching muscles, courtesy of the shower in Harry's box. At first, she'd been a bit reluctant to learn how to hit people, considering that she was, by nature, a bit of a pacifist. But, shortly after she'd started, she remembered some of her books about the last war. Voldemort's forces were capricious, cruel and had no qualms about killing, maiming and torturing people.
'Violence is never the answer' her parents had taught her. And now, Hermione had a new concept: violence is the question. The answer is 'yes'. Violence was necessary when dealing with violent men. They wouldn't stop, they would never stop, unless they were put down. And she had to learn how to put them down.
She quickly washed the shampoo out of her formerly-sweaty hair, before grabbing a towel. She began drying off, before remembering what Harry had said about magic being undetectable inside the Portkey Box. Grabbing her wand, a quick charm left her dry.
Once dressed, she headed back into the lounge area, spotting a small group of sweaty people waiting for the bathroom. "I'm done." She announced, only to have to take a step to the side as Susan grabbed her towel and bolted into the bathroom.
Looking round the room for Harry, she couldn't spot him. "Where's Harry?"
Blaise looked up from his magazine. "He said he had something to do. He should be in the console room."
Heading through the door into the control centre of the remarkable ship, Hermione froze. She spotted Harry sitting on one of the chairs next to the console, sewing. He looked up and immediately blushed. "Hey, Hermione..."
"So..." Hermione was hard-pressed to stifle her giggles. "The 'Seamstress-Who-Lived', huh?"
Blushing slightly, Harry shrugged. "Needs to be done. And please, never say that again."
Hermione was still having trouble suppressing her reaction. "No promises." She ground out.
"If you want your new outfit, My Only, you'll have to come up with something a bit better than that." Harry said firmly, tugging on the stitches he'd just completed. They held, making Harry nod to himself as he pushed the shiny green fabric into a trunk near his feet.
"So... these are those uniforms you promised us." Hermione glanced at the strange mass of green... something in the trunk. "That's dead animal skin." She pointed out needlessly.
"It is." Harry replied. "Some of the best spell-resistant material that money can buy, too. If we wanted to buy seven outfits, it'd cost quite a bit."
"How much?"
"About two hundred thousand galleons each." Harry said. "Around ten million pounds per outfit."
Hermione whistled through her teeth. "That's a lot of money..." She whispered.
"Yeah." Harry agreed. "But then, it didn't really cost anything to get the resources. Ever since that failed dinner with the Zabinis, I had to go and get the graphorn thread from somewhere else, and that cost me about 200 galleons."
"That's still ten grand, Harry."
"Which I have plenty of." Harry corrected. "It's all good, My Only." He looked down at the green mass. "I've got about half of it done. So far, I've got pants for all of us. The tunics don't take as long, since there's less stitching."
Hermione looked at him for permission, then pulled on a random piece of hide from the box. It turned out to be a leg as she pulled, revealing a pair of dark green trousers. Holding it, she stroked the material. "It feels weird."
"Well, like you said. It's animal skin."
"Doesn't feel like leather." She looked up. "It's... softer."
"Ironic, isn't it?" Harry asked with a grin. "An ancient and tremendously powerful animal has really soft skin. It's also partially because of the way I cured it."
"How do you kids do it?" A voice asked from the doorway, revealing Dan.
"Do what?"
Dan blinked. "Harry, I'm exhausted from just watching you guys train. How can you be sitting there without being asleep?"
"Practice."
"Huh." Dan glanced at the odd... thing in his daughter's hands. "What's that?"
"It's basilisk hide." Harry replied dutifully. "Some of the best body armour the magical world can provide. It's normally horrendouslyexpensive, but since I happened to find some lying around-"
"Still attached to a thousand year old basilisk." Hermione interrupted. "That's hardly 'lying around'."
"I decided to make use of it." Harry continued smoothly.
"So..." Dan took the strange material from his daughter's hands and inspected it closely. "What makes it so good as body armour?"
Harry gestured. "Put your arm in one of the legs."
Dan blinked.
