"You ok, Harry?" Katie Bell asked, playfully nudging the boy's shoulder with her own.
"Don't tell us you're getting all flustered," Fred said with a teasing grin. "It isn't THAT big of a match..."
"Not according to our fearless leader, oh brother of mine," George said from where he sat, one foot resting on the bench opposite him as he relaced his boots.
"That is true, oh most noble and brilliant of brothers," Fred said. "Our daring captain sees this as his final chance to shine."
"Even though this is the first game of the year."
"Ah, but it is the beginning of the end."
"Or the end of the beginning."
"Or perhaps the middle of the middle," Fred said with a smirk as he ran his fingers through his hair and checked over his jacket, smirking as he played with the cuffs. Harry had learned from Ron that Fred and George had spent the summer doing all manner of odd jobs for not just their father and the gym but anyone in Tor Town. They had painted the Tor Tauros' Gift Shop (they'd done that before but this time it was by request), led tours through the forest (and didn't abandon their charges claiming they could catch a rare Snipe Pokémon) and even done a stint as janitors cleaning up the sides of Route 2 (Ginny had said that half the stuff there had been thrown by the boys). Mrs. Weasley had been tickled pink that her normally slacker sons were actually dedicating themselves to finding jobs and working hard. Her joy might have lessened had she known that the boys had wanted the money in order to buy new pranking gear and gadgets for Hogwarts. No one, not even Mr. Weasley had the heart or courage to ruin her fantasy.
Most of their Pokedollars had gone into the twins' new Trainer Jackets. Looking, at first, like the standard Gryffindor red and gold jackets most students wore, Harry had quickly learned that the garments were full of different devices and hidden surprises. The twins of course weren't about to reveal everything they had up their sleeves (literally) but they had shown Oliver and the rest of the Gauntlet team one feature. The jackets were almost exactly similar, except that on the back of Fred's was the image of a Plusle and on George's a Minun. A touch of a button on their cuff altered this though, changing the design to that of the other brother's. Fred and George had boasted that along with the hidden comm devices in the collars, they could now confuse their opponents by making it look like they were in four different places at once.
Harry had thought that Oliver might throw a fit about this, feeling that it was cheating or unsportsmanlike even if such trickery wasn't against the rules. He quickly learned how wrong that thought was when Oliver delivered an overly dramatic speech their first meeting, explaining how this was his last chance to achieve glory and he wouldn't let it slip out of his fingers. He told the entire team that they were going to do everything and anything legal to secure their wins. Oliver had pointed to Fred and George and commended them for their thinking outside of the box, circle or trapezoid... whatever it was didn't matter. He'd even encouraged the rest of the team to act more like the twins!
When Harry had privately asked why Oliver was so stressed Katie had pointed out that this was Oliver's last year at Hogwarts and that meant that in less than ten months he'd be eligible to try out for one of the professional Gauntlet teams. She'd explained that an amazing showing this year could let Oliver leap frog through the different minor leagues and farm teams, giving him a better shot at one of the major franchises.
That knowledge had made Harry doubt Sirius' plot and he'd even begun to debate calling the whole thing off. It was one thing to prank the entire student body in the name of their goals; ruining Oliver's chances at snagging his dream job was something completely different. In the end though Harry and Sirius had talked it out and worked out how to alter the plan just enough to that Oliver and the rest of Harry's teammates wouldn't be screwed over by their prank. Tonks, upon seeing their revised plan, had commented that the new plan might actually help them out more than the old one had. Harry still had some doubts but trusted Tonks' reasoning and had agreed that the heist was back on.
Harry shook his head, trying to get his brain back on the original path it had been on before he'd allowed it to wander. It was hard to focus on the match, however, even though he knew that he should. It wouldn't do any of them any good if he weren't focused.
"All set, Harry?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah," Harry said, flashing what he hoped was a confident smile. He reached over and itched Eevee under his chin. He'd already spoken with his Pokémon about the plan and all of them were ready to do their part. It would take careful timing on all their parts but, if done right, by the end of the day they would have the pokemagnus files and be one step closer to discovering just who the traitor was that had kept Harry and Sirius apart for over a decade. "I'm ready."
