Chapter Three: Conversations and Ideas

Harry was indeed Force-blind for that day and the next one as well. The drug used had been a powerful one and Kiara took the opportunity to explain the workings of various Force suppression devices and their effects on a Jedi. Harry turned white and was almost sick when he heard that if the Force suppression was kept on long enough there would be permanent damage to said Jedi's Force connection. Kiara was quick to reassure him that that wasn't going to happen to him, the dose used had been too small and only extended periods of suppression like a few months, would be enough to do permanent harm. After that Harry relaxed and went back to his homework. Having finished it in record time, he asked permission to have Hermione check it for him. He couldn't have her over because he was still grounded for the first two weeks of the summer, but his master didn't have any problem with him Flooing Hermione to hand over his homework.

Hermione on the other hand very nearly fainted when she heard that Harry had finished all his homework and wanted her to check it over. Teasingly she suggested that she would poke very tiny holes in it, only to laugh in triumph at Harry's agonised expression and growl of annoyance. She, as well as her parents, and Kiara were very amused to hear Harry's pained exclamation of "Hermione, I spent almost all week on that lot, don't make me rewrite it all. I double and triple checked it myself; I just want a second opinion."

Hermione did check it and sent it back; saying that it was excellent and she couldn't find any fault in it at all. Very pleased with himself, Harry threw himself into his emotional detachment exercises, which were actually becoming easier now that he had apparently got over his Hermione addiction. He still loved her but he no longer needed to see her everyday and he had lost that overwhelming need to protect her from everything. His master was extremely pleased with this and said so.

"Harry," came the call from the lounge as the Padawan tried to sneak upstairs for a shower. Resignedly he turned to go back down.

"Yes, Master," he said, walking in to find Kiara sitting on the couch. He was surprised when she patted the seat next to her, inviting him to sit down.

"I know you need to shower but I want to say something before you do," she started. "I'm very pleased that you've regained your rationality regarding Hermione, and I'm willing to start letting her come over again to see whether this newfound control will hold up in her presence. Do you think that it will?"

"Yes I'm sure it will," Harry said confidently. "I still love her, I can feel that emotion so powerfully its almost like a miniature sun inside me, but it's also controlled, banked up. I love her but I don't think it will overwhelm me again, nor impair my judgment when it comes to anything hurting her. That question you asked me at the end of last year, the answer's changed. I would continue the mission now, Master, it might hurt to leave her but I'd do it." He looked down, unhappy at the thought of having to leave Hermione yet knowing that what he said was true, he would do it if he had to. He felt his master's arm tighten round him, and he leaned into the embrace. They sat like that for a minute before he found himself abruptly pushed off.

"Eww, Harry go and have a shower now, you stink," Kiara laughed, wrinkling her nose at the smell. Harry grinned before tackling her and hugging her tighter laughing at her efforts to detach him. He then felt phantom fingers running their way down his sides and he let go as he started to laugh uncontrollably.

"Stop it, stop tickling me, all right I give, let go, stop it, I'll go shower, ahh," he yelled as he ran for the stairs. Kiara smiled and watched him go before grabbing the Floo powder and Flooing the Grangers, arranging for Hermione to come over the next day. She had decided to relent a little, Harry really had been working hard at detaching his emotions and really, how was she supposed to teach them to communicate through their soul bond if Hermione wasn't in the same room as Harry.

The next day, Harry got a surprise when Hermione Flooed into Sanctuary. It had been a week and a half since the end of term and he hadn't expected to see her until the weekend at least. Very shocked he looked questioningly at Kiara, hardly daring to believe that Hermione was actually there. His master laughed and ruffled his hair.

"You've worked extremely hard on detaching your emotions regarding Hermione, Padawan, so I figured that I could parole you a little early. Besides, your answer last night told me everything I needed to know. Also, how are you and your girlfriend supposed to learn to communicate through this soul bond of yours if you're not even in the same house?"

