It was Christmas Eve three days after the incident with Potter who was now sitting at one of the desks concentrating on his homework when he froze for no reason. Severus gave him a suspicious look watching as the arrogant child lifted the sleeve of his shirt to stare at the tattoo on his forearm. He said scowling," Potter this isn't a tattoo fest get back to work." He didn't reply even as he put the sleeve down and continued his work.
It was about an hour later when his Slytherin prefect walked in. Flint looked at Potter giving him a knowing look before saying," Sir, I have Draco Malfoy outside. He decided to pick on a Ravenclaw with two other Slytherins." Severus sneered and said," Flint we do not show disloyalty within our house by reprimanding our own in front another house. Even if they are wrong."
Flint met his gaze without flinching and said," Sir, all the houses have agreed to a pact that we will treat each other with respect. I personally have seen the SA in action and would not want to be on the wrong side of them. If you won't discipline Malfoy I guarantee you that the SA will and it will be worse than anything you can do."
Severus said his anger flaring," Get out of my sight, Flint." Still the fifth year did not flinch but instead said," Don't say I didn't warn you, sir." With that the fifth year walked out of the classroom and could be heard yelling at the first years. When Severus looked around the classroom he saw Potter watching him with curiosity. He snarled," What are you looking at Potter? Get back to work."
I sighed and went back to my potions homework trying to keep from scratching at the tattoo of the Pendragon that was driving me mad. What seemed to be hours later Snape said," It's almost curfew Potter I suggest you return to your common room."
I nodded, but had no intention of returning to my common room the SA was throwing a party for everyone. We had spent the last month equipping our new headquarters that were not far from the Gryffindor Common Rooms. Remus smiled as I walked past him on my way out of the dungeons. He asked," Will you come with me to my office for a moment?" I grinned and said," Nope but you can follow me. There is something you need to see. Padfoot and I's special project. A new SA headquarters."
The look on Remus' face was priceless he looked like a fish out of water. I turned my head giving the sign for him to follow me. He had to almost sprint to keep up with me and it wasn't long before John and Marcus joined us.
Severus knew the child was up to something so as soon as he left the classroom the man cast an illiusionment charm on himself and followed. He saw the boy's usual shadow and even with his long legs struggled to keep up with the excited boy. He was right they were obviously up to something. What he did not expect was to almost get trampled on by his own prefect and a second year. They gave their greetings to the Potter boy who grinned at them. Severus began to wonder what was really going on tonight. Soon they reached a wall just down from the Gryffindor Tower entrance. On the wall there was a painting of the Hogwarts crest and a creature he had never seen before.
Potter held up his right wrist revealing the silver bracelet underneath and said," Estou Wolf. Estamos loitando candidato para o ben de Hogwarts deixarnos pasar." It took Severus a moment to recognize the language as Galician and that it meant: I am Wolf. We are seekers who fight for the good of Hogwarts let us pass. He knew what the words meant but he didn't know why someone would say that to a portrait.
What surprised him was when the portrait opened revealing the door Potter said grinning from ear to ear," Welcome to the new SA headquarters. RoR was getting to be too obvious so for weeks now John and I have been working to make the room ready. It has everything from a training room to a potions lab to even living quarters. Oh Fred and George you're going to love this. It has a list of everyone within the castle, where they are, and if they are student, teacher, or otherwise."
Jaws dropped it was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into this, and that they would not let it go without a fight. It was about an hour later when the twins said," Hey since its Christmas and we have been training super hard how about we have a battle royal to celebrate. Winner gets bragging rights for six months."
Potter snorted and said his arrogance obvious," You guys have only been training since September there is not one of you here that could take me on. No offense Oliver." Fred said," Then what about without using that new tian of yours Pendragon. Come on stick in the mud one chance?"
The group was looking at me excitedly so I gave in and said," Training room. Two minutes you're not there you don't participate." Everyone went to grab their titans their excitement was almost touchable. Remus asked watching them," Are you sure this is a good idea? There are six of them and one of you."
I snorted and said," They have four months of training I have had six," Remus frowned and asked," Months?" I gave him a grin and said," Years." Waving over my shoulder I went to the training room I took off my robes and began to make a large circle in the dirt. When the others came in I said pointing at the circle," Those participating step inside," In that moment all six members stepped in and then I did before continuing," If you get knocked out of the circle you lose. If you hit the ground for more than three seconds you're to step out or call for someone to help you out. No killing or maiming or permanent injuries. Three…" Everyone took their stances," Two… One."
I threw up a Honorguard to stop the barrage of attacks that was sent my way. They tried to corner me at the edge of the circle when I called out," Farslip." This allowed me to slip to the middle of the circle. Everyone's jaws dropped and they asked," When did you master Farslip?" I grinned and said," Yesterday just waiting for the right moment to use it."
Before we could do anything else Charot landed on my shoulder I held up my hand to stop the fight. He whispered in my ear," There is a professor over by the door." I looked at the ageless titan in shock. I pulled out my wand and pointed where Charot had indicated. I said," Revelo." After a moment Professor Snape was revealed and all of swore violently.
I said casting another spell before he could react," Stupify." With Snape now unconscious I walked up to him and said putting my hand on his temple," SimpleMind." I modified his memories so that when he woke up he would think he passed out from being dizzy and had hit his head. The twins helped me move him down the hall and onto the stairs positioning him like he had fallen.
When we returned Marcus asked," What was that power you used?" I said after a sigh," It's called SimpleMind it is a dark seeker power. It should only be used in extreme circumstances. The reason I used it was to protect our secret and our safe haven."
