Well, here we are again. This chapter is a bit of a filler from Harry's point of view, but I rather like slice-of-life snippets within stories that have a tendency to be dark/adventure-filled. And trust me, things are going to be getting dark.
Anyways, to my fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day, to my British readers, Happy Fireworks Day, (I'm sorry if I have the name wrong, all I know is that you guys set off fireworks at/around the same time) and to everyone else, please enjoy your summer!
Comodo50: Your question from your review for chapter 5 is answered in this chapter, so enjoy! And for chapter 6, think of killing intent from Naruto, same concept, just done via magic, with a direct pipeline from Harry to Lara, meaning no possible dilution of the effects.
Bountyhunter1977: For the most part, I just imagined Lara looking like her Shadow of the Tomb Raider self, but I had that image before we actually got to see a picture of her new physique in the trailer. As is, just scale her breasts up a size or three. Bigger, but nothing that would get in her way like I imagine the 2000's version of her did.
Agnar: I'm sorry to hear that you don't like first person point of view writing, however, my writing style was heavily influenced in the beginning by James Patterson's Maximum Ride series, which is told in first person. As such, I spend far more time writing in first person, and as a result, my best writing is done in first person. If you don't like it, no one is forcing you to continue reading my story.
To all my readers: I am only going to post one chapter a month. My muse jumps from story to story like a frog chasing a cloud of flies, and as such, I have to follow along until it comes back around to this story. When it does, I write as much as I can, usually a chapter or two, and I have about fourteen chapters written, however, I don't want to post all of them, and lose many of you because you think I've abandoned this fic if I don't post for a couple months. That is why I post one chapter a month, no more, no less, in order for me to make sure that I have more chapters to give you guys. Also, your reviews are fuel for my writing, and I really enjoy seeing you all enjoying my story.
Now, with all of that out of the way, here's the story.
When we finally left port, Lara and Sam had already managed to master the first spells taught in each of the first year books, and memorized much of the theory. I think that allowing Sam four million pounds to buy camera memory chips and battery packs might've been a wee bit excessive, but she was determined to record all of our discussions on magic, and practicing of the same.
Lara's weight has begun the grudgingly slow climb up the scale, and Sam bemoans her inability to eat the same amount of food as Lara, and maintain her figure. In response, I've started Sam on a physical fitness regimen that should have her in the Olympics neighborhood in the next year or so, but that would still leave her eating Lara and mine's dust, both in food consumption, and in physical abilities.
Jonah is moving through the spells at a prodigious rate, spending a few hours each night after dinner in my suit case, practicing the actual spells, and receiving help from me when I'm not deep in theory discussions with my two students. Roth and Reyes enjoy watching me humiliate my students in our mock duels, limited to first year jinxes and hexes, and Sam and Lara are left awestruck by the displays of magic between Jonah and myself. The New Zealander, as expected, was extraordinarily predisposed to water and wind based magic, and on more than one occasion, had whipped up a miniature typhoon in my dueling hall. Everyone except for me and him seemed upset at the impromptu showers this created.
Sam and Lara brow beat me into teaching them the Drying and Warming Charms after the third time they got soaked by Jonah and me.
By the end of the first month, Lara and Sam are halfway through their third year spells using their wands, and are finally getting the first year spells down wandlessly. I fear that I'm going to have to start using the Time Turner in my old school trunk to make sure they have enough skill to use wards and healing spells by the time we get to Yamatai. My gut is churning whenever I think of the girls in association with the legendary island, and the idea of them being hurt just makes it worse. I'm having a hard time distinguishing between my Master-Apprentice Bond just being protective, and my simple old Saving People Thing. To be honest, I'm not sure which I would prefer.
By the end of the second month, Lara is asking for more spells beyond seventh year, and tearing through all of the extra course material and theory books at a pace that would make Hermione proud, and Sam is recording all of our discussions, even the ones not pertaining to magic, but just to Yamatai in general. Roth and Reyes enjoy watching some of the less theory heavy videos, and Jonah has begun teaching us some of his people's brand of magic. I'm having to use copious amounts of Arithmancy to deconstruct his spells, and create wand movements for them, but the incantations are, thankfully, the same. Figuring out the wandless aspect will be more difficult, seeing as how his spells are channeled through his tattoos, which are made with magical ingredients, and the rest of us don't have those tattoos. I might just have to correct that when this adventure is over.