Harry could only gape, never had his master done this before. She must really be happy with him. He suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Kiara round the waist, hugging her fiercely while trying to hide a sudden upsurge of emotion. He was hugged back and then felt himself in the middle of a sandwich as Hermione came and joined them. After a few moments they broke up, and then sat on the floor as it was quite comfortable. The first lesson on soul bond communication began.

"OK, Hermione, Harry just relax and go into the normal meditation trance," Kiara said softly. She waited till they were in the trance before speaking again. "Now, look around in your minds, you should see a connection that goes to the other one of you. When you have it, just hold it for a moment." Pulling out of the semi-trance she was in, Kiara was shocked to see both Harry and Hermione glowing with a soft golden colour. Dropping back into the semi-trance she spoke again. "Now, slowly move along that bond, you should feel the other person at the other end. When you reach them, say hello. Don't try and yell, just speak normally." Coming out of her trance, the Jedi was pleased to see the two students come out at the same time, both wearing surprised looks, although Hermione was more surprised than Harry, after all Harry had been mentally communicating for years.

"Wow," Harry said, "that was fantastic. The bond seemed almost solid. It was gold too."

"Yeah," Hermione added, "I'm not sure what the significance of the solidity or the colour is though. Either way it was fantastic. Do we have to go into the trance every time we communicate though?" she asked, directing her question to Kiara.

Kiara frowned slightly, considering the question. "I don't think so, it might take a bit of concentration to find the bond again the first few times but after a while you should be able to instinctively find the bond and talk along it without giving the impression to any outside observers that there's anything going on. Its also very useful at times, when you want to hold two conversations at once." she finished grinning as she remembered two separate memories. Harry caught the grin and started probing.

"What's the grin for, Master?" he asked interestedly.

Kiara chuckled. "Do you really want to know?" she asked. Harry and Hermione nodded eagerly. Kiara laughed. "OK then I'll tell you," she said.

"The first memory was when I and the rest of the Demons had pulled a prank. This was with our masters' help, mind you, so they could hardly punish us for it afterwards. That was one of the conditions we set when they agreed to help us. Anyway, we'd baked some brownies, except we added our own special ingredient, a bottle of super strong chocolate flavoured laxative. (At this point Harry's eyes went very wide, as did Hermione's). So I was nominated to give the brownies to the Councilors. The plan worked very well except there was something we hadn't known about beforehand. The Supreme Chancellor was coming to dinner. (Harry and Hermione began to giggle. So too did Professor McGonagall who had Flooed in without anyone noticing). Anyway, he let off the loudest fart anyone had ever heard, and all of us who were in on the prank were horrified. Our original plan still worked, when half of the Jedi Council ran for the bathroom at the same time, colliding in the doorway as they went. We were all just sitting there until my master looked at me and said, "What are you sitting there for, how long do you think it will take a Jedi Master to overcome the effects of an unexpected laxative?" So the Demons and our respective masters ran out into the corridor, only to meet the rather annoyed Council members on the way back in. We then had a full scale race down the corridors, with us racing ahead of our masters and our masters trying to catch up because they didn't want us telling the Council that they had been in on it. And, of course, the Council Members in hot pursuit of all of us. The two conversations comes in when my master was yelling the standard threats out loud, the normal stuff about how I was never going to make it to Knighthood if he caught me, etc etc etc, while the mental one was something along the lines of No I'm not going to kill you, for the love of the Force, Padawan, KEEP RUNNING! It was hilarious," Kiara finished, smiling in fond remembrance. She then looked round to see her audience of three clutching their sides in tears of laughter, barely able to sit up straight.

"Oh I'm glad you weren't at Hogwarts when the Marauders were, Kiara, you'd have made their pranks ten times worse," McGonagall said when she'd recovered enough to talk.

Harry and Hermione looked round in surprise. "Professor?" Harry queried curiously, "what are you doing here?"

