A/N: Alright, guys, here's the next chapter. I really hope you enjoy it. :)
Chapter Fourteen
If At First You Succeed, Try Not to Look Astonished
Desperately shaking the sleeping young man wasn't doing any good. No matter what Riolu tried, his beloved trainer, Harry would wake up. Even with both Pidgey and Absol helping, nothing worked to wake up their trainer. Eventually, Riolu had no choice but to stop and rest, even though he desperately wanted to help the young trainer.
"What should we do?" Pidgey asked Riolu, also unsure of what to do.
A few weeks have passed since the last Capture Weekend, and the second one had been announced that it was set for after the christmas break. Right now, Harry was currently being tortured by nightmare after nightmare. It's been going on for several days, now, and all of the young man's Pokémon were confused and unsure of what to do. Even Absol, who had recently recognized how similar he and Harry were – in terms of them both having large groups of people disliking them and such – cared deeply about the trainer. Riolu, recognized as kind of the unofficial leader of the group, came to a decision.
"Absol, would you go get Professor Nozawa?" Riolu asked, hoping said man could help. He knew how much Harry wanted to keep these a secret from the headmaster.
Absol nodded and quickly ran off. Pidgey and Riolu made sure to keep an eye on their trainer, and were trying to do it silently in order to not wake the other humans in the dormitory. Even as the raven-haired teen tossed and turned, his mind showing him going down an endless row of hallways just as it did in previous nights, the Pokémon were left to worry incredibly deeply. The thrashing had never been this bad before. After the first night, they had taken turns keeping an eye on their human partner.
One five seven two eight.
One five seven two eight.
Quelques questions.
Seven two eight.
Groaning as a loud pounding rang through the bedroom, Aromi pushed himself out bed and went to the door, throwing on a robe as he did so. Opening it, he spotted Harry's Absol, Espeon by his side and rubbing her eyes. A couple members of his team were doing the same as they listened in.
"What's up?" Aromi asked, not bothering to hide how tired he is. Glad that he had taught the sutdents that translation spell so that they could finally understand their Pokémon, he listened as best he could with how tired he was.
"It's my trainer," Absol explained shortly, slightly breathless from the run to the room. He would've said 'master', but his trainer had explicitly told him not to do so.
Aromi snapped to fully awake in that instant, as one of his secondary jobs to make sure the young Potter was alright, as ordered by the headmaster. Espeon did the same, sensing her trainer's slight alarm. The man turned around, and in the shadow of behind the door, threw on some of his usual clothes before nodding for Absol to lead the way, grabbing something he thought would help on his way.
D'o viens tu?
One five
Mari?
Domicile?
After reaching the Gryffindor tower, Absol quickly got the portrait to swing open with the correct password – although she complained at being woken up – and both Pokémon along with Aromi dashed up the stairs. Admittedly, he wasn't supposed to be the in the dorm room, but in this situation, to hell with the rules. Riolu looked up at the door when the experienced, older trainer came over.
"Professor..." Riolu began, pleading for help. "Please, can you do anything?"
"...I'll do my best, Riolu," Nozawa said, smiling gently. Then he quietly went over to the correct bed side, and pulled out the object he'd grabbed.
"What's that?" Pidgey asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"It's called a Lunar Wing."
The Pokémon, minus Espeon who knew of it already, glanced at each other. They had learned about many items over the past week. This wing was rumored to be from Cressalia. Gently holding the wing by the necklace, Aromi held it above Harry – and watched calmly as the wing glowed brilliantly. After a full minute, however, the glow died down, and although the raven-haired teen was no longer tossing and turning, Riolu could still sense the nightmare – and that it had changed. Nozawa frowned deeply.
"That's not right," He mumbled to himself, then spoke a little louder. "If even a Lunar Wing won't wake Mr. Potter up... then this isn't just a simple nightmare. This is a vision."
As if that was the trigger, the teenager sat up sharply, suddenly. After taking a second to wake up, Harry recognized the professor.
"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, breathless, and from the lack of color on the boy's face, Aromi had been correct. "Please, I need to see the headmaster, it's urgent!"
Aromi didn't waste a second. Espeon had had visions before, as a psychic-type, and thus the experienced trainer knew what to do. The best thing right now, if Harry was this frightened, was to do as requested. With a nod, the professor turned to Espeon.