At the same time, Lara's strength and reflexes have been improving by leaps and bounds, and her speed already outstrips my own. Thankfully, she hasn't figured out independent flight, but that's just another thing I'll have to teach her. Sam, on the other hand, is seeing a steady increase in her physical capabilities, and has professed a desire to continue this kind of exercise until the day she dies.
I fear death will never come for the three of us, though.
An aspect of the Master-Apprentice Bond that I have figured out, is that there is a power-sharing/power-amplifying going on between the three of us. There is, for lack of a better analogy, a pair of magical pipes, connecting my magical core to theirs, and theirs to mine. My core is sending magic to theirs, which takes it, amplifies it, and sends it back, creating an infinite feedback loop between me, and each of them.
I fear what will happen if a bond of any kind springs up between Lara and Sam. I don't think the world was meant to see any true immortals. For that is surely the path that we are treading.
When we stop in Malaysia for a second resupply, I take Jonah and the girls with me to the local Magical Community, and spend the day explaining the differing magical beliefs and customs and basic spells. Lara is, of course, fascinated by it all, and Sam is fascinated by Lara's incessant monologuing, resulting in some fourteen memory chips used by the end of our day in port, and Jonah sporting a headache from trying to decipher Lara's Archaeology speak, and the Malaysian magical dialect that is just different enough from the non-magical version as to give us a difficult time communicating with the locals.
In the end, we spent about a million galleons on food and potions supplies that I wouldn't be able to get back in England, along with the common ingredients so that I could start teaching my least favorite subject to my two apprentices. Potions.
The first thing that I taught them, was an infection killing potion, followed by the blood replenishing potion. Then I spent the last month of our trip to Yamatai teaching Lara, Sam, and Jonah all of the healing spells I knew, and every ward and curse I could cram into their heads, and enchanting a few trinkets for Roth, Reyes, and Alex that would allow them to detect active magic, and pass through any wards the four of us magicals might put up, while also hiding the trinkets from anybody that wasn't the seven of us.
It was complicated warding and rune carving, something that I took advantage of to show my apprentices how to chain runes together for various effects. Lara's experience with old written dialects proved to her advantage in understanding the runes and their purported effects, but Sam's childhood of calligraphy training won over Lara's knowledge, and Sam was soon carving before Lara. It was intriguing though, seeing Lara's language expertise flowing from her to Sam's rune carving.
As we approached the line that separated the Dragon's Triangle from the rest of the Sea of Japan, I sat the officers of the Endurance and my apprentices down, and explained to them how I had managed to survive for so long, working as I have ever since I defeated Tom.
"Why are we all in our underwear?" Sam asked, her camera set up in a corner as Roth, Reyes, Alex, Jonah, Sam, Lara, and I all stood in the common room of my suit case, all, as Sam had pointed out, in nothing but our underwear.
"Because." I said, pacing back and forth, gripping the Elder Wand in both hands. "My instincts are getting closer to DEFCON 1 the closer we get to Yamatai. I'm taking no chances, so, here's what we're going to do.
"I am going to layer an Unbreakability Charm, and an Impervius Charm onto your skin." I explained. "The Unbreakability Charm does what the title says, while the Impervius Charm will prevent any liquid or dirt from sticking to you. Simple third year spells, typically overlooked simply because they're spells you learn in third year at school, and then promptly forget later on in order to learn other, more 'interesting' spells and such.
"What about the bones, and internal organs?" Lara asked, one arm trying to hide her impressive bust from anyone's sight. "Unbreakable skin won't save us from broken bones and ruptured organs if we fall from too high up."
"Excellent question!" I exclaimed, spinning to face her. "You see, I came across that problem when I was nineteen. Unbreakable skin, all well and good, but bullets hurt like a bitch! But, I remembered when I was twelve, and my incompetent, fraud of a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher vanished the bones in my arm after they'd been broken. I'd had those bones regrown overnight with a little bit of Skele-grow, but one of the effects of taking a dose when all your bones are fully healed, is an over calcification of your bones. Couple this with the Hardening Charm, which turns materials into rock, and layer all that with an Unbreakability Charm, and you have some of the most solid bones out there that just so happen to be unbreakable."
"What about us non-magicals?" Reyes interjected. "How will this affect us?"
"Normally, the potions need magic in the body of the recipient to work, or else it just tastes like a particularly bad dose of shite." I said. "Which is why I will be the one working these spells, and providing the necessary magic for the potions to work in the bodies of you non-magicals."