"Just do it." Harry said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes and say 'Honestly!' As soon as Dan did so, Harry fired a low-powered cutting curse at Dan's now-covered arm. The older man yelped as the spell splashed against the green fabric, only to dissipate. "That's why it's so good. It's highly resistant to magical attacks. It's not perfect, but it's as good as you can get."
Nodding, Dan pulled his arm from the fabric and begin checking for cuts, blood or other injuries. He looked up as something flitted across his mind. "Here's a question."
"Shoot."
"Why are you making this now?"
Harry looked confused for a moment, before realisation set in. "Ah, you mean while we're all little?" Dan nodded. "Well, unlike leather, there's a bit of stretch in this kind of hide, and on the train ride home last year, I measured us all twice; once for what we are now and also for what we're going to grow into."
"And how do you measure that?"
Hermione suddenly looked interested at the thought of learning something new.
"All information about how we're going to grow is in our DNA. Size, statistics, illnesses... all of that can be read with the right equipment or spells. I happen to have the right equipment and spells."
Dan nodded. "Can you check me?"
"Sure." Harry reached down into the trunk and pulled out a plain white sweatband, similar to the ones he'd used with his friends. "Just put this on, and it'll scan you."
Feeling like a bit of a tit (headbands were so 80s!), Dan slipped the fabric onto his head, then began giggling as his entire body began to tingle. He could feel... something rushing through him, but he had no way of describing what it was. The only thing he could come up with was when he was inside his house and the protective wards made it feel like a safe, warm, comfortable cocoon.
All too soon, the tingling faded. With the barest hint of a pout, Dan reached up and pulled off the headband, passing it back to Harry, who slapped it onto the console in front of him. For a moment, the band glowed as the incomprehensible technologies of the ship read it. The results appeared on the screen of the laptop.
"Hmm..." Harry jabbed a few buttons. "You broke your collar bone about fifteen years ago... you've sprained your left wrist entirely too many times..." He looked up. "Does it hurt on cold mornings?"
Dan nodded.
"Yeah... those can both be fixed quite easily..." He jabbed a few more buttons. "You'll be pleased to hear there's no possibilities of cancer for you... ah, this isn't... oh, yeah."
"What?"
"You're a pre-diabetic." Harry said, jabbing to one line of indecipherable symbols. "In about ten to twelve years, you'll develop diabetes."
"Oh..." Dan looked upset.
"It'll be type-1 diabetes, which is where your body stops producing insulin." Harry tapped a few more buttons. "Right, so one of those will help... that'll cure it... and that'll stop it." He stepped back. "We have three options; one, we can do nothing and allow the diabetes to develop. You'll need to take insulin tablets for the rest of your life, but the condition will be minor.
"Two, once the diabetes develops, we can arrange to repair or replace your pancreas, since that's where insulin is produced. Or three... we simply fix your pancreas now and stop it from ever being a concern."
"Three!" Dan and Hermione said together.
"Okay." Harry plucked his wand from his sleeve and ran a more focussed diagnostic charm on Dan's torso. "Yeah, Madam Pomfrey can have this done for you in about an hour. It's not too urgent, Dan. It'll definitely need to be done within the next six years, though."
"Oh..." Dan looked suitably impressed at the ease with which a twelve year old child diagnosed a long-term medical condition and then destroyed his worries with just a wave of a stick. "Okay... what about Hermione?"
Hermione instantly looked interested in the answer.
"Hermione's health is absolutely fantastic. She has no precursors in her entire body. Barring accident or foul play, she should last for well over a century. And she'll be in perfect health up until that time. There is one thing, though..."
"What?" Hermione stepped forward, looking worried. "What is it?"
"Your blood sugar is generally quite low. You generally feel tired more and more as the day goes on, don't you?"
Hermione squirmed uncomfortably. "Well... when I don't eat sweets, yeah."
Chuckling, Harry nodded. "Yeah. What you need to start doing is adding some sugar to your drinks, maybe have the odd piece of chocolate. On the plus side, your teeth are excellent. I guess having strict dentists for your parents helps that."
Dan preened for a moment at the prospect of his teachings giving his daughter excellent teeth. Of course, he knew that from the regular dental inspections he and his wife gave her, but it was nice for magic to confirm those inspections.
