Chapter 14: Changes

On the first day back into the castle, Alvar was greeted warmly by Susan, Hannah, Luna, Tracy, and Daphne as they met up in their common room. Soon enough Neville arrived in the common room and practically threw himself at Alvar, tearing up and sincerely thanked him over and over until Hermione came over and gently led Neville away. After Alvar filled in the girls who weren't at the hospital, he was the recipient of many hugs from the girls who had tears in their own eyes. Ron snorted and rolled his eyes at the scene but quickly retreated after being hit by both Ginny and Hermione.

Once the group reached the Great Hall for dinner; they saw the students abuzz with news. As they went their separate ways, Alvar glanced over to a student sitting at the Slytherin table who was holding the newest copy of the Daily Prophet.

"May I see that for a moment?" Alvar asked the student.

The student shrugged and handed Alvar the paper. It was a late night issue that had just released some shocking news. Right on the front was a picture of Azkaban prison with obvious damage done to it. A few sections of the upper level walls had been hit with explosive curses and there was debris all over. Unfortunately, the Ministry was still denying that Voldemort had returned. Alvar looked grimly at the paper before handing it back to the student.

Alvar informed the girls and continued on with his meal. This weekend was set to be the second match of the dueling tournament and Alvar was ready. This time his team was going to be facing off against Hannah's team. Harry would be facing off against Draco's team and Susan would be facing off against Hermione's team.

Later that night, Harry came back from Occlumency lessons with Snape with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Well?" Ron asked his face full of glee.

"That greasy git didn't see what was coming." Harry replied.

Alvar let out a small smile before listening as Harry regaled his story to everyone. "And then he was so angry with me that he actually missed me when I was standing not 5 feet away from him." Harry laughed.

"And then?" Ron asked, wanting to hear more.

"He yelled at me to get out of his sights before shoving me out of his classroom." Harry grinned.

They all laughed before heading to bed.

For the rest of the week, things passed by normally. They had classes, worked out, were trained by Alvar, and trained for the second dueling match this weekend. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

On Friday during dinner, Draco strutted up towards the Gryffindor table with Crabbe, Goyle and Nott trailing behind him. "Hey scar head," He said with a sneer "are you ready to be demolished tomorrow?"

"I don't know Ferret Boy, am I?" Harry cheekily responded.

Draco flushed. "See you tomorrow Potter." He spat and then turned and left.

Harry leaned over to Ron and Hermione and said "I have a bad feeling about tomorrow."

Today was the second match in the dueling tournament. All of the students once again were packed into the Great Hall, sitting in the stands watching as the matches progressed. A few teams have been eliminated and none of the matches were great; but when it came to Ginny and Luna's turn it all changed. The crowd must have remembered the last match they had and they were excited to see more.

Their match was against Astoria Greengrass' team. Apparently, she was Daphne's younger sister who is currently in her third year but she shows much promise. As the match began Astoria's teammates began casting every spell that they could think of. Luna and the others were unable to keep up with blocking the spells and they were soon defeated.

Next, Ginny brought one of her Hufflepuff teammates named Joey, up with her and Astoria brought a fourth year Hufflepuff. Right away Astoria, showing a feisty side, began to charge at the two girls while her teammate cast spells around her. Ginny was able to use Aguamenti, a spell that Alvar had recommended she look up for practice. Astoria slipped and fell to the ground leaving her vulnerable.

"C'mon Astoria, kick their asses!" Tracy yelled from the stands. Daphne, ever the ice queen, tried not to laugh at her friend's audacity and began to pull her back into her seat until…

"Ginny beat you can beat that slimy Slytherin no problem!" Ron yelled as he stood up, glaring at Tracy. Tracy, not one to back down from a challenge, shrugged Daphne's hand off of her and jumped back up.

Astoria rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a hex from Joey while Ginny and the Hufflepuff boy traded spells. "That's right Astoria, show them who's boss!" Tracy yelled as Astoria hit Joey with a stinging hex in the leg.

Astoria jumped up as she found an opportunity to gain an advantage but was hit from the side with an Expelliarmus from Ginny. Astoria was left wandless but Ginny was taken out by a stupefy from the Hufflepuff. As Astoria ran for her wand on the ground, Joey acciod it to his hand. Deciding to go for something crazy, he tried to cast with both wands at once.

