Author's Note: I do not own the Ninja Turtles or Harry Potter. All original characters belong to me.
Note: Thank you to Akasha Rose for your reviews.
Chapter Six
"How was class?" Splinter asked, when Stevie entered the quarters he and the Turtles were staying in.
"Oh … swell," Stevie replied, with a hint of sarcasm. "Umbridge is everything I thought her to being. She's … she's … grr … words can't even describe what she is!"
"That bad, huh?" Raphael asked.
"Harry, unfortunately, got detention, for telling the truth," said Stevie, sitting down on a stool at the kitchen bench, where Michelangelo was cooking.
"Do not be disheartened, Tenshi," said Splinter, "Think of the people who do know the truth."
"Speaking of, any news of, well, anything?" Stevie asked.
"Well, its official, The Foot Clan have well and truly aligned themselves with the Death Eaters," Leonardo told her, who was polishing the blade of one of this Katana.
"Isn't that a little suicidal on The Foot's part?" Stevie asked, frowning a little. "I mean, surely Karai isn't stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's tricks."
"Karai probably knows what she is getting herself into," said Leonardo, his voice full of bitterness at the mention of that name. "But, even if she doesn't, well … it's not my problem."
"Actually, in a big way, it is, Leo," said Stevie. "The Foot are aligned with Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Something I never thought possible until now. No-one in the Wizarding World, except for Dad, Severus and myself know of what The Foot are capable of. Not even the other members of the Order know, even though you told them about them. And, it's not just your problem, it's all of ours. Ours and the Wizarding World's."
"Stevie is right, Leo," said Raphael.
"For now, we can't really do much," Splinter than spoke, "Except to keep our eyes and ears open, also to keep our skills in check. That means it is time for training."
The Turtles obeyed, Mikey put the oven to a lower heat, so the roast wouldn't burn and also be ready to be cut and dished up once training had ceased. Stevie felt very much at home when she started warming up.
Tuesday morning went well with double Charms, followed by double Transfiguration. After lunch it was Care of Magical Creatures. Stevie walked out of the castle with Harry, Ron and Hermione, only to see Splinter and the Turtles with a class not too far away. The students were either first or second year, she wasn't sure, but the houses were easy, being that the Ravenclaws were wearing blue training dogis and the Gryffindors were wearing scarlet ones.
By the looks of things the students were quite enjoying the class. Stevie then caught Mikey waving over to her, which she returned.
"Mikey," Leonardo said sternly.
But a few of the second years had looked over to see where Mikey who waving to.
"Focus, please class," Splinter patiently asked of them. "For Raphael and Michelangelo will be demonstrating a defence if your attacker comes up from behind you …"
"I can't wait to try what you do," said Ron to Stevie, when they reached Hagrid's cabin, where Professor Grubbly-Plank was all ready waiting.
"What would that be, Weasley?" said a voice, "Get yourself into detention on the very first day of school?"
Stevie rolled her eyes at this. She wasn't about to tell them that her dear, dear Uncle Severus, their Head of House, wasn't actually intending to give her detention at all. Being that he managed to speak to her when she was on her way to the Great Hall that morning. She was alone, so Snape was able to tell her that she won't be getting detention, however he told her that if she spoke up again, she will be coming back to his classroom after her final class of the day and be given something to do as a form of detention.
"Do I have much of a choice?" was her reply, before walking away from him.
"Who can tell me what these things are called?" Professor Grubbly-Plank asked, bringing Stevie's mind back to the present.
Hermione's had shot up in an instant. Behind her back, Malfoy did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question. Pansy Parkinson gave a shriek of laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table before them leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixie-ish creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twiglike figures at the end of each hand and a funny flat, bark like face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.
"Ooooh!" said Lavender and Parvati.
'Yes, highly impressive,' Stevie thought to herself, while she was intrigued by these creatures, she was a little bored, being that she had seen these creatures, known as Bowtruckles, once before … they nearly gouged her eyes out, until her father gave them some woodlice to get rid of them.
Hermione managed to scrape Gryffindor ten points.
"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked Professor Grubbly-Plank when the students went closer to do what she had asked of them.
"Never you mind," she answered repressively.
Smirking, Draco Malfoy leaned over. "Maybe," he said in an undertone, so that Harry could hear him, though Stevie had sharp enough hearing and was right next to Harry, "the stupid oaf got himself badly injured."
"Maybe you will if you don't shut up," said Harry out of the side of his mouth.
"Maybe he's been messing with stuff too big for him, if you get my drift."
Harry glared at him, but Stevie had a clue to what he meant by that. They went back around to Ron and Hermione; Harry replayed what he was told. Hermione told him that Dumbledore would know if something had happened and then asked him to hold the Bowtruckle for a moment, so she could draw the face.
"Yes," came Malfoy's clear drawl from the group nearest them, "Father was talking to the Minister a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on sub-standard teaching in this place. So even if that overgrown moron does show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straightaway.
"Also, I do hope that overgrown rat and those turtles are kicked out too. I haven't seen them use a signal ounce of magic. What are they getting at, teaching non-magic moves?"