"So..." Harry plucked another piece of hide from the trunk, "moving on to the hide. Most of these should be finished by the end of summer. We'll be able to start using them when we get back to Hogwarts."
"Which is probably a good thing," Susan said from the doorway, "what with the escape of Black."
"Yeah..." Harry said dismissively. After all, he knew that Black was a threat to exactly one person, and it wasn't him. Well... maybe not just one person. After all, Sirius Black was a Marauder, and the Marauders had a duty against all who were dark and greasy. It was the natural order of things.
"Okay, that's today's physical training over." Harry said firmly. "What say we move on to some theoretical study?"
Later that evening, Harry nearly-screamed as the wards surrounding the Granger house again flared.
"Oh, what now?" Emma shouted from the kitchen. She came out, holding the mug she'd been making a coffee in with one hand, and a large knife in the other. "God damn it, Harry, why can't these people take a hint?"
"I don't know." Harry grabbed his mirror and spotted tall, dark and greasy attempting to penetrate the wards surrounding the property, presumably to get inside the Portkey Box and steal the basilisk. "Well, it's Snivellus again. What do you want to do with him?"
Dan dashed into the hallway and returned moments later, clutching his baseball bat. "We tried it your way last time, Harry." He strode to the back door. "Can you put a spell of me to make me silent?"
With a casual flick of his wand, Harry added a silencing charm to the man's slippers and his throat, so his breathing wouldn't give him away. Dan nodded and snuck out of the back door.
Harry held his mirror up so Emma and Hermione could see Snape trying to pop the wards surrounding the back gate. The prick was so busy focussing on his attempted breaking-and-entering, he never noticed Dan moving through the shadows like a ghost before a hickory stick robbed him of consciousness.
The trio moved outside, Harry dispelling the charms on Dan with a casual thought.
"This is getting irritating." Emma said as she again looked down at the pale creature. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Yes" Harry said. "Several things, with increasing levels of severity and lethality."
"What would you suggest?" Hermione asked.
"Well... we could simply remove the knowledge of this address from his mind. That'll work short-term, but since this house is listed as Hermione's residence in her school records, it's the work of a few moments for him to simply look it up again. Not tremendously effective, but it'll work short-term."
"Too little." Dan said. "Something a little more severe, Harry."
"We could put a geas in his mind so that he's not capable of remembering the address for this house. Ever. More long term and will protect the property against him until the geas is removed."
"Seems more promising. What'll happen if he doesn't remember?" Emma asked.
"He won't be able to. As soon as the information hits his mind, it's gone again. He wouldn't be able to remember the address. Worst part of it is that he'll recognise there's something wrong with his mind and, knowing the git, will immediately realise it's something I've done. So, he'll know to target me or Hermione for it."
"Which puts us at risk." Hermione said. "Of course, since you're a Potter, he hates you already and me by association. Not as much risk as you might think. And it keeps Mum and Dad safe."
"Yeah." Harry stared at Snape, debating whether or not pissing on the man would feel as satisfying as he thought it would be. "Another option is to key him into the wards as a definite antagonist. The wards would treat him... unkindly. This is definitely a severe option. We could make it so the wards shock him, cause him pain or..."
Hermione noticed that he trailed off. "'Or...' what, Harry?"
"We could start costing him body parts, severe burns... or kill him."
Both adults sucked in sudden breaths. "I think maybe causing him some mild pain." Emma said after a moment, then grinned evilly. "Maybe make his teeth hurt. I think that's fair."
Harry shrugged and began to mentally adjust the wards, using the fallen potions professor as the template, since the greasy bastard was just lying there. Less than ten seconds later, Harry nodded. "Done. I've also Obliviated the address from his mind, but not put the geas in place. As soon as he remembers, he'll look up Hermione's address and come here... and experience a rather severe tooth ache. Portus."
Snape vanished as soon as Harry completed the word. Harry took the baseball bat from Dan and held it reverently. "You could get a lot of money for this bat from the students of Hogwarts, Dan." He looked up with a grin. "Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students from the last fifteen years or so would pay a lot for the bat that knocked Snivellus out."