As Joey launched her spells, they collided in mid-air in front of him as they created a huge blast off smoke. As it cleared, Joey's face was covered in soot and he had a pensive expression on her face before he was stunned by Astoria's teammate.

"Why'd you do that, you had them!" Ron shouted as Astoria revived Ginny.

Ginny gave Ron a dark glance before bringing her teammates to go sit somewhere else. Ron looked around to his friends and saw disappointment on their faces, except for Alvar. Alvar was staring at Ron with an eyebrow raised.

"He could have launched a spell why the other guy was distracted but no, had to go for the showboat." Ron said.

"Next match! Fifth year teams, Team A vs. Team F!" Dumbledore shouted.

Harry got up and met with his team at the stage. He glanced over at the all Slytherin team and he was rewarded with a sneer from Draco. Harry rolled his eyes before walking off to the side so his team could begin. On Harry's side he had: Dean Thomas; Lisa Turpin; and Justin Finch-Fletchy. Draco on the other hand had Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott.

Before the match started, Harry decided to have a small pep talk with his team. Alright, Dean, I will need you to save a bit of your strength because I plan on using you in the two on two. Harry glanced at everyone. This should be easy enough, Crabbe and Goyle will just launch the same spells over and over, and they won't be too powerful. Nott is the one that you have to watch out for, he is cunning and I have no idea what he will do so let's just go out there and win it.

As Harry's teammates stepped onto the arena, the match was started. Instantly Nott stepped back and basically began to use Crabbe and Goyle as shields. The two lumps began to cast stunning spells and disarming hexes while Theo watched.

Harry narrowed his eyes and he glanced at Draco who looked incredibly smug. Harry looked back at the match. His team was doing well but there wasn't much progress, they weren't really doing anything to Crabbe and Goyle, and Dean was being fairly reserved this match. He glanced at Theo who kept looking at all of Harry's teammates, analyzing them.

As Harry looked over to Draco again, Draco shot him a smirk and tilted his head towards the match. Harry caught on and looked back, and he was shocked. Dean and Justin were both down already while Lisa was struggling to fight back. Theo still stood back with a haughty look while Crabbe and Goyle launched reducto curses at Lisa. Soon enough she was taken out by and hit and went flying off the stage and hit her head on the ground which knocked her out cold.

Harry went to revive his teammates and instantly he asked Dean, "What happened".

"Weren't you watching?" Dean asked with a dazed look on his face. Harry had the decency to blush before Dean continued.

"Nott began launching different spells at us, we had been so focused on the spells from the two giants that we didn't notice the spells from Nott, and did he cast them fast." Dean said in something akin to admiration.

Harry helped Dean to his feet and got them positioned on the arena. Draco positioned himself beside Nott and the match began.

Harry instantly began casting as many low powered hexes and jinxes as he could as fast as he could while Dean launched some heavy hitting curses. However, nothing that they did had much effect. Nott and Draco were able to easily shield against the low powered spells from Harry while doging Draco positioned himself beside Nott and the match began.

Harry instantly began casting as many low powered hexes and jinxes as he could as fast as he could while Dean launched some heavy hitting curses. However, nothing that they did had much effect. Nott and Draco were able to easily shield against the low powered spells from Harry while dogging Dean's spells. Quickly the tables turned.

Draco first launched a bone breaker hex which was a barely legal move in the tournament. Harry shielded but was hit from the side by Nott's confringo spell. Harry was knocked to the ground and he couldn't feel his left leg. Dean was quickly dispatched and as Harry was trying to get up, the match was ended. Harry's team lost.

Harry awoke the next day in the hospital wing. The confringo spell from Nott had busted up his left hip pretty bad and he was currently all bandaged up. He noticed someone sitting beside him in the early morning darkness. "Alvar?" Harry asked.

Alvar nodded before waving his hand over Harry's leg. The bones fragments began to move together, reforming the bit of bone that the Skele-Gro had yet to finish up. Then his skin was sown back together. "That will keep it from scarring." Alvar said.

"Thanks." Harry replied. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Harry spoke up. "I can't believe that I lost."

"It wasn't really your fault." Alvar replied. "If you had had one of us with you then it would have been fine."

"But I didn't have one of you with me and when Voldemort shows up, I might be caught in a situation where I have no one with me. I need to get stronger so I won't lose!" Harry yelled.