"Espeon, take Mr. Potter to see the headmaster," Aromi said. "Is there anyone else that should come?"
Harry took only a split second to think, then realized that Ron and Hermione needed to know. Once the professor had convinced the raven-head to go, with Riolu at his side, Aromi got to work.
"Pidgey, you're the only girl here," Nozawa began. "So you're the only one allowed in the girls' dorm. Go wake up Ms. Granger and take her to the headmaster's office. Absol, go find Professor McGonnagal. As the head of Gryffindor, she has a right to know about this."
Seven two eight
Ready ready
Pas de domicile?
Very quickly, a large group of Weasleys, McGonnagal, Nozawa, and their Pokémon were gathered in Dumbledore's office. Two Order of the Pheonix members had already been dispatched to see to Mr. Weasley. Once the old man had set up a portkey, and the large group minus the Pokémon class professor had left, the two left behind began to talk.
"So Harry continues to grow..." Dumbledore sighed. "And as he grows, so does Voldemort's power."
"Headmaster," Aromi began to say. "I wanted to talk to you about this coming summer. You mentioned some time ago that the charm on Mr. Potter requires time at his family's household each summer, right?"
"Indeed, I did, Aromi," Dumbledore said, nodding. "What is it you are wishing to propose?"
Very quickly, the young professor explained his idea, and was quite pleased when the headmaster agreed to it. While it was true that the charm upon the Dursley's home required Harry to be there for it to recharge every year, the teenager needed some time to relax and grow – away from that abusive family. The Order would figure out a way to keep the family safe for the summer in order to allow it. With that, the young professor soon excused himself back to bed, along with Espeon.
Zero zero zero one one
Zero zero zero one one
Zero zero zero one one
Zero zero zero one one
Ready
Harry was sitting upon the bed he slept in at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. It was where he had stayed over the summer before and after his hearing at the Ministry. A portrait from Dumbledore's office had passed the message for him to stay put, and even though the vague answer hadn't convinced him, Hermione and Ginny had, and he had gone on to enjoy the Christmas break.
Sometime ago, Mad-Eye Moody had confided to Mr. Weasley – whom had been the one to suffer the attack Harry'd seen, and was alive and healing at St. Mungo's – and this had been heard by the group of teens through Fred and George's infamous Extendable Ears. By now, however, it had been a full day and they were all about to leave to visit Ron's father again, everyone now feeling alright that everything had turned out okay. As he prepared to leave, Harry wondered which Pokémon he should take. Ron was taking Butterfree, Hermione Cyndaquil. They would have the others with them in Pokéballs, of course.
"Absol, would you come visit Mr. Weasley with me?" Harry asked the disaster Pokémon, whom nodded. The other two were going to stay behind and catch up on some sleep they'd missed while taking care of their trainer.
As the group of them walked through the hallways, they were kind of surprised to see Neville and his grandmother there. Ron explained, having heard about it from his parents, that Neville's parents had been tortured into lunacy by none other than Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the Dark Lord's most loyal followers. Quickly letting it go, the group of friends arrived at Mr. Weasley's room, and quickly began to talk with him.
Soon enough, however, led to them all returning home for another good night's sleep. When everyone finally woke up, and Harry walked downstairs to where everyone including the Pokémon were, he was surprised by what he saw there.
"Professor Nozawa?" The young man said sharply, surprised, watching as the man carefully petted Absol. Said Pokémon, despite himself, enjoyed the gesture.
"Hello, Harry," Aromi said, grinning. "Since we're out of school, I can call you that, right?"
"Uhh... yeah... what are you doing here?" Harry smiled as he watched Absol. The dark-type realized just then how much he was smiling from the petting, and pulled away from Aromi, making those that were paying attention laugh quietly.
"Didn't the Headmaster tell you? As long as I'm here, I'm part of the order."
"No, he didn't say anything... but why are you here?"
"Well, Professor Snape's here, too. Apparently to teach you Occlu-something-or-other."
"Occlumency," Snape drawled from behind Harry. The teen forced down his revulsion, and turned to face the teacher. "The defense of the mind. Dumbledore feels it necessary that I teach it to you, though I fail to see what good it would do someone like Potter."
Harry was tempted to snap at the man, but pulled back his retort just in time. He learned at breakfast from Aromi – Snape remained silent – what he was going to be learning from the potions professor. It required one to empty their mind of all thoughts and such, to protect said mind. Voldemort, a proficient Legilimens – the means for a wizard to read another's mind – was the one that Harry would be protecting himself against. If it went well, his scar might even stop bothering him!
