Harry Potter and Grief's Wisdom

Poetheather

A/N: Happy Veteran's Day all. As a vet I want to give a shout out to all the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces, especially those who gave all. Thank you for your service.

This is a work of fiction using the characters created by J.K. Rowling. They are not used with her permission. All actions follow the events of book five of the series. Any similarity between any person living or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional. If you happen to find your life reflected in this piece I'll be impressed and perhaps a little scared.

Chap 14

"Let me get this straight… your bright idea is that you want to use muggle military ideas to help with Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Ron seemed rather incredulous at Harry's assertion.

Harry narrowed his eyes, somewhat annoyed with this side of his best mate, "What's wrong with that? There are a lot of brilliant things in these books that can really help make a difference."

"Merlin, you sound like Hermione. Look, I'm sure muggles are really successful with these ideas but this is real war. I just don't get why you think these muggle ideas will be of any help?" Ron countered, trying to get the idea through to Harry's head.

Hermione groaned in annoyance, clearly she could see where this was headed and it wasn't going to be overly pretty. Harry's voice took on a bit of an edge, his eyes narrowing, "So you're saying that muggle ideas are of no use?"

"That's not what I said," protested Ron, backpedaling.

Another voice joined this argument, "Actually Ron that is pretty much what you said."

"Stop helping Ginny." He turned towards her and glowered in a very McGonagall sort of way.

His sister smirked at him, unfazed by his glower. Harry didn't want to get into an argument over this but clearly that had been taken out of his hands, saying, "Look Ron, I know that you can't seem to wrap your head around the idea that muggles can do a number of things as well as if not better that wizards and witches. A lot of purebloods are like that. You spend so much time in the wizarding world that you can't see any other way to do things. Ask Hermione, just because it's different doesn't make it wrong. Hell there is no spell I have ever heard of that comes close to the raw destructive power of what one nuclear weapon can do nor have I heard of wizards flying faster than the speed of sound, traveling under the ocean for six months at a time, or going to the moon for that matter. So don't discount these ideas just because you think muggles are idiots. They aren't and can be far more dangerous than you can imagine."

Ron turned red faced, his fists clenched, and he looked more than ready to start yelling when Hermione reached out and laid a hand on his arm, stilling him. "Ron, you need to understand, we don't think you are like Malfoy and his ilk but you do have a bias against muggles and muggleborn. I can list all the times you have been disparaging if you wish but that's not important. We know it's something you need to work on but it's not like it's the end of the world. You just can't imagine muggles being able to do more. That's okay but you need to give new things a try."

Ron pursed his lips into a thin pale line and forced himself to sit back. His face was still red and he seemed on the edge of speaking out again but he reigned himself back and said tightly, "Fine."

After giving Ron a thankful look Harry turned back to the others, "What I like about the way muggles fight for one is their absolute belief in cover. They move from cover to cover while fighting, trying to avoid standing right there so they can get shot. From what I have seen, wizards tend to stand in the open, all but asking to get shot if combat started. If we use cover more, move more, we can keep each other safer with fire support and movement. That is just one example. And movement in combat, that is a huge issue as well. If you stand in the same place with only dodging, you can get flanked, like in chess," explained Harry, hoping what he was saying was making any sort of sense. He felt like he sounded like a loon but this was something he was coming to believe in greatly.

It was clear that Ron was nodding along begrudgingly. His issues with muggles were annoying but Harry could kind of understand where he was coming from, which let him cut his best mate some slack. This was what Ron was used to, a purely magical life since he was a pureblood. He had been raised always believing in the power of magic and lived separated from muggles. His father was a geek for all things muggle but more often than not got things wrong, sounding like a fool. Honestly, with that as a background, how could Ron grow up with any respect for this other culture that shared the world with them?

With furrowed brows Ron conceded the point, "That… you know that does make sense."

"Then can you give this idea a chance?" Harry was hopeful, knowing that without Ron he might not have the skills to make this happen.

Ron shrugged slightly then nodded, "Yes, I can do that."

Harry bit back the retort that came to mind, figuring that irritating Ron would not be worth it and would only lead to the two of them having a row. He loved him like a brother but there were so many times where he had to question if he even liked him. Those were not comfortable times, because he honestly couldn't imagine his life without the red head. The Weasleys had made the last five years of his life bearable.