The twins asked," Are only we allowed in here? Can we invite those we trust?" I said nodding over to where Remus was watching intently," If you trust them take them to the RoR first. If they can keep our secret then we can talk about showing them the hideout. Any ideas of what we should name this place?"
They gave each other looks and then said," The Den. We have been thinking about this for a while we knew you were hiding something." I grinned and said," Well then the Den it is."
We partied most of the night until Lupin threatened to force march us to each of our Head of House to get us to go to bed. The next morning Ron woke me by jumping on my bed screaming," Harry! It's Christmas!" For his trouble he got a face full of Boltflare.
We opened presents I had got candy from different members of the SA, a book on pranks from the twins, a book on the founders from Hermione, a new Huntik sweatshirt from Dante, and a scroll from Metz. I was about to read the scroll from Metz when Ron said coming out from under the tree," Hey, you have one more." He handed it to me it held a note that said: This belonged to your father use it wisely.
Ron asked," Who is it from?" I shook my head and said," It wasn't signed. What the bloody hell is this?" Ron snorted when he saw me pull out what looked like a silver cloak. He said waving his hand," Well put it on. Come on, Harry it would be rude not to."
I scowled but wrapped it around me and looked down in shock I now had no body. Ron said putting down his sweets," Bloody hell, that's an invisibility cloak they are extremely rare." I grinned at him then looked at my scroll. Wrapped in the scroll was eight invites to the summer trainings held each year. The scroll itself read: We of the Huntik Foundation council acknowledge the Seeker Alliance within Hogwarts as an official part of the Huntik Foundation. Carry this with pride and uphold the honor that is given to each member.
Metz Chairman of the Huntik Foundation Council
Tears filled my eyes it had been over a year since I had last talked to Metz but he hadn't forgotten me. I held it out to Ron who said," Wow they actually acknowledged us. I didn't think they would do that." I said with a small smile," They wouldn't but Metz would. I'm going to contact the others. This needs to go up on the wall of the main room in the Den." I blew the whistle signaling for everyone to meet in the Den.
Remus was grading paper when a house elf came up to him. It said," Master Lupin sir. Is have some gifts for yous. The giver asked to remain anonymous." It put half of its cargo on his desk before popping out of the room. After checking it with a spell he opened it to reveal amulets one of which he recognized. There was a small note attached: If you want to learn how to use these you know where to find us.
Wolf
Filtch was sitting in his quarters when a house elf apparated in front of his desk scarring him half to death. It said," Sir, Master Harry Potter Vale asked mes to bring this to yous. He said that no one should be unhappy on Christmas."
The little elf placed the gift on the desk and apparated back out before Filtch could recover his senses. Filtch being suspicious used a magic checker to find them untampered with so he opened to find Honeydukes chocolates and over assortment of sweets. In the last few packages he found cat treats. He smiled and said," What a nice boy."
It took an hour for all of the SA to get to the Den. Marcus grumbled and said," This better be important Potter. I would actually like to have a quiet Christmas." I gave them all smiles and only the Gryffindors looked remotely happy at being called in. I said handing out the invites," These are invites to Huntik specialist trainings. Each of you have been acknowledged to have the guts and the smarts to be a full-fledged member of Huntik. That being said they don't want just any amateur and that's what you are right now. They want specialists to take the mark. Hermione they want you as a research specialist you will train with the best of the best in that field. Ron they need a communications specialist one of ours was killed in the line of duty two months ago. While neither of you are seekers this group could not run without you."
They nodded and I said with a grin," That's not all take a look at this." I pulled out the scroll showing them it. Everyone's jaws dropped Marcus looked pale as he said," So we are part of a bigger organization now. That's different." I said confidently," They say that but they won't interfere with our doings. Though a day may come when we are asked to step up and fight with them as seekers."
Everyone looked at me uncertainly and I said remembering my first time at the training camp," You guys trust me and I trust Metz with my life. The camp will be good for all of you. Besides those taking the advanced seeker combat courses will see me around I practically taught it for the last two years."
Marcus said with a determined look in his eye," If you trust them I will too. SA must be able to trust their leader." The others nodded their consent and I said," All right then. We won't have any trainings until the start of the new term. Enjoy your holidays I will see you around."
As it turned out no one would see me except at dinner or when I was going for my detentions. I spent most of my time in the Den working on an obstacle course similar to the one used at the training camps. It was two days before the start of the new term when Remus came in and found me putting the final touches on it.
He said with an amused smile," You have been busy. What's this?" I said stretching," This is an obstacle course similar to that used at the training camps. It will change based on the difficulty settings. You don't even need seeker powers before level three. This will be good preparation for them and good practice for me." Concerned Remus asked," What do you mean?"
I sighed and said," Two weeks ago when the Organization attacked we weren't prepared. I wasn't prepared I can't let that happen again. The Foundation will be counting on me this summer I won't really be training anyone. I have been asked to take an undercover assignment and I agreed to it. I leave right after I get off the train in June." Remus said angrily," You can't just lie to everyone! They are counting on you to guide them through the camps."
I shook my head and said," Remus you are just a normal right now. You wouldn't understand." I turned away from him to walk out of the Den when he grabbed my shoulder turning me to face him. He said forcing me to meet his eyes which flashed amber instead of the warm brown color," Then help me understand, Harry. I want to help."
I gave him a small, sad, smile and said," Remus there are times when we do things we don't want to do in order to protect those we love. No matter what happens this summer always remember even the smallest light shines in the dark." With that I left him more confused than when he walked in.