~MC~MC~MC~
"...and as our Runners, Harry Potter for Team Gryffindor and Draco Malfoy for Team Slytherin!"
Tuning out the roar of the crowd, Harry looked across the top of the Gauntlet arena, catching Draco's eye. The blond just glared right back, lip curled up and nose made to look at the pointier by his sneer. Even though the scion of House Malfoy had been less than stellar the year before Draco had been allowed to keep his spot on the team. Slytherin had only managing to beat Ravenclaw via Draco while Slytherin's win against Hufflepuff because of the efforts of the rest of the team stalling Claws' Runner so neither side could reach the end. Harry knew the main reason Slytherin, which had plenty of decent players who could play Runner, kept the blond on the team was that Lucius Malfoy was buttering them up with 'donations'. He could tell even across the Gauntlet arena that every member of the Slytherin team was sporting a new Gauntlet jacket.
Pushing thoughts of Malfoy and his father out of his head, Harry looked over at the crowd, smiling when he spotted Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Remus right up front, cheering him on. Remus has scoffed at the idea of being impartial when it'd been brought up during a staff meeting, pointing out that Prof. Snape, while not one for cheering, did nothing to make himself appear to be 'neutral' and neither would he. The headmaster had, in his own grandfatherly way, tried to scold Remus into not cheering for Harry but the Defense Professor had countered that other teachers, like Prof. Vector, cheered for their old Houses and they didn't even call one of the Gauntlet players their family. Remus had delighted in telling Harry how the old man had finally shook his head and, with a good natured smile, asked Remus to cheer twice... once for himself and once for the headmaster.
Remus was wearing his normal white coat but had forgone his normal dress shirt and instead slipped on a Gryffindor jersey from his own days as a student; he hadn't played himself but he had been a sub for James. Ron and Ginny were screaming up a storm, trying to out-bellow the rest of Hogwarts. For them it was a wonderful trifecta: the twins and Harry all battling it out for the glory of Gryffindor against the detested Slytherins. Ginny, Harry had found out, was nearly as big of a fan of the Gauntlet matches as Ron. The only real difference was that, unlike her brother, Ginny was of the opinion that the Tor Town Tauros Team would never win anything. She preferred the all female Gaiwan City Mandibuzzes, much to Ron's disgust. Neville, for his part, merely sat in his seat with Flora, calling out encouragement when the rest of the school was yelling their heads off.
Harry tilted his head slightly and couldn't help but smile as he spotted Hermione and Luna. Things were slowly getting back to normal between him and his bushy-haired friend. They weren't as close as they had once been but Hermione had been trying hard to not pester him and to make up for her mistakes from 2nd year. That, combined with her finally convincing Luna that smacking him with her cane wasn't the smartest thing to do, had gone a long way to see Harry begin the tentative moves to repairing their relationship.
Of course, Harry understood that he might never be Hermione's best friend again... not because she didn't want him to be but because someone else had taken his place. Despite how Hermione might have acted at times it was clear to everyone that she and Luna had formed a special bond. Both were only children and found it wonderful to have a big/little sister to hang out with. Luna, for as silly and insane as she was, had a bit of hero worship when it came to Hermione; the blonde had once admitted to Harry that Hermione proved you could be both brave and smart, something Luna had worried about when she'd transferred into Gryffindor. As for Hermione, she saw in Luna someone who was able to enjoy school and revel in life and not have either world conflict with the other. The two brought out the best in each as well as pushed the other to move out of their comfort zones.
That was the reason why Harry wasn't too surprised to see Hermione wearing a duplicate of Luna's Gryffindor Hat. Created by the dreamy little blonde right before Harry's final Gauntlet match of 2nd year, the hat resembled a Arcanine's head with the girl's head sticking out of the open maw as if she had been swallowed feet first. Luna had been very proud of her hat and it was clear she had spent time during the summer improving upon it as well as making Hermione one. Several students let out yelps when Luna tugged on the hat's ear and two small jets of flames shot out of its nostrils.
