Chapter 14

"Mia, Connor, come here," said Ollie.

"What's this about?" asked Mia.

"Harry," he said. "He gave me permission to tell you two exactly what is taught at Hogwarts…"

Harry

We took your advice. One of Dad's old friends has agreed to teach us. We should have met him by the time you get this letter. According to Dad we'll be learning a great many things. I'll explain more when we see each other at Diagon Alley.

The first stage of our side project was successful. Miss Whiskers and Mr. Trick would like to be the first to welcome you to the club.

Hermione and Ron

Harry couldn't help but smile at the letter. Harry remembered quite clearly that Mr. Granger had not always been a mild mannered dentist. According to Hermione, back when Mr. Granger had been in the army, he had done things that were still classified, twenty years after the fact.

With training like that, when they got back to Hogwarts he would be able to get them up to the same level as himself relatively quickly. They'd be able to teach him the way people in the military fought as well. Perfect.

Now what could their animagus forms be? They obviously wanted him to guess. Well two could play this game. Now what could he call himself?

Miss Whiskers and Mr. Trick

Thank you for your warm welcome. Mr. Tavi is most pleased to hear of your progress. Who is this mysterious teacher of yours?

Mr. Tavi also believes Miss Whiskers and Mr. Trick should consider spells and potions for further learning. Our study group should be prepared.

Despite being the material of tabloids, Mr. Tavi believes superheroes are quite good examples. Examples which should be followed. Mr. Tavi would like to ask his friends if they have ever imagined themselves as superheroes, and if so, what names they would have used. Mr. Tavi is rather fond of the codename Redhood, himself.

Mr. Tavi

Hopefully Hermione would pick up on what he was trying to say. Harry knew that Ron and Hermione would stick by him to the end. If he put on a mask and a cape, he had no doubt that they would soon do the same.

He couldn't lie to them. Tell them that he was doing something else. And honestly, there was nobody he would rather have watching his back in a fight than Ron or Hermione. Even if Hermione did sometimes freeze up during a fight and start to over think things. He would just need to make sure they were capable of taking care of themselves in a fight first.

"If you could chose to be any type of animagus there is, what form would you choose?"

Harry shrugged. He and Luna were watching the penguins play. "I don't know. If I could choose, something with wings. You?"

"A cat, like Professor McGonagal," said Luna.

Harry smiled. That was what Luna's stare reminded him of! A cat. "I can see it. So, we have all day at the zoo, anything in particular you want to see?"

"The Long-nosed Cusimanse," she said.

He blinked. How did-nah she couldn't-but she's recognized Crouch-but this was… Harry felt a headache coming on.

"Let's go," he said, leading her in the direction of the mammals.

Hermione, it turned out, was an excellent shot. So long as she stuck with handguns. Anything bigger than that and her ability to aim seemed to disappear.

Despite it being illegal, she already had several ideas on ways to charm the guns she inherited from her father so that they never ran out of bullets. She was even considering ways of making the bullets hollow, with various potions inside.

Along with that was the idea of using magic to create objects shaped like bullets that were filled with potions. These objects would explode on contact, leaving no more than a bruise. A rather promising line of research.

Her skills at hand to hand combat were… limited at best. She was learning-slowly learning-how to fight with a knife. Although both Ron and Eddie agreed that she had an amazing right hook.

Ron was learning much more quickly. His abilities at hand to hand combat were quickly progressing. While not as accurate as Hermione, he was rapidly learning how to use a "Muggle Wand" or gun.

"Uncle Ollie?"

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to ask you something," Harry said carefully.

"Go ahead," said Uncle Ollie. There was an unreadable look upon his face.

"If I-if I were to go into the… family business, would you be upset with me?"

Uncle Ollie put his head into his hand. "Connor and I need to agree that you're ready first. You need a codename and a uniform as well."

"Redhood. I've already decided on Redhood," said Harry. "I have some ideas on what weapons I want to have on me, but I haven't been able to decide anything about the uniform."

"Do you want to join the Titans as well?" Ollie asked, sarcasm showing through.