"Just remember, Harry," Aromi said, smiling as Espeon purred from how said boy was petting her. "If the Occlumency doesn't work for you, you're to tell the Headmaster. That way Espeon can teach you our methods of protecting your own mind."
"I doubt," Snape sneered at his colleague. "That there is a better way to protect your mind than through proper Occlumency training."
"Wanna bet?" Espeon snapped. She was not happy about her methods being doubted. "How about you try to break into my mind, and I'll show you how a real psychic does it?"
"Fine," Snape said, standing as Espeon did the same. She remained on the table, staring fearlessly into Snape's eyes, as the man leveled his wand at her. "Legilimens!"
A glow from the man's wand clued all at the table in that it was working. Aromi was the only one that wasn't worried at all – and he went so far as to bet against Fred and George that it would take less than a minute for Snape to not only fail, but to be completely floored as well. Needless to say, the twins took to the challenge. Their in-school sales of their joke items had given them enough to double to bet, as well. The moment they did, however, Espeon's eyes glowed a fierce purple, and her trainer's prediction became true. The greasy-haired man was now lying on the floor, trying to stand, as Espeon's glow ended, a smug smirk on her face. Several moments passed once Snape was seated again.
"I suppose..." He began, albeit reluctantly. Even he couldn't deny the effectiveness of what she'd done; especially if it had been enough to make him be knocked onto the floor. "That your method is acceptable."
Espeon, smiling smugly from the statement, walked over the table back to Harry, hoping to be petted once more. She stopped when she heard the clinking sound of galleons being passed around, and quickly rounded on her trainer. Aromi didn't even bother to hide the coins as he accepted them from the twins, grinning the entire time.
"Did you really bet on me?" Espeon asked her trainer.
"Of course!" Aromi said with a grin. "Who am I to miss a chance to strip these troublemakers of their money?"
Espeon couldn't stop the giggle that came forth, even as she rolled her eyes. It was enough to get the table to laugh, especially as the twins gave a defiant cry of "Hey!" from the professor's rhetorical question. It stopped when, Tonks, the resident hair color-changer, apparently knocked over something as she stood from the table. The noise made a loud, screeching, bordering-on-banshee voice shrill through the house.
"What in Arceus' name is that?" Aromi exclaimed, turning to Sirius.
Said man explained it was an enchanted portrait of his biological mother and that there was no charm they knew that would shut her up. After a moment of thought, Aromi gave a dangerous grin and ran out to the hall, before others could go out there and shut the curtains. Those at the yet-to-be-served-breakfast table glanced at each other, before going after him.
"FILTH!" Screeched the woman in the portrait. "BLOODTRAITORS! MUDBLOODS!"
"SHUT! UP!" Aromi yelled in response, as the others arrived. In the instant that she heard and turned to look at him and spotted the wand in his hand, she spoke again.
"WHO ARE YOU TO ORDER ME AROUND! ME, THE MISTRESS OF THE BLACK FAMILY!"
Aromi rolled his eyes, oblivious to the crowd, as he grabbed Algida's Pokéball off his belt. With the portrait woman distracted from this, it went unnoticed by her, but noticed by the others. He let her out, and when she heard the voice, she instantly knew what to do.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Nozawa yelled again, once again making the portrait silent for the moment. "Algida! Now!"
In an instant, the infamous Queen of Time began charging her greatest attack – Roar of Time. With the portrait as her sole target, she fired – and the woman in the portrait froze as her mouth opened. Completely froze. Sirius ran over, and closed the curtains, which didn't fight back this time, before turning to the man and the impressive-looking creature, despite being in her smaller size.
"What'd you do?" The ragged-looking man asked, eyes wide.
"It was simple, really," Algida shrugged. "When she had stopped screeching like that, I used my attack to freeze her in time. It should last for about two or three weeks."
The group, minus those that had seen it before – basically, Aromi's students – stared incedulously. The professor chuckled, before telling Algida to chill out in the living room while he got some food ready for them. Letting out the rest of his team before going into the kitchen, Kyashii following and Espeon staying out in the living room to rest with her teammates, the man went and began to work on some food for the team. Then he popped out his head.