"Okay, so that's bones and skin." Sam said, completely at ease with letting everyone see the fantastic body she'd been working on for nearly three months now. "What about internal organs?"
"Easy." I shrugged. "Containment Charm intertwined with a Cushioning Charm. The first keeps the internal organs where they belong, the other one prevents any impacts from feeling worse than a haymaker to the abdomen."
"Anything else we should know about?" Reyes asked.
"Just that you should all get comfortable." I pointed out. "I'll be starting with you in descending order of importance, with Roth, then you Reyes, then Alex, then Jonah, and then finally my apprentices. I expect to take about an hour with each of you, barring complications."
"Like?" Roth asked.
"Oh, just weak bones, which means a double dose of Skele-grow, maybe healing a cut or scrape here and there, maybe some burns, which, now that I think about it, means I ought to layer a Flame Freezing Charm into your skin and clothes so that you can walk through fire without worrying about getting burned."
"Well, the sooner we get this done with, the sooner we can all regain our dignity." Roth pointed out. "Well, here goes."
I chuckled as Roth laid down on his back, and soon I set to work, having Lara and Sam stand over my shoulders as I showed them the process, and explained how I was doing what I was doing.
As I had expected, Roth needed two doses of Skele-grow to get his bones back up to snuff before I performed the Hardening and Unbreakable Charms. The rest of the charms were easier to apply, and far easier overall than doing it to myself. After that, I sent him off and got started on Reyes.
I had started this process around five in the evening, and by the time I finished working Jonah over, it was closer to eleven than ten.
"So, now the threesome starts?"
I turned to look at Sam, who was being facetiously flirty, while Lara's blush worked down to her breasts from her hairline.
"No," I smirked. "It starts after I have you two all nice and magicked up."
"Harry!"
I couldn't hold it anymore, and Sam and I keeled over onto our backs at Lara's indignant squeak.
"Kidding, kidding!" I waved off once I got my laughter under control. "Sam, you're up, and then you Lara. After we're done, you need to go to sleep, because tomorrow, I'm going to have you two learn how to use the Undetectable Extension Charm on your pockets, and the relevant charms necessary to keep everything organized so that all you have to do is stick your hand in your pockets while thinking of what you want, and have it slap into your hand almost immediately. Trust me, it'll make life so much easier."
With that, I began working my magic on Sam, and I was interested to note that her magic was… helping me. Making the charms and spells a bit more powerful, leading the magic where I wanted it to go faster, it was… odd. But not unwelcome.
"Don't have too much fun, now!" Sam giggled, before scampering to her bedroom, avoiding the wandless Stinging Hex Lara'd thrown her way, leaving only us two survival mages in my common room, with Sam's camera still recording away.
"Ready?" I asked her.
"Yeah." Lara sighed, laying down before adjusting her bra to try and keep her impressive bust contained. "I just wish I hadn't gone up three cup sizes since you started stuffing me with food."
"Not my fault." I said, holding my hands up in surrender. "By the time I had the chance to eat as much as my body and magic wanted me to, I had a lot of mass to make up for, and went from medium shirts to larges. There's some controversy over whether or not magic makes our bodies conform to what is commonly accepted as attractive in an effort to gain a mate. I'll admit, there's some good arguments for that theory, but I don't think we fit into that one."
"Then what would you say we fit into?" Lara asked, blushing as my wand traced lazy loops up her thighs, not touching, but close enough for her to feel the wand movement in the air.
"I'd say, for you personally, your body is attempting to store up excess fats, nutrients, and minerals." I muse. "It's possible that your subconscious is directing your magic to do so in anticipation of needing it on our upcoming adventure, though I hope that proves unnecessary, and I'd rather be put out at all my hard work in getting you where you need to be physically being undone like that."
"Are you sure it's not just because you like looking at my chest?" Lara shot back.
I blinked, surprised at the repartee, but definitely not unwelcome in my book.
"I never said I didn't think you were an attractive woman, Lara." I said gently. I'd had this conversation with Ginny when I realized that magic was going to push us together, simply because she was the first daughter born to the Weasley family in seven generations, after the Malfoys had put a curse on them to prevent any daughters. The fact that Ginny was a seventh child meant that the curse's power had essentially been dumped into her, leaving her massively powerful. In all honesty, only Hermione and McGonagall could match her, though the latter two had a hell of a lot more control.