"Shh." Alvar whispered. "It was just a match, you have just begun your training and although things will pick up at a much faster rate in due time, for now you just need to make the best of it."

"What happened with the rest of the matches?" Harry asked.

"Well Susan and Tracy's team lost to Hermione and Neville's, however, instead of having a tie breaker match, they did a four versus four final and Susan and Tracy won. It's a shame too, Neville is becoming a very promising wizard and this was excellent practice. Anyways, Daphne and I beat out Hannah and Ron's team. Daphne was especially happy to wipe the floor with Ron after the comments he made about her sister."

"Speaking of Ron, why do you seem so hard on him?" Harry asked.

Alvar sighed. "I try not to be much harder on him that the others but he is just… a waste of a soldier. We could be training someone so much better but it is your choice. He is much more suited to strategy and tactics instead of fighting. Plus he is a complete arse."

Harry chuckled, he knew that sometimes Ron could be a pain.

"Besides," Alvar said as he glanced out the window. "he needs to be serious. A war is coming fast and if he doesn't focus up and stop being a nuisance then he will die."

"Ron is trying, he just…" Harry dropped off.

"I know he doesn't like slimy snakes." Alvar said with a smirk. "Anyways I will begin to give you private lessons. Whenever we have spare time, we will begin. I plan on letting Daphne, Tracy, Susan, and Hannah take over for me soon because they need to learn to command a little if they are to be my lieutenants. Once I transition them in then our full private practice will begin."

"Thanks Alvar." Harry said sincerely.

It's been about four months since Harry was knocked out of the tournament. Since then the group of friends have increased their training tenfold. They are fairly fit but are still working on it. However, they can easily take down most death eaters if it came down to a physical confrontation.

Magic however, is where they are excelling. All of them are amazing at Occlumency and all of them have some degree of Legilimency, the notable two being Luna and Daphne. Everyone is also proficient at silent casting. Everyone is also able to do a tiny bit of wandless magic. The extent being to accio an object if it's nearby them.

Alvar has been training Harry privately for the past month. At first it was very tough because Alvar has been pushing Harry to his limits. Many nights since the training has begun have been spent in the hospital wing, recovering from injuries or magical exhaustion.

Alvar is currently waiting in their common room for Harry to return. Today was the final quidditch match, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Alvar had been there watching as Harry dove down straight to the ground as Cho Chang followed him down until Harry pulled up just soon enough so his feet were grazing the grass. Cho had hit the ground and Harry had caught the golden snitch and was currently partying in the Gryffindor common room.

As Alvar glanced back up at the clock, Harry stumbled into the common room. "Uh, hey Alvar." Harry said smiling.

"Hello, what's wrong?" Alvar asked.

"Nothing, but I had some amazing punch that Fred and George got." Harry said as he wobbled around on his feet.

Alvar sighed. "Idiot." He murmured.

Alvar slowly walked Harry back to his room and put him in the bed. "G'night" Harry whispered as sleep overtook him. Alvar rolled his eyes as he left.

He went back into the common room where he found Hermione and Neville sitting down over their Herbology textbook. Neville glanced up and spotter him, "Hey Alvar." He called.

Alvar nodded his head. "Where is Ron and Ginny?" Alvar asked. They were the only two still out.

"Ron is still celebrating and I think Ginny was talking to the twins," Hermione replied.

The next morning, Alvar found Ron crashed on the couch with what looks to be a bottle of the "punch" that the twins brought. As Alvar was about to leave, Daphne bounded down the stairs and caught up to him. "Hey Alvar." She said as she fell into step with him as they left for breakfast.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to go over the plans for what everyone will do for training over the summer."

"So what do you plan Daphne." Alvar asked.

"Well I'm hoping that everyone can get together somewhere possibly the Bones or Abbot Manor house. Somewhere where we have room to do what we need but not where someone will get upset. Then I also plan on making something of a list for people to complete over the summer to do on their own time."

"That sounds good." They stopped talking as they sat down in the Great Hall for breakfast and Alvar began to ponder. Harry is very strange to him but a great leader none the less, and his scar. Alvar recognized it about two weeks ago when he scanned it when Harry was in the hospital. It is a horcrux.