"Oh!" He began. "How about the students in my classes let out their Pokémon, and come in and learn how to make type-specific food?"
The students, already used to their teacher's ways, agreed and nodded. The larger, more powerful team greeted the newcomers openly. Riolu, Butterfree, Cyndaquil, Minun and Plusle followed their trainers into the kitchen to also watch. Molly realized just then that she had lost control of the kitchen that easily to someone who was not only younger than her, but probably didn't know how to even cook. She raced into the kitchen, to find that the young man was actually doing quite well.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," Nozawa said, once he spotted her. "Don't worry, I'm cooking up some breakfast as well. Bacon and eggs alright?"
The chorus of confirmations from the teens in the room made the man laugh as he continued working on said meals, even with the food for the Pokémon cooking. Pretty quickly, the food for the humans in the building was cooked, and shortly thereafter, the Pokémon got their breakfast as well. When Mrs. Weasley saw what had been cooked for the creatures, she made quite the face.
"Just in the world is that?" She asked bluntly.
"Homemade Pokémon food," Nozawa answered, raising an eyebrow at the reaction. "Don't worry about it, Mrs. Weasley. It tastes far better than it looks, trust me."
"It really is," Kyashii cut in, nodding, as they went out to the living room. The few that were students of Nozawa helped hand out the food, leaving some with the ones eating in the kitchen/dining room. "I'll admit that it looks horrible, but it's not that bad, really."
"So, Professor," Hermione began to say, once every Pokémon had been given food and everyone else was at the table. The Pokémon there had been eating human food for quite some time, and were wary to try the Pokémon food. The brilliant girl had been taking notes the entire time. "Every Pokémon type needs different combinations of ingredients, right?"
"That's right," Nozawa nodded, as everyone began to eat the food. Kyashii paused in her eating when she noticed the Pokémon in the room looking tentative and rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on, at least try it," The Luxray said with a smile to the creatures.
They looked at each other, then they all looked at Riolu, who looked affronted at the silent choice of him being the first victim. He carefully took a bite... before lighting up and digging in as well. The rest of the Pokémon looked at each other, then at Riolu, then at their food. Soon, they were also eating their portions of breakfast quite happily.
"How is it?" Nozawa asked the Pokémon. "Trainers, take not of this. One of our future subjects is to learn how to cook for your teams, and I am not joking."
With that, all of his students glanced at each other. They excused themselves from the table – except for Hermione, since she was already prepared – dashed upstairs, grabbed their parchment and quills and ink wells, and soon returned to take note of what their Pokémon partners said could be better about the recipe. Soon enough, everyone had finished eating, and as Mrs. Weasley went to make more, she paused upon the compliments.
"Wow, Aromi," Remus said, last to finish. "I didn't think you'd be such a great cook."
"Heh," Aromi smiled sheepishly. "Lots of practice, I guess."
"You travel on your own, right?" Mr. Weasley asked, finally home for the holidays, but still bandaged a bit.
"Yeah," Aromi nodded, petting Kyashii when she walked over to where he sat at one end of the table. Her purring made him, and some of the others, smile. "My team and I have been traveling around since I was about ten. Most of the Pokémon Trainers where I come from start at that age, because that's the age that people are allowed to get their Trainer License."
"Ten-year-old kids? Travelling alone?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, quite obviously protesting appalled.
"With their parents' permission, of course," Nozawa said, nodding again. "Don't worry about it, Mrs. Weasley, it's a well controlled system. Not only do the trainers usually have a great time going through their journey with their team, they and their Pokémon learn a lot, too."
"Well, how old are you now?" Remus asked, curious.
"As of last April, I'm eighteen."
"You've been travelling on your own for eight years?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows raised quite high, just like those of the others at the table. The young man confirmed this. "Explains why you're such a good cook, I guess."
"Yeah, like I said, lots of practice. Hey, there's a meeting tonight, right?"
"Yes, there's a meeting tonight," Mad-Eye said in his usual gruff manner.
Nozawa nodded, already planning something. As the morning went on, the young professor told some stories to those willing to listen about his adventures, and answered some of the questions that were asked. Oh, if only they knew what he had to say at the meeting...
Credits: Quote is from an anonymous source (read: unkown source). Song lyrics from "Alien Champion" by the band "Trocadero".
A/N: Well, readers, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did (or didn't), review and tell me! :D