"The opportunity to annoy Mia every weekend is very tempting, but no," he said. "But I think Ron, Hermione and I will continue to be a team. They've stood by me when nobody else would. Hell, they've gone with me into fights we couldn't possibly win. There's nobody else I'd rather have watching my back."

"They don't know the first thing about fighting."

"Not yet, but they will. Hermione's father did a lot of classified things before he became a dentist. One of his old Black Ops mates has already started training the two of them. When I get back to Hogwarts, the three of us are going to train together, both physically and magically. Even if-even if they didn't get involved in the whole cape thing, Voldie would still be gunning for them. At least with this training, they'll stand a chance."

"Have you told them about-"

"No. I haven't even told them any of your names. We've been writing letters to each other in code using references that most people wouldn't get. I couldn't have told them about you if I wanted. There's too much of a chance for mail being intercepted to put that much information in."

Uncle Ollie nodded. "I want to meet these two during Christmas break, test them myself. If I think they're up to snuff I won't object to you forming this team."

"Thanks," said Harry.

Ron waited patiently for everybody else to go to be before he made his move. Those Muggle wands would only be of so much use in a fight.

He found his father in the kitchen. Arthur Weasley had obviously just come off a long day of work. It was now or never.

"Dad."

"Ron, you should be in bed."

"I need to talk to you about something," said Ron. "It's important."

Arthur motioned for Ron to sit. "Yes, son?"

"You were the one to inherit the family sword, right?" His father nodded. "I need you to teach me how to use a sword."

"It's too dangerous. Your mother would-"

"I don't care what Mum would do to me," said Ron. "You're the only person who can teach me how to use a sword. I know Bill's going to inherit it, but I don't need the Weasley sword."

"This is because of Harry, isn't it."

Ron gave him a hard look, refusing to answer.

Arthur nodded, as if to himself. "The Prewitt family sword is generally given to the youngest son. It's a tradition dating from right around when the Romans started to conquer Britain. It was a way for them to provide for their son without having to him an inheritance. I think it would be proper for you to inherit that sword."

Ding-Dong!

Connor closed the book he was reading. Standing up, he stretched for a moment. Then he walked to the door.

"Can Harry come out and play?"

"Hi Luna," said Connor. "I think Harry's studying. Why don't you wait in the living room while I go get him."

"Alright," said Luna.

Luna sat on Harry's bed. It was a rather nice room. Harry was scurrying around, trying to clean up. Her eyes fell upon the bookshelf.

A second later she was at the bookshelf. Below the bookshelf, on the desk were Muggle history books. Most of the books on the shelf were Hogwart's texts, but some were infinitely more interesting. Her eyes landed on a grouping of books.

"May I borrow some of your books?"

"Huh? Which ones?" said Harry, trying desperately to put his laundry into a hamper.

"A Healer's Guide to Spells and Potions," said Luna. "I had originally planned on becoming a Healer, but then Daddy published one of my articles in the Quibbler."

"Sure," said Harry. "Borrow as many of the books on healing as you want."

Luna happily took the first two volumes from the shelf. "I'll return them as soon as I'm done reading them."

"There's no rush," said Harry.

"Sirius, what are you doing?"

"Remember how Harry mentioned his cousins were teaching him how to fight like a muggle?"

"Yes. What does that have to do you tearing through the house?"

"His cousin Connor was teaching him how to use a bow, a dagger, a sword, and hand-to-hand fighting techniques."

"And?"

"There are several weapons that the head of the Black family and the heir of the family use. Aha! Here they are. I knew they were in this room, Remus."

"What about the Potter family sword?"

"Destroyed during the war against Grindelwald. And anyway, Harry is my heir as well. I was thinking about giving it to him for his birthday."

"How are you going to get it to him? Somehow I don't think it would go over very well through the mail."

"I have my ways."

"So you're going to apparate to the Colonies again and turn into a dog until you meet up with Harry."

"Shut up, Remus."

"So what do you plan to do after you get out of Hogwarts?" asked Connor

"I already have a job," said Luna. "I write a column for a weekly publication."

Harry sat down next to Luna at the dinner table. "Your father decided to give you your own column? I'm assuming it's on the same subject as your original article."

Luna nodded. "Both Daddy and his superiors liked it."

"I thought most of the people who worked for the Quibbler did so for free," said Mia.

