Chapter 4: Swordplay
The room has five beds, three of which are messy, one seems to be well made and slightly more organised. The one labelled "Potter" Looks to have never been touched judging by the thin layer of dust covering it. There are a small set of drawers that I transfer my clothes into and lay Excalibur on top of. I pull out the modified hat stand I use to hold my armour and begin to polish the metal. Voices carry up the stairs after a few minutes.
"It's him." One of them say.
"My room-mates, I presume?" Dust loves to cling onto my armour.
"Uh, yeah. I'm Ron." "Dean." "Seamus."
"Lancelot." I say in return. Dobby pops into the room with a large jug. "Ah thanks. Dobby, this is Ron, Dean and Seamus. This is Dobby, He'll probably be hanging around in here from time to time."
"You've got your own house-elf?" Ron asks.
"Not really. Dobby enjoys the hunting. The whole squire thing is ingrained into him because he's a house-elf." I explain standing up.
"Is that a jug of salt?" Seamus asks.
"Yep." I begin to make a circle of salt around my bed. "A simple protection, not that I don't trust the Hogwarts protections, but it's better to be thorough." I pour lines across the window sills.
"What do they do?" Seamus asks.
"Dissuade demons from crossing the line, it won't keep out anything really nasty, but it might make them ignore us." I say, running one hand over the salt, with the other grasping my rosary. It sinks into the stone, signalling that the protection has taken hold.
"Planning on being attacked?" Seamus asks.
"Just a precaution. Don't try bringing any demons in here, they'll be uncomfortable." I hand Dobby the empty jug. "Where'd you get that from anyway?"
"The guys in the kitchen keep the salt in big barrels." The jug vanishes from his hand.
"Maybe grab a flask of water ready for tomorrow." He vanishes again.
"What's happening tomorrow?" A new voice. "Neville Longbottom." He extends his hand towards me.
"Ah, the fourth musketeer." I shake his hand. "Tomorrow is Sunday, same as every week." I start to set my armour on the stand.
"Can't you just levitate it?" Seamus asks from his bed.
"It's resistant to spells, Not that I can levitate anything." I laugh slightly.
"That's a first year spell." He says, turning back to his magazine. "Even Ron can do it."
"Git." The redhead says, throwing some balled up socks at the Irish boy.
"I've never been taught wand magic." I say, standing back to admire the ancient armour. "Give me a horde of dementors and I can fight my way out." I plunge my arm into my rucksack, pulling out the large cross and a small wooden box. "Tell me to cast a magical spell with a wand? No chance in hell." I hang the cross from the crossbeam above my bed. The box contains a whetstone. Completely useless on Excalibur as it will never need sharpening, nor can I be affected by the stone. It's more of a habit I've gotten into, pretending to sharpen the sword. I slide Excalibur from the scabbard.
"Bloody hell." Ron exclaims.
"That's one big fuck off sword." Seamus says. "So you go and hunt dementors?"
"Not exclusively." I run the black stone across the edge of the blade. "If it's evil, I'll hunt it. Trolls, vampires, anything possessed by a demon really. I'm not a fan of killing vampires or werewolves though, too close to people y'see. Only if they are real nasty buggers, terrorising townsfolk, killing and raping."
"So you're pretty good with that thing?" Dean asks.
"I could hold off my teacher when I was 9 years old, but I haven't had a sparring partner for a while. I'm alright."
"You want to have a go at Neville one day." Dean says. "Some of the old families make their kids learn it."
"Longbottom? I thought it sounded familiar." I say, glancing over to Neville. "You ever get taught?" He picks two wooden swords from his trunk.
"I'm alright." He says. I grin at him. "I practice with a girl from Hufflepuff. Susan Bones."
"Neville's got himself a woman." Seamus teases.
"Bones you say?" I say. "I think a Sir Lamorak married a Bones once."
"I was just collecting the swords actually, you're welcome to join us. I've only the two though." He offers. I pick up Excalibur's scabbard and throw it to him. "Similar weight to these actually, It'll do."
"Don't touch my stuff." I wave Excalibur at the others before we walk down the stairs.
"It changed length." Neville says as we walk through the common room.
"Sometimes I need it on my belt, sometimes I need a big sword on my back." I explain, smiling at my giggling house-mates. "It's a magical sword after all. It can go from a mere 90 centimetres to 140." Neville lets out a low whistle.
"These are 110 I think, pretty heavy for wood, but it's good exercise." He explains. I think there was a Longbottom that once served as Galahad centuries ago. Not a wizard though. "Sue's friend, Hannah, will come along too. They're inseparable."
"Ah. A blessing and a curse." I laugh, Neville looks at me questioningly. "They look out for each other, making it hard to pull one. A curse. Sometimes you can pull them both because they won't leave the other behind. The blessing." He laughs as he pushes open a heavy door.
"We wondered where you got to." The girls, Susan, says. She stands on her tiptoes and kisses Neville. I wolf-whistle and they break apart. The other girl, Hannah, laughs as Susan blushes.
"Neville invited me." I say with a grin. "I didn't think it was this kind of party." Neville takes it in stride and laughs.