Lara was silent for a few moments, before she grimaced as I forced her to take the Skele-grow potion.
"To be honest, Lara, I was expecting to live a rather long and lonely life." I explained. "I'm going to live for a very long time, and remain in my peak physical form for a couple of centuries at the least. You and Sam… well, I suppose living for centuries with a couple of beautiful women is better than some of the other possibilities my life could've provided."
"Oh?" Lara questioned, and I heard both annoyance and playfulness in her voice. "Just 'better'?"
"I could've had two burly Russian loggers as apprentices."
Lara blanched, before choked laughter bubbled up her throat.
"Okay, that's a hilariously atrocious image." She chuckled.
The rest of the time it took me to apply the spells and charms was spent in companionable silence, and once I was done, I sat back on my haunches and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Lara asked, sitting up and once again adjusting her bra. I noticed her frown at it, and made a mental note to contact Hermione for that clothing charm she'd used during our adventures after we'd hit puberty.
"I've been layering protection charms and spells onto the Endurance, and charming everything unbreakable that I can get to, from hull to frame, but I'm still worried that it's not going to be enough."
"It will be enough, Master."
I looked at Lara, surprised by her voluntary use of the title that I knew she hated using.
"I'm serious!" she insisted. "And besides, even if the ship is completely wrecked, you've promised Roth a new one. So long as he actually gets it once this is over, I'm pretty sure he'll forgive you for anything happening to his baby."
We both chuckled, and then I stood and moved towards my coat, digging into one of the pockets.
"Go ahead and get dressed." I said over my shoulder. "I've got someone I want you to talk to."
Then I used a switching spell to put my clothes on instantly, and walked out of the common room to the hallway of all the bedrooms.
"Hermione Weasley, I could use a little assistance here." I said, looking down at the small handheld mirror in my hand. It was a remake of the one Sirius had given me a couple decades ago, and linked to mirrors that everyone in the DA had. They made communicating much easier, instead of using the old Protean Charmed galleons.
"Harry!"
I looked back down at the mirror, and smiled at the face of one of my best friends.
"Hey, Hermione." I said. "How're you?"
"I'm fine, Harry." She said, smiling brightly at me. "What about you? What do you need my help for?"
"I'm fine." I answered in turn. "Look, a few months ago, I got dragged into another mess, this time by the Japanese MoM, and in looking for a muggle transport, I ended up with two Morgana-class apprentices."
"Only you, Harry." She shook her head, a bemused expression on her features. "So, what's the real problem?"
"Both of them are women, and one of them happens to be exceptionally endowed," I said, holding the mirror away from me and motioning for a large bust, causing Hermione's lips to purse as her eyebrows pulled together in consternation. "My gut's telling me we're all about to step in it, and I figure the least I can do is help her keep contained, if you know what I mean."
"Yes, Harry, I'll teach her the Bra Support Charm." Hermione said, rolling her eyes at me. "Hand me over to her."
"One moment." I said, moving back into the common room in time to see Lara lacing up her boots. "Lara, I have someone here who wants to talk to you."
Lara stood up, ignoring the unfinished laces, and came closer, confused.
"Hermione Weasley, meet Lara Croft, my apprentice." I said, moving so that Hermione could see my apprentice. "Lara Croft, meet one of my two best friends, Hermione Weasley, nee Granger."
"Hello, Lara." Hermione said, smiling gently at my apprentice. "How are you doing?"
"I-I-I-I'm fine." Lara stuttered. "Is this a mirror that's been charmed for instantaneous long distance communication?"
I blinked, and Hermione looked surprised, before a positively possessive gleam came into her eyes.
"Oooh, I like this one Harry." Hermione said. "So, Lara, I hear that you could use a little support in the chest area?"
"Hermione, teach her, but I need her asleep soon." I interjected, beginning to back away from my obviously peeved apprentice. "She needs to be awake in six hours to assist in final preparations for our adventure."
"Of course, Harry." Hermione called, since I was out of her line of sight now. "Now run along, I'll have your apprentice back to you in no time at all!"
"That's what I'm afraid of." I muttered to myself as I moved towards my Fidelliused room. Having one inside of a magically expanded trunk was a bit redundant, but I'd rather have a bolt hole in my bolt hole that only I knew about.
I'd found out the hard way that Lara had a penchant for fire that made me question her matrilineal heritage. The only reason why I knew she wasn't a Veela was because all Veela fire is blue, and Lara's were green, which was apparently her favorite color.