Dan grinned and took the bat back, resting it against his shoulder. "Possibly, but I think I'd rather keep it. Sentimental reasons, you understand."
"Of course." Harry followed Hermione and Emma back into the house, flopping onto the couch. "Were you guys planning on taking a holiday this year?"
A little confused from the sudden change of subject, Emma nodded. "Yeah. We were thinking America this year. We've done the continent the last couple of years, so we were planning on somewhere sunny, warm and friendly."
"Cool." Harry thought for a moment. "If you'd like, we could use the box to go camping round the States for a couple of weeks. Stock up with food and drink for four for a couple of weeks and we could go at any time... if you don't mind me tagging along."
Hermione had pulled him into a hug as soon as he stopped speaking, believing him to be nervous about inserting himself into a family holiday. And in a way, he was. "Of course you can come, right, Mum?"
"Sure."
After a moment of cuddling, a thought popped into Hermione's mind. "Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"I've just thought of something."
"Oh dear God! Run!"
"Prat."
"Yeah."
Rolling her eyes at the byplay, Hermione asked her question. "You remember sending Hagrid for his exams, right?"
"Of course."
"They were on the 5th to the 7th, right?"
"Yep." Ever since his Quantum Leap, Harry had had an excellent sense of time. "They usually take a week or so to be marked, so the results should be ready in the next couple of days." He was about to say something, and knew that he had to word it very carefully. "I should really go and pick them up for him."
Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Continue."
"I'll need to pop to the Ministry early in the morning to get the results, and then head to Hogwarts to deliver them him. Would you like to come with me?"
Eyes still narrowed, Hermione asked, "Would you be doing onlythat? No other side trips?"
Harry shrugged. "May take a wander round the school. See a couple of the Professors while I'm there." He thought for a moment. "Actually... there may be one thing. Now that he's been cleared, Hagrid will be authorised for a new wand. I may take him to Diagon Alley to pick one up."
Hermione relaxed marginally. "As long as you're not going to do one of your blasted 'tasks', okay. If you're going to go and do something dangerous, you'd better come and get me or I'll be... annoyed."
Taking the threat as intended, Harry nodded. "Of course."
"Good."
Harry pressed a kiss to her temple, pulling her into another hug. "I promise, Hermione. The most dangerous thing I plan to see is Fang."
Hermione snorted.
True to his word, Harry headed to the Ministry of Magic at eight o'clock the following morning, stopping into the Department of Education to grab Hagrid's results. As he was listed as Hagrid's Head of House (and that was something that Harry admired about the magical world; most records were self-updating), he was able to collect the three parchment envelopes containing his results.
With a polite nod of thanks, Harry disappeared back into his Portkey Box and dematerialised, heading straight for the Hogwarts grounds, just outside Hagrid's hut. Upon arrival, he locked the Box (not knowing where the manipulative old man was lurking was enough to make him secure his ship) and knocked on Hagrid's door.
"Morning, Hagrid." Harry said, suppressing a yawn. The half-giant nearly jumped out of his skin as he staggered out of his cottage.
"Harry... you about scared the life outta me!" Hagrid chided gently, clutching onto his chest. "What are you doing here so early?"
Harry held up a hand, with three thick parchment envelopes in it. "I went to the Ministry first thing this morning to pick these up, Hagrid. It's your results, both for the OWL, NEWT and Mastery exams. I thought you'd be interested in reading them."
For a moment, Hagrid went white, before stumbling back into his cottage. "You'd better come in, then." Inside the cottage, Hagrid put his kettle on the wood burner, watching it heat slowly, before he sat down at the table. He took the first envelope from Harry, noting that it said 'OWL' on the front. He looked up at his liege lord. "I'm not sure about this, Harry."
Rolling his eyes, Harry held out his hand. "It you're not sure, Hagrid, give it here. I'll open it for you, if you want." When the envelope was pressed into his hands, Harry tore it open, pulling out the parchment inside. "As bad as Hermione..." He muttered, quickly reading through it.
Harry looked up. "Seventy-nine percent... an 'Exceeds Expectations' on the OWL, Hagrid. That's enough to pass up into NEWT-Level."