"Oh, that's just if it's a one time thing," explained Luna. "There's an editor and several journalists who are paid. Then there are people who send in articles. Unless you're hired by the Quibbler, you don't get paid for anything published in the paper."

"Oh," said Mia.

"I don't get paid very much at all anyway. Only couple pounds per article, and that money is all going into my account."

"There's no way you could survive on that," said Mia. A quick jerk of Harry's head was the only thing that kept her from continuing that line of questioning.

After Luna had left for the evening and Mia had headed off to Titans Tower, Harry and Connor had retreated to the basement for training.

"So why does Luna think she'll be able to survive on only a couple pounds per week?"

Harry sighed. "Uncle Ollie's already explained the whole secret magical society thing, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, culturally, they're about sixty or so years behind the times. Luna probably expects to either be married by the time she graduates, or soon thereafter."

"And that's legal."

"So long as the girl is fifteen and the boy seventeen, they don't even need parental consent," said Harry. "And most women become housewives anyway. Hermione went on an eleven-day rant about this two years ago. I still remember the statistics she found."

"So what are the statistics?"

"Give me a minute," said Harry. "63 of women are married or engaged within a year of graduating from school without ever holding a job. 16 of the remaining women get jobs, then quit once they are married. 17 of women both get married and hold jobs. 3 get jobs and never marry. The other 1 never work or get married, choosing instead to live upon kindness of their families."

"And nobody has a problem with this?"

"The occasional girl from a non-magical family will object, but most don't care," shrugged Harry. "I mean, I know of one girl who's going into her sixth year who's already engaged. Katie and I are on the Quidditch team together. A lot of the Slytherin girls have been betrothed since childhood. Flint had a wife before he graduated. It's a well known fact that Malfoy and Parkinson are going to marry sometime in June right before Seventh year."

"And if you have a daughter? Do you really want her to live in a society like that?"

"I wouldn't really care," said Harry. "There is nothing to stop a woman from getting any job she wanted. It's just that most women were brought up to become housewives. There are quite a few prejudiced arses, but they care about blood purity, not whether or not a woman works. I'd be a thousand times more worried about one of my enemies coming after any children I have than whether or not any daughter I have could get the job they wanted."

Harry shook his head. "It's not like women belong to their husband or father or brother. Witches as a whole seem to prefer the role of caregiver. The magical community did away with laws that subjugated women six millennia ago. I mean, in a lot of the old families, only the eldest male can become head of the family and there are a few traditions concerning marriage, but that's about it."

"What sort of traditions?"

"Let's see, parents can arrange marriages for their children-generally the women of the family do this-but that's really only for pure-blood families who want to make an alliance or a good match. Then there are traditions that every couple does before marriage, no matter what their ancestry is. Well, unless the families agree not to do these traditions."

"They still have arranged marriages?"

"Yeah, but four out of five people are allowed to chose their own husband or wife. And you can't get divorced unless there was adultery or abuse or infertility involved. Either the woman or man can initiate divorce."

"What sorts of traditions are there?"

"Well, once it is agreed that a couple will marry, the father of the groom and the father of the bride meet," said Harry. "Although, since my father and grandfather are dead, I would meet with the father of the bride. Anyway, they meet and agree upon a bride price. The money is paid to the bride's family before the wedding. Then, the bride would make items for the household, to be brought with her on her wedding day as a dowry of sorts."

"Really?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "During that meeting between the families, it is also decided who will provide for any children the couple may have should no godparent be named."

"And there's nothing to keep a woman from attaining any job she wants?"

"Nope, nothing. Although most women who work are some sort of professional like a healer or a bureaucrat at the Ministry or in some of the more… feminine jobs like being a seamstress.

"I mean, Luna was seriously considering becoming a Healer but decided she liked writing better. Rita Skeeter is one of the most popular reporters around, and she's a single woman. And Fluer Delacour works for Gringotts bank. Hell, even after my mother and father were married, my mother continued on with her job.

"And there is a helluva lot of prejudice in the work place when it comes to blood-purity. I mean, it's so commonplace you couldn't get it printed in the paper if you wanted. Well, unless somebody was attacked."