McGonagall smiled. "I'm here to talk to your master, Mr. Potter, and ask a question that you don't need to know about at the moment. I'm also doubling as a school owl and giving you a couple of pamphlets about the third year electives so you know what you can choose for classes this year. You still keep the core classes but you can choose two new electives. You can choose more than two, but the workload will be greater. Choose wisely." With that said, she handed the pamphlets to the two students before Kiara dismissed them so they could go upstairs and study the lists (although she was privately thinking that that wasn't all they would be studying).

"So, Minerva, what was it that you wanted to ask without having my Padawan around?" she enquired, sitting on the couch and watching as the Transfiguration Professor rather nervously fidgeted with her teacup.

"Um, I, well, it's like…" McGonagall stuttered, very nervous now about the idea she was thinking about.

Kiara chuckled and tried to get her to relax. "Come now, Minerva, it can't be all that bad, surely. I might give the impression of wanting to kill anyone that messes with Harry, but I know you, and I'm not going to bite." she said, trying to joke McGonagall out of the nervous state she was in.

McGonagall sighed before deciding to take the plunge, metaphorically speaking. "I want to offer Harry a position as my apprentice for Transfiguration" she said bluntly, then sat back and waited for Kiara's response. When it came, it was surprisingly mild.

"Have you discussed it with him yet? And do you know if that is what he wants to do?"

"No I haven't but he did ask me whether there was any way of continuing in Transfiguration after Hogwarts. He's very good at the subject, he could actually apprentice in DADA, and Charms, as well if it were possible. His marks are splendid; all that extra studying in the Den at Hogwarts has paid off. The real question is, would you be willing to share master-ship of him."

Kiara sat back and thought about it. Now that she considered it, Harry did love Transfiguration and had said more than once that he wouldn't mind seeking an apprenticeship after Hogwarts in it. He had also assured his master that it wouldn't interfere with his Jedi studies either. She sighed.

"I assume it's unusual for a student as young as Harry to be offered an apprenticeship?" she queried. Seeing McGonagall nod, she went on "We would have to work out details, if I remember the Wizarding version of Master/Apprentice relationships, they are very much like the Jedi version, the master and apprentice share quarters, stay together for a specific number of years etc etc. We would have to work out a sort of shared custody arrangement, especially for the holidays. He also needs time to continue his Jedi apprenticeship. As much as I like the idea of him having this opportunity, Harry is a Jedi first and foremost. I will not allow him to give up his training in that, I have too much invested in him to see him give it up, and truthfully, I don't believe that he would want to give it up."

McGonagall nodded again, surprised that the fiercely protective Jedi Master was even willing to consider the idea of her Padawan starting a second apprenticeship while still continuing his first one. Then again, she knew that Kiara liked her and also knew that, had it been anyone else, Kiara would probably have refused. It was a measure of how much the Jedi trusted her that she was considering the idea and not automatically refusing to allow it.

"I have an idea about how the living arrangements will work but I'm not sure that you'll like the idea," McGonagall began cautiously. Seeing Kiara sit up straighter, she went on, "As you know, at the start of last year, Harry, Hermione and the Weasley twins pulled a rather ingenious prank on the senior staff, myself included. It was a very good prank and both I and Filius Flitwick, Harry's Charms Professor liked what we were changed into." At that point she explained the prank, and Kiara was soon on the floor in fits of laughter.

"I can just imagine it," she gasped, wiping her eyes, before motioning to Minerva to continue.

"Well, I'm very interested in the Jedi, and I know that Mr. Potter is covertly training Miss Granger in the ways of the Force, though she doesn't know it yet. I would be very surprised if you hadn't suggested it," – Kiara looked mildly put out at being caught like that – "and I was wondering if you would consent to teach me. I obviously wouldn't be much use with a lightsaber but learning how to use the Force, or even magic in new ways would be useful." At that point she stopped, half fearful that Kiara would take offence at her suggestion. She then felt an odd sensation in her mind, like someone was probing her. Looking up she found the full power of Kiara's gaze boring into her. The Jedi Master relaxed somewhat and returned to sitting back against the couch, having moved to sit on the edge of it before.