Hagrid frowned. "Only an 'Exceeds'?"
"Hagrid, it's probably because the exam was too easy for you. I'd bet good money that your NEWT and Mastery exams are higher."
"Aye..."
Harry tore the NEWT envelope open, quickly reading through, and his grin was entirely unforced. "You got ninety-three percent on this one, Hagrid. A definite 'Outstanding'."
Like Harry, Hagrid's grin was genuine. "And it's all thanks to you, Harry."
"Entirely my pleasure, my friend." Harry replied, before lightly fingering the Mastery letter. "Want me to check this one, too?"
"Please."
Rolling his eyes at Hagrid's slight cowardice (a trait he shared with his drooling boarhound), Harry broke the seal and pulled out the letter. "Congratulations, BeastMaster Rubeus Hagrid." Harry said formally, standing and bowing to the half-giant.
"I passed?" Hagrid asked in an unbelieving whisper. "I passed?"
"Hundred and five percent, my friend." Harry said, sitting down and grinning at his first ever friend. "Hundred and five percent. You're a Master now. Pay rise!"
Harry squealed as Hagrid pulled him into a tight hug. Harry, at this moment, came to a new revelation. While he loved bushy-brown hair, he much preferred the bushy-brown hair of Hermione's head than Hagrid's beard. At least Hermione's hair was clean.
After being put down and straightened up, Harry moved to the next topic. "So, now that you've passed exams, Hagrid, you should get a new wand. I've been having a think about this, and I think I know what we can do."
Hagrid sighed. "I can't afford a new wand at the moment, Harry." He admitted shyly. "I... well, I might have gone out after completing my exams."
"Not a problem, Hagrid." Harry replied. "I was planning to make one for you. I've already found some suitable components, so we can just put that together."
"You can make wands, Harry?"
"Well, it's been a quiet summer." Harry said shyly. "Needed something to do with my time."
Hagrid blinked. "I heard about Black escapin' from Azkaban, Harry. Are you sure you're safe to be moving around like this?"
Waving his hand dismissively, Harry said, "I've been behind wards for pretty much the whole time, Hagrid. When I was travelling somewhere, I was using my ship. I don't think Black has the capability, knowledge or power to pull an armoured Portkey out of it's vortex. I'm okay, Hagrid... although I do appreciate your concern."
Blushing, Hagrid just nodded.
"So... your previous wand was oak, wasn't it?"
"Yeah." Hagrid dutifully retrieved his pink parasol, with the broken pieces of his wand tucked inside.
"I'm gonna have to break this to get your wand pieces, Hagrid." Harry warned, waiting for a nod before snapping the thin wood. He plucked out the battered pieces, his eyes instinctively narrowing as he spotted the wand core. "Unicorn tail hair." He glanced up. "This didn't work too well for you, did it?"
Hagrid shook his head. "Not really. Always seem'd to have a bit o' resistance."
Nodding, Harry plucked the pieces of the wand. "We're gonna get rid of this, Hagrid. It's not right for you, even more so now." He tossed the wood into the fire, watching Hagrid's eyes widen dramatically as his 'faithful' wand was broken.
"We're gonna make you a proper one, Hagrid. Come on, let's take a walk."
Walking through the Forbidden Forest, Harry quickly spied a few things that he could use for Hagrid's new wand. First, though, was making certain he had the best wood for the wand. After all, a normal twig wasn't going to be good enough.
"Ah!" Spotting a tree literally crawling with bowtruckles, Harry used his wand to blast of a good, thick branch. Glancing around the base of the tree as he grabbed the branch, he saw several shed claws from the bowtruckles and quickly grabbed those, too.
"So, we've got the wood, and something to use as a core... Hagrid, find me a nice unicorn."
Shrugging, Hagrid led his liege lord to the forest end of the Black Lake, where the animals and creatures of the forest would get their fresh water. Harry was in luck as a small herd of unicorns were milling around the bank. This was a part that could very easily turn bad. Over his century-plus of life, he'd done some truly horrific things. During his trip back into the past, his body had regenerated from it's old form back to an eleven year old. Would the sins of his past life be detectable? Was this the same body, simply de-aged? He didn't know.