Harry glanced at the arena they'd be playing in and smiled; it fit in perfectly with Sirius' plan. Based on the clay houses found in the desert region of Unova, the arena featured many tight houses with shared walls and doorways. One could enter into one home and emerge four doors down. There were also a few bridges that connected rooftop to rooftop, offering the teams chances to play on two different levels. The arena was also peculiar in the fact that rather than have both Runners race towards the same goal they had to make it to the opposite side. In this way the arena resembled a battlefield; namely the historical Battle of the Sands, in which the Northern Sand Witches and the Southern Desert Raiders had accidently stumbled upon the same village and ended up in a bloody battle that wiped both wicked tribes from the annuls of history.
Rubbing his hands together, Harry looked up at the weak afternoon sun. While the arena was designed to replica a desert setting the cool chill in the air made it feel like Harry had stumbled upon the village after some freak Ice Age. He looked over at Eevee, who was glancing about with eager delight, ears twitching slightly. His partner had grown to love the Gauntlet Matches just as much as Harry did and Eevee was always revved up to compete. Leaning down, Harry checked the Lucky Scarf Eevee wore before rising back up.
Harry had considered switching Eevee out with Ludwig, reasoning that the ghost's Invisibility Ability would be a huge asset, but in the end Harry had decided to stick to his normal Gauntlet strategy when it came to Pokémon. He had only not used Eevee once, back during his game against Hufflepuff during second year when his friend had come down with a nasty cold. Ludwig had been helpful then but Harry, not wanting anyone but his friends and the twins to know about Ludwig's ability, had decided to just use the flame ghost without any abilities coming into play. Gryffindor had managed to win but everyone had commented that the match would have gone better with Eevee, who shared a love for the game almost as strong as Harry's. To bench his partner now would draw too much attention and cause too my questions to be asked. Especially after everyone saw his new strategy for the match.
The starting buzzer sounded and Harry burst forward, Eevee running right beside him as they began to weave their way through the maze of houses.
~MC~MC~MC~
"What is Harry doing?" Ron said in exasperation. He watched as his friend, rather than make his way through the maze like he should have been doing, dart back and forth like mad. Ron's head kept snapping right then left then right again as he tried to track Harry's seemingly erratic movements. "Seriously, has he gone completely apples and pears?"
Ginny, however, rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Can't you see what he's doing?"
"Of course I can!" Ron complained. "He is running about like a bloody barmpot!"
"Mr. Weasley..." Remus said, his tone warning the boy to watch his language.
"You're the barmpot, you barmpot!" Ginny said, fighting the urge to smack her older brother upside the head. Neville merely shook his head and turned his attention back to the game.
"Ginny!" Luna said in shock, moving to sit behind the threesome, Hermione right beside her. "Did you catch the Hate Plague? Hermione, get the Matrix of Leadership quickly!"
"The... what?"
Luna held her head up high and Remus struggled to keep himself from laughing as the little blonde intoned, "I... am Lunimus Prime... and I send this message out to my fellow Autobots... till all are one."
Neville merely smiled at his friends. "I find it best to nod and not question things."
"Well said, Bumblebee!" Luna stated, patting him on the shoulder. "So, why is Ratchet hitting Warpath?"
Ginny, deciding to follow Neville's advice, shrugged. "I'm hitting him because he can't see a Laroque Technique if it bit him on the nose."
"A what?" Hermione asked in confusion.
Ginny puffed up, rather pleased that she had a chance to talk about something the 'oh so wise' Hermione had no clue about. "A Laroque Technique is when a Runner in a Gauntlet match doesn't act like a Runner at all." She pointed at Harry, who had stopped by one of the many flags that littered the arena and quickly grabbed it. "It can only be used when two teams are trying to reach the opposite ends of an arena. Draco is acting like a normal runner..." The youngsters looked down and watched as Draco and his Roggenrola ducked for cover, their forward momentum shifted to a snail's pace thanks to an ambush by the Gryffindors. "Because both teams basically have to cover the same ground, Harry has decided that rather than rush into Slytherin territory that it would be better for him to protect his side. He's setting every trap and blocking off every alternate route so even if Draco makes it through the rest of the Gryffindor squad he'll be caught up in Harry's traps."