How could no one have recognized this by now? At some point since Harry began Hogwarts, he must have been scanned in the hospital wing to determine his injuries and there must have been a head injury at some point so his scar must have been scanner. If Harry's scar was scanned then at the bare minimum they would have recognized vile magic residing there. But why has nothing been done about it?

Alvar began going through the motions of the day, training Harry, observing his lieutenants train the others, and study but he was stuck pondering that scar. He knew of a ritual to get rid of it but it has never been tested on a human, there was only one account of it being on a spider and the spider died after the ritual. Also, Alvar didn't know the possible benefits of the scar. 'So for the mean time, I will leave it be but I need to be prepared to get rid of it.' Alvar thought.

Later that day, Alvar met with Daphne, Zacharias, and Terry, his team for the tournament. "Alright guys, tomorrow is the final match against Draco's team." Alvar began. "So, for the first round, I want you guys to lose."

Everyone was shocked. "Why?" Terry asked.

"Because I wouldn't mind taking Draco down a peg. He has hurt our friends and classmates and he needs to go down." Alvar replied.

"Think you're so powerful that you can take him down?" Zacharias sneered.

Alvar sighed. He had to deal with him all this time and once this tourney is done then he won't have to deal with him anymore. "Obviously he is!" Daphne shouted as she glared at Zacharias. "He had his magic limited so he could be in this tournament with us!"

Zacharias rolled his eyes but made no comment. "Alright, so lose the first round but give them hell. Then in the second round I will be with Daphne. I expect Draco to take Theo into this match. So all that we have to do is get him out quick before he can analyze us and know how to counter us. This also means that in the first round, Daphne, you have to act differently than normal."

Everyone agreed to the plan and headed back to their respective dorms. Alvar and Daphne were walking back together. "So Alvar, why did you come here. I mean, I know that you are training us against v…vo…" Daphne sighed. "Voldemort, but you could have just bought us to your house or somewhere hidden and trained us there without all of these distractions."

"Yes but then I wouldn't have met you or any of my other lieutenants." Alvar said as he looked over to Daphne.

"Then why did you pick us?"

"Because… you are all special. I've never really told anyone this but I have an ability which is basically passive Legilimency. Without trying, I can basically read whatever is at the forefront of the mind of whoever I am looking at. I can turn it off whenever I want but since coming to Hogwarts, I have left it on for the most part." At Daphne's red and angry face he added, "Whenever I was with you guys, I never read your minds beyond when I first met you. The passive Legilimency skill also lets me sense your magical aura. With Legilimency you can eventually find it out but with my skill it is easily found."

"So you chose us because we were the most powerful?" Daphne asked.

"Not exactly, I chose you because all of you are powerful and because I sensed something good about all of you."

The two continued to walk in silence until they were nearing their common room. "What did you sense about me?" Daphne asked coyly.

Alvar stopped them and paused in the hall. He turned to her and looked into her sapphire blue eyes. "I sensed that you were a lovely young lady. You are powerful and loyal if the person deserves it. You are best friends with Tracy and both of you were neutral, neither on the light or the dark, going with what is best and right." The two were slightly closer together now.

"You are the purest woman that I have ever met and…" Before he could continue, Daphne leaned forward and snaked her arms around Alvar's neck and began to kiss him. She held him tighter as Alvar deepened the kiss. Alvar wrapped his hands around her waist as the two broke apart. Alvar held her to his chest as the two embraced.

"You best not get hurt tomorrow or I might just kill Malfoy." He joked after a few moments. Daphne chuckled before slowly letting her arms slip off of him. The two continued back to the common room in silence, stealing glances at each other out of the corner of their eyes when they though the other wasn't looking.

As they entered the common room and were about to head up to their respective dorms, they took one last quick peak at each other. They both blushed in embarrassment at being caught sneaking a glance at one another before Alvar walked over and gave her a light kiss on the lips goodnight before he went to his dorm.

AN: I am incredibly sorry that I have not posted in so long. I have been incredibly busy with it being my final year in high school but that is no excuse. I plan to continue and finish this story but updates may be random. Since it's summer I will have a lot more time to write and I plan to write a lot. Again, I am very sorry about not updating for sometime but no matter what, this story will be completed. Please review, it encourages me to write more and it will help me improve the story.

AN2: The more reviews I get = chapters coming out faster. I currently have the next few done and the next chapter is a fair bit longer than this one.