One of the unicorns looked up at the pair stood a few dozen metres away. She was one of the elders of her herd, hundreds of seasons old. She quickly scanned the pair. The larger one was an enigma; his body was that of a monster, cruel, unthinking and an engine of destruction. His heart was as pure as any baby, however. There were some tiny marks on his soul, those usually attributed to mating, but overall, he was a fine specimen of a pure man.
The other... he was even more of an enigma. He was both young and old, and smelled of life and death. He had committed heroic deeds and terrible crimes.
She scampered a little closer, wanting to know more about him. Would he attempt to harm the unicorns?
Harry could almost feel the scrutiny from the unicorn and stood still, letting it approach at will. He held his hands out to his side, palms open and facing down, showing that he had no weapon. He'd let the creature of light read him see what it thought.
The elder sniffed and took another step closer. He had broken so many things in his time. Restrictive rules that were meant to oppress others. Sensible rules to protect the innocent. The hold of a madman over the populace. The Laws of Time. And yet, she could sense his purity of spirit and his firm resolve that the dark would not gain a toehold as long as he was alive to prevent it.
He was not Dark, but he was not Light. He was Grey. He was shadow. He would protect the unicorns if he could. He would never harvest them. He had only killed the basilisk in self-defence. He had tried to prevent the death, but the Dark One had been controlling the school's protector and hadn't let her make her own choice.
He was worthy.
She sauntered over, raising her tail so that she could be plucked. She knew that he was gathering components to be used in a wand for the large one and was looking for things that would match the nature of the lover of all things.
With a slight wince, one of her lengthier tail hairs was plucked out, and the enigma placed his hand against her snout and whispered a thank you. With a sleight huff, she turned and went back to the water.
Hagrid watched in awe as Harry casually got a tail hair from a unicorn. "That was amazin', Harry!"
Said young man just shrugged. "Well, this should be enough for a start, Hagrid." He said, putting the hair into a hastily-conjured backpack. "Walk me inside? I've got something to do inside the castle."
"Sure."
Hermione was watching the clock intently as she waited for her boyfriend to come back. He'd been gone for an hour before she heard the wheezing/groaning sound of his ship. Dashing outside, she jabbed her hand against the magi-lock on the door as soon as the ship was solid and entered.
To her relief, Harry was stood by the console, not a single injury on him.
"Hi, honey." He said cheerfully. "I've got great news!"
"Oh?" Hermione pulled him into a tender hug, glad that he wasn't hurt.
"Yeah. Hagrid pissed all over his exams. He got his Mastery, too. So, if I was right and Professor Kettleburn's leaving and Hagrid's taking over, he'll be a properly certified teacher. And, during the rest of the summer, I'm gonna be making him a new wand, since he's now qualified."
"You can make wands?" Hermione asked. "Harry, that's very advanced magic!"
"Not really." He corrected gently, locking the controls on the console and taking her hand, to lead her outside. "It's mainly carpentry. The main aspect of wand-making is finding..." He paused for a moment as he shut the door, waving his wand to engage the security system, before turning back to Hermione, "is finding the components. Fortunately, there's a few short-cuts that can be taken if you know what you're looking for."
"Oh?"
Harry led her into the house, grabbing drinks from the fridge for both him and Hermione, before sitting on the couch. "Well, the wood for the wand, for starters. It has to be magically-influenced and extremely high-quality. From our magical creatures book, we know that bowtruckles inhabit wand-quality trees. So, find a tree with bowtruckles and you've got suitable wood.
"I found out that Hagrid was a unicorn-core wizard, so I went for a wander near the lake," He saw her eyes widen slightly, "with Hagrid, and we found some unicorns. One of them gave me a tail hair. So, I just need to put it together, pop a few runes on the wood and presto: new wand for Hagrid."
Hermione nodded, relaxing as she found out that he hadn't gone off on a badly-planned mission to do... something, that would inevitably result in him being injured or hurt. She didn't think she could take.