"But Draco could still burst through and win the game!" Ron complained.
Neville shook his head, instantly understanding just what Ginny was getting at. "When a Runner crosses the line the match ends no matter how much time is left on the clock... but if neither Runner makes it then the match ends when times runs out and the scores are based on the flags captured by the team." A loud groan came up from the Slytherin side of the bleachers and the friends were able to quickly determine that the source of this pained outcry was that Draco had been forced to backtrack after Fred and George had rushed him, screaming their heads off while Plusle and Minun had joined in on the chaos-making, firing off stray bolts of lightning. Meanwhile, Oliver and Katie Bell were running around with the rest of the team, grabbing flags and scoring points. If Draco managed to break through he'd win the game easily for his team but it was clear from the way the boy was being pushed about the arena that he was becoming tired and frazzled. There was simply no way, once he entered into Harry's booby trapped section, that he'd be able to get to the other side. His mind just wouldn't be rested or focused enough to do so.
"I suggest we settle in," Remus said with a smile, his elbows resting on his thighs as he leaned forward a touch, "this could be a long one."
Harry's friends did just that and soon it became apparent that The Laroque Technique turned a Gauntlet Match into a completely different beast. Normally everyone would be glancing at the other members of the team but be focused on Harry, watching him and tracking his progress. But with Harry's current strategy the Gauntlet became less of a race and more a chess match. The back and forth between the two teams was impressive and suddenly the traps that had once been seen as minor nuisances became the main attraction. A sand pit sucked down one of the Slytherins and the Gryffindors screamed their heads off; a collapsing wall blocked Katie Bell from getting to a flag and it was the Snakes' turn to go nuts. The match ebbed and flowed and everyone was watching with excitement to see what new trap or plan would come into play.
It became clear early on in the match that Draco was going to be little more than entertainment. The Gryffindors had him panting and there was nothing he could do to catch his breath. His own team couldn't offer support because none of them realized that Harry wasn't attempting to make it to the finish line and thus they were focusing their attentions of setting up traps that would never be sprung... by Harry, at least. Draco had already fallen into a trap set by his own team and it wasn't helping the blond's attitude. Ron in particular forgot his annoyance at Harry's refusal to do his job, so busy was he laughing at Draco after the boy was sent flying thanks to hidden sand mine. The Prince of Slytherin ended up with his upper body buried in the sand and his legs kicking wildly in the air.
"Ok, I take it back, this is fun!" Ron said between chortles. He looked over at Hermione and frowned at the paleness in her checks and the faraway stare she was wearing. "Oh, come on, even you have to admit that this is funny! Look at Draco's legs."
The bushy haired girl's body snapped forward suddenly, as if she'd come out of a deep sleep, and she grabbed Luna's hand, squeezing it tight. "Hold on this is going to be bad."
Ginny whipped around and stared the older Gryffindor. "What are you-"
Her words died in her throat as a heavy fog descended upon them, blanketing the stands and the arena. Students began to murmur to themselves, some huddling closer together while other leapt up, prepared to fight if they suddenly found themselves caught in an ambush. Neville instantly climbed over his seat and placed himself on Luna's left while Hermione stood at the right and Ron and Ginny moved back to back.
"Emolga!" Ron called out.
"Pachirisu!" Ginny added.
"Flora!"
"Luna Jr!"
"Kirlia!"
Remus was on his feet, his Spinarak and Mooney both out and ready. "Everyone remain calm!" he called out, trying to urge caution. It felt like they'd been transported into a cloud and the Battle Professor strained his eyes in a vain attempt to peer through the fog and see what was going on. "Don't attack! You might hit one of your fellow students!" The cry was quickly taken up by the other professors and the students fell into an uneasy position of tense anticipation.
"What do we do?" Ron asked, swallowing nervously. The combination of the fog and having a spider-type Pokémon so close to him was making him all sorts of twitchy.
"We hold our ground and wait to see if this fog lifts..."
"Or if we are going to be attacked," Luna said, soundly rather pleasant despite the situation they found themselves in. "Now remember, if you see the Hound of the Baskerville it isn't really a ghost dog but a regular canine painted with glow-in-the-dark paint."