"I believe we could work something out. Also, I'm impressed that you managed to catch onto what I'm doing with Hermione. According to the laws of the Jedi, I'm not allowed more than one apprentice at a time. I let Harry train Hermione because he saw her everyday, and I only needed to keep an eye on her progress. With you, I believe that I shall ignore those laws for now. You might have some trouble at first, you're used to using a wand and this is primarily going to be wandless magic. It's not impossible, just difficult. But, I believe we were talking about working out living arrangements for summer?"

"Yes, in the term he could either stay in Gryffindor, or move into my quarters, he would have his own room, and would share the rest of the living space like the bathroom and lounge etc. And in summer, well, I don't know." McGonagall trailed off, happy to have arranged something for term but frustrated about summer. Kiara's next words shocked her though.

"How about coming to live here? You would get your own space; there are more than enough bedrooms in this place, and as for the idea of me teaching you to use the Force, well, how about a trade. I teach you wandless magic, essentially teaching you to use the Force as well, and you teach me the basics of Transfiguration. While we're teaching each other, we can also teach our apprentice. Harry can learn Jedi stuff from me and Transfiguration from you and by the time we're both finished with him, he'll be a Jedi Knight and also a Master of Transfiguration."

McGonagall gaped at the Jedi sitting across from her for a second before excitedly agreeing. When Harry and Hermione came down to see what all the excited chatter was about, they were stunned at the offer that was being made. Hermione felt slightly jealous, after all, she was also doing just as well. Kiara then asked her if she still wanted to be a Healer after leaving school. Hermione replied in the affirmative and then McGonagall suggested that Poppy Pomfrey might be willing to apprentice her in the infirmary and start her on learning the basics of medimagic on the condition that her parents agree to it. Two Floo calls later and Hermione was excitedly jumping up and down, as she was Poppy Pomfrey's new Healing Apprentice, and Kiara had also promised to teach her what she knew of the Jedi Healing Arts.

The new group, of two masters and two apprentices, was formed. Harry and Hermione would be living in separate rooms off McGonagall's and Poppy's quarters during term-time, with another separate room for Kiara to stay in when she visited. During the summer, they would all stay at Sanctuary with regular visits from Sheryl and David to see Hermione and Harry. Harry was rather nervous about this as he had an event planned for Hermione's birthday, but wanted her parent's permission. He already had his master's permission.

The next day, the paperwork was filed and sent into the Ministry and also a copy to Hogwarts. Dumbledore was furious at this but he couldn't do anything, the Ministry ruling about him not being able to see Harry or speak to him without either McGonagall or Kiara present had come through and was enraging him. He also wasn't allowed to contact the Dursleys again. He knew that any chance of manipulating McGonagall to gain access to Harry was now useless, as the Head of Gryffindor, while she might be strict with her students, was also as fierce in her protection of them as a lioness is when protecting her cubs. It was a fitting analogy since the symbol of Gryffindor House was a lion. Kiara wouldn't stand for manipulations either, and could smell them a mile off. Growling, he filed the paperwork, and tried to ignore the fact that, come the new term, there would be one Transfiguration apprentice and one Healing apprentice in the school. He also desperately tried to ignore the fact that both apprentices were Gryffindors, and both of their new masters were totally impervious to any form of manipulation or interference whatsoever.

The fact that the Transfiguration apprentice also happened to be the resident Jedi apprentice hadn't escaped him either. He would have been more shocked to learn that technically, there was one Transfiguration apprentice, one Healing apprentice and two Jedi apprentices. Kiara had decided to teach McGonagall how to be a Jedi, even though the arrangement would be for the most part informal. So it was that McGonagall, Kiara and Poppy were sitting in the living room at Sanctuary, plotting lesson plans and Kiara and Poppy were engaged in a lively debate over the relative merits of Wizarding and Jedi Healing techniques.

Harry had Flooed the Burrow, and told Fred and George of the new developments. They were thrilled about it. Harry went to bed that night, and fell asleep, happy at this much unexpected turn his life had taken. He would not be so happy the next morning.