"Good, now the first thing I noted about the fight in the Department of Mysteries was that we all got tired too easily. I think Luna was the only one who seemed fairly okay near the end and I figure that is due to her trips with her father. If you get tired in a fight then you'll make too many mistakes, so we need to train our bodies in order to better deal with that. If we are in shape then we will be the more successful at a running battle then they are. I read stuff that said exercising could help make you a bit smarter and more able to deal with things in general. That's not a bad thing. We need that because anything that can give us an edge we need to take since they have experience on their side."

"And for this we need to run?" Ron seemed confused by what he was getting at.

"And more. There are other benefits as well that can be of greater use, as muggle athletes work hard and that makes them faster, stronger, and have better reflexes. I figured that you wouldn't mind getting better, since you want to play so bad. I mean becoming a better athelete… is that really so bad?" Harry figured that it might just provide a good reason for Ron to listen. He was obsessed with getting on the Quidditch team and this might help. "Oh, before I forget, I got you and Ginny some stuff."

Ron looked a touch peeved at that but held his tongue as Harry dug out a shield hat and wand holster for the two of them. "You need to practice with the holsters until you can flick your wrist and have your wand go right into your hand. Be careful, the holsters can be a bit overzealous."

Harry gave a quick demonstration of the technique, the wand snapping into his hand. "You never know when you need your wand and this is faster than having it in your pocket. Less likely for you to fumble it as well."

Ginny grinned at him and seemed pleased to get these. Ron sighed and took them. Harry could imagine what his friend was thinking, that Harry was flaunting his wealth or some such nonsense. He was going to do whatever he could to succeed and keep his friends alive and if that meant ensuring that people had the gear they needed e would spend all he could. If that meant that Ron had to deal with the fact that Harry had money then so be it. It's not like he was used to it, having been basically a house elf for most of his life.

Luna chimed in at this point, beaming at the others when she pointed out, "The wand holster is very easy to use and you can even make it invisible if you want. See?"

She held up her wand hand to indicate that there was nothing there. Harry was trying to figure out how she did that. There was probably a rune on there somewhere that managed that. Once she had everyone's attention she did that particular twist of the wrist and suddenly her wand was in her hand. "It's easy as hopscotch pudding."

Everyone turned to face the lone Ravenclaw in their midst trying to figure out multiple things out at once. For Harry, he was trying to figure out what in the hell hopscotch pudding was. Was it a different name for butterscotch? She looked at them with a far off look and a happy smile, "It really is rather tasty. I'll have to get Daddy to make a new batch so Hermione can try some."

"Anyway… these are yours, so practice with them and have them ready and on you all the time. Also, thanks to the whole letter issue I was having this summer, I haven't been able to get this from you both earlier. Could you two write up a description of what happened in the Ministry in as much detail as possible? Everything you can remember will be useful. We also need to have Neville do this as well, if someone can send him an owl. This way we can all learn from what we have done right and what needs work," explained Harry, covering the basics of an After Action Report. "It will let us learn from our mistakes and successes."

"Wait…" Ron said grumpily. "You want me to do homework over something we did outside of school?"

"Ron…"

"No Hermione, this doesn't make any sense. Why would we need to do that? We all know what happened."

"Ron listen to me… please. The reason for an After Action report is so we can review what we did so we know what went right and what went wrong. It is a tool to help us get better. It can be done after anything. Look you know how you keep telling me how important talking about a past game is, that you learn a lot for old Quidditch games and looking over the past games? It's the same thing. You get different people's points of view for the biggest and most accurate picture of events." Harry was really trying with Ron but he was making him mental. Surely there had to be an easier way to make it happen.

Looking very thoughtful, Ron sat there putting pieces together in his own head. Harry turned to look at Ron's sister. "Do you have a problem with that Ginny?"

"Nope. I can also send something to Neville so we can get his version as well."

"I've already written mine and I have Hermione's and Luna's as well and they helped a lot. I even got a few ideas for things we can try thanks to them. Like silencing someone isn't enough, since anyone can learn to cast wordlessly if they work at it. I also know I did a lot wrong and rushed us in there blind, which I feel really bad about. Its letting me find weaknesses I can fix. I don't want to let you all down again."

"Do we get to read them?" asked Ginny, avoiding the last issue completely.