Stevie would love to just give him a demonstration, but she restrained herself.
Next class was Herbology. Things went nice and smooth. Stevie then went straight to the quarters of where the Turtles were staying, which was located on the second floor of the castle, hiding behind a stone carved archway in a quiet spot where no-one ever goes.
"Kame," she said at once.
Finally she was in and she saw that Splinter and the Turtles hadn't yet arrived, so she sat down in the living area and began her homework. Okay, it's not like she's never had homework before, but she missed the days where she had little of it and there wasn't such a thing as a firm due date, as long as it gets done, the assignment is allowed to be a week late. But that cannot happen here, not in Hogwarts.
She wrote her assignment that Snape had set out, she practiced whatever spells she was told to do and she was about to write out the assignment about the first chapter of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard, when she heard the cheery voices of Mikey and Donny, followed by Raph and Leo, with Splinter bringing up the rear.
"Hey, Stevie," said Mikey. "What ya doin'?"
"Homework," Stevie answered.
"You mean those things normal students get?" Raphael said, "Boy, do I feel sorry for you?"
"Well, if I want to pass my OWL exams I have to make sure that I am getting all things right," said Stevie.
"I still feel sorry for you," said Raphael.
"How much more do you have to do?" Splinter asked her.
"Just the Defence Against the Dark Arts and Ancient Runes," Stevie answered. "I can train."
"As long as I am not keeping you from doing other important things, Tenshi," said Splinter, as Stevie closed the book she was holding and straightened things up.
"I'll get my work done, Master," she assured him. "I've done it before."
Splinter nodded.
Stevie woke up the next morning, the students who were going to be in Splinter's class that morning were asked to put on their dogis before class. So the fifth-year Gryffindors put on their scarlet, except Stevie, she put on her black dogi instead. She had two dogis, one white and one black.
"How come you're not wearing the same as us?" Lavender asked her.
"Because I've already got my own dogis, Lavender," said Stevie.
She helped Hermione, who was having trouble tying up the belt of her dogi.
"How can you even move in these things?" she asked, as they went down to the common room.
"Quite easily," was Stevie's answer.
They went to the Great Hall with Harry and Ron and saw that they were to be with the Slytherins.
"Oh, great!" Ron grumbled, seeing them in their green dogis.
"They don't appear to be too happy," Hermione noted.
"That's their problem," said Stevie, shrugging, "I'm rather looking forward to introducing Malfoy to the Knee of Pain."
"Off to do class with Professor Hamato, I see," said Lee Jordan, as the four sat down at the Gryffindor Table.
"Yes," said Harry.
"Fred, George and I had him yesterday morning. That's when the twins said they had all ready met him, and the Turtles. Michelangelo is pretty cool, even suggesting a few ideas to Fred, George and I on our jokes," Lee.
Stevie grinned. "That's Mikey for you," she said.
Class was to be held inside a classroom that was near the Charms classroom. But thanks to spells, any shouts wouldn't be passed on into either class.
The classroom was huge, with practice mats all over the place, and a very large one stood in the middle that was raised up a little like a stage, this was where Splinter and the Turtles were standing. Along the walls were a number of ninja weapons, ranging from bladed weapons, like the Katana to the simple wooden like weapons, such as the Bo-Staff.
This was the one class she was actually able to stand up with the Turtles and not down where the rest of the students were.
"Welcome class," Splinter spoke, "I am Professor Hamato, but you may address me as Sensei.
"Why is she up there too?" Pansy Parkinson asked, pointing at Stevie.
"Whilst Stephanie is in this class, she will be helping by acting as a watcher and giving out demonstrations," Splinter explained. "Stephanie has been my student for twelve years and, while she is still learning, she is qualified to help out in class."
"Why do we even need these classes?" Malfoy then spoke up, his arms were crossed and his face was giving an expression mixed between bored and sneer. "I mean, we're Wizards, surely there is not need to know how to defend ourselves non-magically."
Splinter looked at Malfoy for a moment to consider his words. "Do you think you are able to defend yourself with just your wand, Draco?" he then asked the teenager.
"Of course I do," said Malfoy confidently.
"Then perhaps you can come up here and we will see how well you can defend yourself against Stephanie," Splinter suggested.
Malfoy was wearing this smirk upon his lips. Stevie smirked right on back, as she stepped forwards from where she stood beside Donatello and went over to the other side of the mat, while Malfoy took his place at the other end.
Malfoy pulled out his wand, while Stevie didn't.
"Why are you smiling for?" Malfoy said, frowning a little. "You're not armed!"
"Aren't I?" said Stevie.
"Go," Splinter then said.
Malfoy went to say the first spell that came to his head.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Stevie pulled out a sai from underneath her dogi jacket and threw it right at Malfoy, whilst she also did the scissor splits to duck the spell that was shooting towards her. Malfoy froze as the weapon went speeding towards him, leaving him no time to stop it. Stevie then clicked, the sai stopped and stayed suspended in midair, the middle prong just two centimetres from Malfoy's nose.