Unknown to Hermione, Harry had done something else while he was out. It was the work of only a few minutes for Harry to make his way to the seventh floor, where Barnabas the Barmy's painting was attempting to teach trolls to dance. Walking back and forth three times along the hallway while mentally chanting 'I need a place to hide my Horcrux... I need a place to hide my Horcrux... I need a place to hide my Horcrux...' had revealed what Harry had come to refer to as 'the Room of Hidden Things'.
Once inside, he'd donned a dragon-hide glove and grabbed the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw and placed it into the concealed floor safe of his Portkey Box. It sat alongside the locket, the two pieces almost flaring with malevolence.
They would be safe there... until the proper time.
While inside the Portkey Box, Harry was tapping away at the computer built into the console. He'd made a list of things he'd wanted to accomplish this summer, and so far, he wasn't doing too badly. His meeting with the Zabinis hadn't panned out, since they were far too fixated on him using his position and influence to gather 'actionable' intelligence on his friends and schoolmates and pass that along to them so they could use it.
The Patil family were honest and wanted nothing more than the opportunity to do some business. Unlike the Zabinis, the Patils (most of them, anyway...) wanted him to pass on any recommendations for some honest trading and they would do the same. An 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' scenario, which Harry was happy to agree to.
Harry couldn't help but like Amelia Bones. She was tough, fair and impartial... but her influence in the Ministry of Magic was limited. She held onto the post of Director of Magical Law Enforcement thanks to her unfailing competence, but her position there wasn't as firm as Harry would have liked, due to three things: she wasn't for sale; she was female; she wasn't prepared to back down. Out of all of Harry's allies, she was the one most likely to be terminated when Voldemort returned, simply because she wouldn't back down. That would require some 'creative thinking' when the Dark Dick came back.
His work on beginning to train his friends was coming along nicely. During their first physical training session, most of them had been knackered and sweaty after a few minutes (although Hermione pulled the look off superbly), but while the flesh may have been weak, the spirit had been indomitable. They'd suffer through the training at the thought they could protect their families and friends. An attitude which would certainly help them.
Mental note: arrange an impromptu session for tomorrow.
He now had two of the Horcruxes of the Dark Lord; Slytherin's locket from the reclamation of Grimmauld Place and Ravenclaw's Diadem from the Room of Requirement. The destruction of the diary in the Chamber of Secrets a month ago had been difficult but achievable. He still had several to go. The ring from the Gaunt Shack wouldn't be too dangerous; even though Dumbledore had lost the use of his hand and almost died, Harry had the advantage of forewarning. The Horcrux in his own head was a challenge, but he had an idea of how to get rid of that one when the time was right. That just left Hufflepuff's cup in Gringotts, which he had noidea how to get, and Nagini, who was currently lounging around a dark forest in Albania.
Things were on track for the moment.
Hermione could honestly say at this moment that she hated Harry Potter as much as she loved him. It was made worse by the fact that her lungs were heaving like bellows and she'd lost about twenty pounds of water weight thanks to sweating. While this was enough to make her hate Harry, the fact that the little bastard hadn't even broken a sweat made her loathe him.
The others of their group were clearly as badly off as she was. Luna had gone bright red, Susan was a pale green while Padma had turned grey. Each and every one of them was sweating as hard as she was, and each and every one of them was glaring at Harry for not being as sweaty and discoloured.
"And... rest!" Harry called out, slowing to a brisk walk. He turned round and frowned as he spotted all six of his friends slumped on the ground. "Do you guys want oxygen?"
"Sleep..." Susan groaned.
"Water..." Luna wheezed.
"Die!" Hermione spat.
Harry cast oxygen-rich bubblehead charms over his friends, watching them rapidly change back to their normal colours. "You need to keep moving around otherwise you'll cramp up. Besides, it's time to shower and get ready for spell-practice."
Hermione glanced over at Neville, who was the biggest of their group. "You hold him down, I'll kill him..." She muttered.
Harry, wisely, took a step back. "Stunner practice today. Maybe work on some basic shields." He thought for a moment. "Don't any of you want the chance to hex me?"
They all beat him back to the ship, leaving him stood behind them, frowning. Damn it... this is gonna be a long day...