"Yes. This way we can go over things to see if we all agree on what had happened. If there are discrepancies we can talk about that as well. Also, you might get something out of someone's AAR that you hadn't expected, like a new spell or a different way to face someone. If we're going to get better we really need to step up." Harry was really getting into what he was saying.

"Harry? Could you come down here please?"

Everyone stopped and stared at each other. Had that been Mr. Weasley? Harry turned to the side and called out, "Just a second! Hermione, you take over since you know what I'm talking about. I'll be right back."

She nodded and flipped back a few pages in her notebook to her older notes. Harry didn't mean for things to get even more academic than they had been but it wasn't like he had a choice. He had been called away and so needed to deal with that. Hermione took up from where he left off as he headed down stairs, covering other areas they had discussed. Reaching the landing he spotted the various adults of the house standing nervously looking at Mr. Saudners, who did not indicate that he knew him in any way. "Yes Mr. Weasley?"

"Harry, good, good… let me introduce you to Mr. Saunders, a hit wizard who has been called in special. It seems our new minister insisted that you have proper protection at all hours of the day and night, at least until this crisis is over." Mr. Weasley looked a touch uncomfortable. Harry figured it had to do with the fact that Dumbledore had not been consulted or if he had, he had not bothered to share any of that information.

"Okay." Harry walked over and extended his hand. "Pleased to meet you Mr. Sanders."

"It's Saunders. A pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Potter. I shall endeavor to keep you as safe as I can manage. Thank you for the introduction Arthur." Saunders smiled at Mr. Weasley.

"My pleasure Nigel. It's been a long time since I've seen you."

"You know how it is… I got busy and my work took me various places." Saunders sounded far more warm and approachable than he had back when they first met. "When Madame Bones asked for my assistance I was happy to oblige."

Harry looked the man up and down, as if appraising him. "So, you're my bodyguard?"

"Yes, well more I'm more Hit Wizard than bodyguard though I have done that as well and have never lost a client. I am here to make sure you can get out of this mess in one piece and that you suffer no surprises." He grinned at Harry, holding out his hand.

Taking the man's hand and shaking it firmly, "I'm okay with that."

Mrs. Weasley sniffed, it seemed that she did not approve of him. "So you'll be staying then?"

"Now Molly, he is here to look after Harry on the orders of the Minister, herself. My understanding of everything was that he is going to be following Harry pretty much everywhere. So of course he can stay. And you know, having an extra wand if things go amiss is never a bad thing," said Arthur.

Harry could tell that a much louder conversation was brewing and that it would be best to flee while the getting was good. "Uhm… let me show you where I am sleeping. You can meet my friends."

With a nod of understanding from Mr. Saunders, Harry headed back upstairs and then into the bedroom. He could hear the starts of the conversation below and quickly shut the door behind him. Needless to say the others were surprised by his guest, staring at him in confusion. Hermione blinked a few times, as if putting pieces together, then spoke up, "You… you've been at my parents place of work."

Saunders nodded his head, looking rather impressed. "I have indeed Miss Granger. Well spotted. I was checking the security measures that were in place to ensure that they would still be sufficient."

Hermione's brows furrowed. "My parents have security?"

"Well, not that they are aware of, but yes," answered Saunders politely.

Hermione looked thoughtful and pursed her lips in determination. She pulled her wand free and quickly put up a few privacy wards. She turned back to the new person in the room and asked, "You're the man from MI5 that Harry told us about, aren't you?"

"Yes Miss Granger, I am."

"So, your job is to keep Harry safe and help us?" Hermione was obviously trying to get a feel for what the man was doing here.

"To the best of my abilities. From what I gathered from Harry here is that you need someone who can help you with training, and as a former SAS operative I can certainly update the way you all fight. We should be able to get your skills to where they should be with some effort."

"That's good," said Luna. "We could stand to get better. We certainly need to ensure wrackspurts don't affect us when we are fighting. Now, Mr. Saunders, what has sass taught you about fighting Death Eaters."

"That's SAS," corrected Saunders, with an amused look on his face.

Luna looked a bit confused, "That's what I said, sass."

Saunders groaned. This was certainly the kind of thing he was likely to pass on. Harry chuckled, pleased that Luna lightened the mood sufficiently, and said, "Just wait, it gets worse from here. Now what do you know about occulamency and can you help us all learn?"