"Even if I wasn't armed, Malfoy," Stevie said with seriousness, yet satisfied that she was able to get rid of that annoying smirk. "I'd still try and find a way to defend myself." With a click, the sai returned back over to Stevie's awaiting hand, which she then placed into the holder underneath her jacket.
"Do you still think that learning Self-Defence is a waste of your time?" Splinter simply asked the Slytherins.
Neville then raised his hand.
"Yes, Neville," said Splinter.
"What are you going to teaching us today?" he asked, his voice wasn't really all that confident.
"I'm going to teach you just some of the basics. First you will be shown a demonstration, and then you will be paired off. Some of you may be paired with one of my sons, or with Stephanie," Splinter kindly explained. "The first two demonstrations I will show you is one defence from the front and the other will be a defence from the back. Raphael and Donatello, please step forward." Raphael and Donatello did so. "Now, Raphael, you will attack Donatello from the front, while Donatello, you will defend yourself."
"Yes, Sensei," said the two in unison.
Raphael and Donatello faced each other. Raphael rushed forwards to deliver a punch, Donatello blocked this with ease. Considering that this is a demonstration, Raphael pulled it a little. If this was training, he wouldn't be so unforthcoming. Raphael and Donatello did a few more demonstrations to show what other defences the students can try.
"Thank you, Raphael and Donatello," said Splinter. "Leonardo and Michelangelo will demonstrate defences if you are ever attacked from behind. Leonardo you are offence, Michelangelo you are defence."
Once those demonstrations were shown. The students were instructed to get into pairs and use the practice mats that are about the place. Harry and Ron paired with each other, Dean and Seamus paired and so did Lavender and Parvati. Hermione and Neville found themselves paired with each other.
Leonardo could see that Neville was lacking in confidence as he tried attack Hermione. So he decided to watch for a moment, he wasn't all that positive when he tried to defend himself either.
"Come on, Neville," Hermione tried to encourage him.
"I don't want to hurt you," Neville muttered. "I mean, you're a girl. I was always taught to never hit a female."
"But what if the female was virtually attacking you?" Leonardo pointed out. "You wouldn't try to at least defend yourself?"
"I guess," Neville answered.
Leo figured this boy just needed a bit of a helping hand.
"Donny," he called.
Donatello was keeping an eye on Parvati and Lavender, until his attention was called over.
"What's up, Leo?" he asked, went he reached his brother, Hermione and Neville.
"Perhaps you can be Hermione's training partner," Leo suggested, "I'm going to help Neville."
"I … I don't want to be a bother," said Neville quietly.
"Neville what you need is a boost of self-confidence," Leo assured him.
Donny took over Neville's spot, while Neville went with Leonardo to the large mat in the middle.
"Now, I'm going to throw a punch, what you need to do is block it," Leonardo told him.
"Okay," said Neville.
Leonardo brought a fist forward; Neville flinched and closed his eyes as he tried to bring his arm up to block Leo. He was expecting the fist to smack him right in the nose, but it didn't come. He opened his eyes to see that Leo's fist had not at all connected with his face. Leo just gave a kind look.
"Shall we try again?" he offered.
Neville was amazed at just how patient he was.
"Man, Leo, you're never like that with us!" said Raphael, who was witnessing this.
"Only because we trained along side him, Raph," said Stevie. "We don't get special treatment."
Class was fifteen minutes from ending when Splinter had called everyone to cease. The Slytherins won't admit it, nor would they ever show it, but they did find the lesson quite satisfactory.
"Near the end of each lesson, choose which two of the Turtles to show you what they, themselves, have learnt over the years. But, if you are willing, I can choose two of you to show what they have learnt within class," Splinter informed them.
"What if we wanted to, can we be called up to go up against one of the Turtles?" Seamus asked.
"That is permitted," said Splinter. "But that will be in later lessons."
"Why don't you choose, Lupin? Seeing that I didn't see her do anything in class," Malfoy spoke up.
"She has been helping give pointers to other class members," said Michelangelo, frowning a little.
Stevie shook her head. "Don't trouble yourself, Mikey," she said to him.
"Stephanie, Michelangelo, perhaps you can spar," Splinter then offered.
Stevie and Mikey stepped forwards, while Splinter and the other Turtles left the mat. Stevie and Mikey got in position, bowed and on Splinter's mark began their sparring. Mikey blocked Stevie's first oncoming blow, but she fended off his counterattack. They were both precise in what they were trying to do, the students were in awe of the pure skill and determination on the pair.
Michelangelo and Stevie may have trained side-by-side, but they pretty much knew what the other was capable of throwing when it comes to attacking or defending. Plus, the pair of trained privately together for many years, it was always excellent whenever they were paired off together in training sessions. In this round, Mikey turned out being the victor, Stevie misjudged her roundhouse kick, giving him the advantage. He grabbed her by the ankle and it caused her to fall to the mat, allowing him to give the 'final blow', which he didn't do, for this was a training session and he wouldn't dare to that to Stevie.
Finally the bell rang, however the students were given enough time to change into their robes so they can get to their next classes.
"See you round, Stevie," said Mikey.
"Later, Mikey," said Stevie, giving him eight. "Later, guys. Bye, Sensei," she added before following her classmates out the door.