"We've got a couple of hours until curfew starts." Neville explains. "You missed the whole prefect speech right?" I nod. "We have to be back in our common rooms by nine, although I think champions don't have to follow that."
"Did you bring a real sword?" Hannah asks, looking up from her book.
"A Paladin without his sword is like a bird without wings." I say.
"It's true then? You're a Paladin?" She asks as Susan and Neville walk to the middle of the room. "Nobody else carries a sword to dinner."
"And here I am, thinking that I was part of some secret covenant. Is this part of daily learning in Hogwarts?" I ask. She laughs and shakes her head.
"Only if you pay attention in History of Magic. It's taught by a ghost, so not many do. Although now that you're here they might." She explains.
"A ghost?" Can ghosts even teach? "The good kind?"
"There's a bad kind?"
"Poltergeists. They can interact with things, throw chairs at people, things like that." Susan and Neville start to spar with surprising speed.
"Oh, we've got a poltergeist. His name is Peeves, he likes to throw dung-bombs at people. Merlin knows where he gets them from."
"Dung-bombs?" I ask. "What the hell is a dung-bomb?"
"Exactly how it sounds. A bomb mixed with dung." She wrinkles her nose.
"And this guy teaches History of Magic?" Maybe I can exorcise it.
"No, no, no. The teacher is Professor Binns. Just a regular old ghost." She says. "You look disappointed."
"Haven't exorcised a poltergeist in a few months." I shrug. "It can be fun." I watch Neville and Susan fight for a while. "How often do they do this?"
"Erm." She drums her fingers on her book. "Every Saturday at least. Usually a couple of times during the week too."
"They're pretty good." Susan is quick, faster than she looked beforehand, but now she has shed her robe I can see her muscles. Neville is a bit slower with his offence, but he can block or at least parry. He has a lot more muscle than Susan, Maybe he plays this cribbage game that wizards love. They break apart for a rest after Neville's eye almost gets taken out. Hannah fixes it easy enough. "So you're the medic?" I smile.
"Something like that." She laughs. "I get rid of the bruises mostly."
"Come on." Susan says, standing up with her practice sword. "Let's see what you're made of." I pick up Excalibur and stab the sword into the floor.
"The scabbard doesn't have a handle, so forgive me if I drop it." I grin at her as I remove my robe. "Ignore the scars."
"What-" She winces as I remove my shirt.
"This is about the same length." I wave the scabbard around. "Ready?"
She dashes forward, taking a well aimed swing at my head. I bend my knees and the sword misses me by an inch, I return the attack, almost hitting her knee.
"Good." I say.
She comes at me with a flurry of attacks, I block each one with apparent ease, much to her frustration. She's good, but I was brought up doing this. I start to press against her more instead of just blocking. Her footwork is quick and accurate, she won't trip unless I really push her. I hit her in the stomach and manage to block the wooden sword with my other wrist. I tuck the hand behind me.
"Crippled." I laugh.
She begins her advance again with a smile of her own. "That's the best you've got?" She taunts. My smile widens.
I hit her ankle, then her hand and hit the wooden sword in the air, causing it to spin and hit her shoulder.
"You're good." I say. "That was fun. A nice change from being attacked by claws and teeth I must say." She just gapes at me. Neville claps and picks up his sword, standing a couple of metres from me. Susan picks up her sword again after Hannah clicks her fingers back into place.
They managed to hold out for 15 minutes before I decided to finish it. I'd never admit it to them, but they almost had me a few times. They both lay panting on the floor.
"Brilliant." I laugh, leaning on Excalibur's scabbard. "It's a shame there isn't a club for this. Not enough call for it I suppose. Maybe a wand and a slender blade, maybe a rapier or something, that could be a tricky opponent." I pull Excalibur from the floor and shrink it to it's shortest form and thin the blade as much as possible. It's incredibly light, I might be able to work out a duelling stance that lets me get close enough to stab someone.
"I think Malfoy has a sword. I know his father carries one inside his cane, He can draw his wand or sword from it." Susan says.
"That's pretty awesome." I slip Excalibur back into the scabbard and clip it to my belt again. "I might swing by next Saturday. Maybe give you a few pointers? You can only learn so much from each other." Neville weakly gives me a thumbs up, too weak to talk apparently. "I'll see you tomorrow I guess." I leave the room and realise I've got no idea where I am. "Dobby?"
"Common room?" He asks, walking towards me. I nod and we vanish in a pop, reappearing in the common room. He vanishes again, going back to whatever it was he was doing.
I pick a book from the shelves in the common room. A first year book of daily charms, A good place to start I think. I cross the room and lay on one of the sofas. "Dobby, grab me a drink." A can appears of the coffee table. I've no idea how he can send stuff to me without being here, but I'm so glad he can. "Wingardium leviosa." I read from the book and take a sip from the can. It's going to be a very long night.
A/N: There's the first day done. Harry is Lancelot in more than just heritage.
In answer to Modhne, I've got no idea for pairings. It's not really the focus of the story at the moment. Harry is the chosen one, so there is plenty of women ready to climb into his bed. Enjoy.