"Luna..." Neville said gently, "there isn't a-"
A piercing howl filling the air, making all of the students go ramrod straight.
"-I withdraw my complaint," Neville said.
Remus threw out a third Pokéball and Reuniclus popped out. "Find Harry and teleport him here now." The green cellular Pokémon focused for a moment before shaking his head. "The barrier," Remus cursed. In order to make Gauntlet matches fair anti-teleportation barriers were placed all over the arena, preventing a player from just bouncing about the battlefield and avoiding the other players and the traps. The only downside was that if you needed to get someone out quick you had to disable the barriers... and doing that could take quite a bit of time, especially if you couldn't see a foot in front of you face thanks to the fog.
"I hope Harry is smart and just stays put," Ginny said.
"I'm sure he is," Hermione said. "Only an idiot would keep walking around in this-"
"AAAAAAAAAAA!" Draco screamed.
"-fog," Hermione finished, rolling her eyes as Draco's voice, complaining he was caught in a shallow sand pit, wafted up to their ears.
~MC~MC~MC~
"You ok?" Sirius whispered as he helped Harry through the heavy emergency exit, the door groaning slightly as the two of them pushed it shut. The exits was a wonderful little secret within every Gauntlet arena. If there was a fire or a player needed medical attention rather than drop the anti-teleport barrier, which could take precious time, the system would automatically de-lock and reveal the many exits that lined the perimeter of the arena. Normally they were locked up tight and disguised so that they weren't visible to Gauntlet Players or the crowd.
The doors were no match for Sirius Black and his Pokémon.
"Nice job, Klefki," Sirius said, recalling the steel fairy once it had finished relocking the door. Harry glanced at Sirius and his godfather merely smiled. "Hagrid once let me carry some of his keys... I might have made a few copies..."
"You are a horrible person," Harry stated as Padfoot let out another howl. Several of Sirius' Dusknoirs were floating about, sending out waves of mild fear. Sirius assured Harry that at most people would feel the same tingling sensation one got when they were picking their nose and realized someone was right behind them; Harry didn't want to ask how Sirius knew what that felt like.
"And you are better?"
"Yes. Now, are we going to rob Hogwarts or what?"
Sirius nodded, motioning for Harry to lead the way. Eevee let out a yip and began to sniff the ground, locking onto the scent trail he needed and racing up the gently sloping hill towards the castle. Padfoot let out another ghostly howl before joining in on finding the scent trail. The fog slowly began to thin out as they got closer to its source but Harry and Sirius still remained cautious, knowing that could walk right into Dumbledore and not realize it until their noses were touching his. The only thing that would prevent that was their Pokémon so the two weren't going to let them leave their sights.
"Nice work, Nymphie," Sirius called out as he and Harry approached the Auror and her Castform, who was happily belching out the thick clouds of fog.
"Would you keep your voice down?" Tonks complained. "Not everyone went to the game and there might be a few people who decided to wander back up to the castle."
"Come on, let's live dangerously!" Sirius teased.
"We are breaking into McGonagall's office to steal private personal documents... I think we are living quite dangerously enough!"
Sirius rolled his eyes but still put on his skull mask while Tonks pulled out a makeup kit and began to debate just what she could do to her face to disguise herself. Harry, for his part, merely called on Ludwig and had him cast invisibility on all of them. "That is just cheating," Sirius mumbled as Tonks snapped the case shut and flashed Harry a thumbs up.
"You're just mad that you could never convince my mum to let you use her Litwick for pranking," Harry teased.
"I swear, Lily was born without a funny bone!"
"Quiet!" Tonks snapped, the three of them giving Castform a wave goodbye before heading up the rest of the way to the castle. "Alright, so it's not that I don't trust your little... candle... Harry, but I think I'll be overly cautious." Tonks quietly sent out Rotom, who happily zipped into the school's security system and happily began to shut down some devices while rerouting and looping others.
"Aw, but I wanted us to be all sneaky like, tiptoeing down corners and having to repel down elevator shafts!" When Harry and Tonks merely gave him a dry look Sirius pouted. "Party poopers, no cake for you. Padfoot." The black canine sniffed the ground and growled, nose pointing to their right. "Filch."
"Then left it is," Harry said, taking the lead as the three of them made their way to McGonagall's office.
"So... is it Ludwig?" Sirius asked.
"Huh?" Harry said.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Ludwig... is it him."
"What are you talking about?"
"Shh!" Tonks hissed.
"Which one of your Pokémon is going to be your Pokemagnus partner. Eevee? Ludwig?"
Tonks glared at Sirius. "First off, you can only be a Pokemagnus with a Pokémon that has a single evolution, so that rules both Eevee and Ludwig out... something you should know!"
Sirius shrugged, flashing her his best 'hey, I'm just a big kid' smile. "Truth be told, Remus was in charge of the prep work. James and I spent most of our time trying to figure out how to attach a camera to Wormtail's back so he could-"
"I don't even want to know," Tonks huffed.
"It's not what you think!" Sirius complained. "We wanted to see up girls' skirts."
Harry snorted and Tonks gave Sirius a foul look. "That is exactly what I was thinking."
"It was? Nice to know you have a filthy, perverted mind, Nymphie."
"What was number two?" Harry asked as they came to a stop at McGonagall's door. Sirius bent down and called out Klefki, letting the steel fairy work while Ludwig, Eevee and Padfoot kept watch. "You said 'Two things'..."
"Second, you both need to keep quiet before we get caught."
"You're the one being loud, Nymphie," Sirius said, the door swinging open without even a squeak of the hinges. "Alright, let's find that file and get out of here."
"Where are we looking?" Harry asked.
"Minnie is old school," Sirius said. "No electronic documents for her." His hands lightly caressed one of the file cabinets like it was a long lost lover. "Nope... nothing but hardcopy."
"She'll have them all together, sorted by date," Tonks said, opening up another drawer and thumbing her way through. "Of course, she also keeps almost every memo and document she gets, so we might be here a while."
"We just have to think it through," Harry stated, looking over the room. "She gets a new file every year and she keeps them together. That means we are looking for a whole drawer by itself... one that isn't close to her desk, because she would want to use those for documents she needs to get out and check regularly, but it wouldn't be hard to get too because she needs to add a new file each year."
"Look at little Sherlock!" Sirius said proudly. "He gets that from me."
"Sure he does," Tonks said, rolling her eyes. It was a wonder, with how many times she did it, that her eyeballs hadn't popped out of her skull from overuse.
"These ones," Harry said, finally select a set of filing drawers that were towards the back of McGonagall's office. "Just enough dust-"
"Ok, ok, we get it, pup!" Sirius said with a laugh. "Now open it up!" The Lord of Sevii rubbed his hands together in delight as Harry slid the drawer open. Sirius pumped his fist in the air as he saw the main neatly lined up folders, each one marked 'Pokemagnus Results'. Sirius grabbed Harry's shoulder and began to shake his godson hard. "You did it, pup! You did it!"
"Indeed he did." Tonks, Harry and Sirius all went ramrod still as Minerva McGonagall's voice rang out behind them. "Now then, Mr. Potter... imagine my surprise to find not only you buy Miss Tonks, who really should be at her job rather than acting like a common criminal, sulking around my office with a strange man-"
"Not so strange, Minnie," Sirius said, slowly turned around, pulling his mask off as he did so. "Surprise?"
Prof. McGonagall just stared at Sirius and then, with utter calm, shut and locked the door to her office, walked over to her desk, and pulled out a bottle of Cinnawood Whiskey. The professor pursed her lips, looked Sirius up and down... and then poured herself, Sirius and Tonks a drink.
"Explain... now."
Author's Notes: So, this was a long, fun chapter to write. We got some good interaction with the group, a few great Luna moments, and got to see more of Tonks, Harry and Sirius working as a team. I know some of you thought it would be wacky hijinx, the three commiting the robbery, but I thought it would be more interesting to see that, despite their goofiness, the three of them could work as a great team. And they pulled it off... except McGonagall now knows.
