Chapter 52 - Lesson One: Duelling Class
Monday 2st August, Tiger Pagoda, Mahoutokoro
Fearing what he was going to say to her when he saw her, Harry took the unusual step of going down to breakfast with the Tiger boys without waiting for Hermione. The boys all said that she'd be alright as she would be with the girls and that he'd be safer from teasing about their snog the night before with them than going down on his own with the girls.
The boys had told Harry that when he and Hermione had kissed last night something strange had happened as they all felt a kind of pulse coming from them both while they were locked in their embrace. They were all struggling to explain the scene as were the Tiger girls who were making their way down the pagoda stairs with Hermione as they were telling her the same thing.
Harry was sat in the dining hall on the eleventh year table in the clan dining hall. unlike at Hogwarts where the long tables were always up and everyone sat wherever they pleased, in Tiger Land the years all had their separate tables. Harry thought was good as he didn't want the rest of the clan easily eavesdropping into their conversations.
The girls entered the room and Harry felt a lump in his throat as Hermione came into the dining hall looking amazing in her uniform and looked absolutely radiant. She seemed to almost have a glow about her and as she spotted him in the dining hall their eyes locked. She gave him a dazzling smile and the girls all started making their way over to the boys who were already tucking into breakfast.
Taking a seat next to Harry she playfully bumped shoulders with him as he smiled and bumped her back. 'Phew, she's not regretting the kiss from the looks of it' he thought to himself.
"Morning, sleep well?" he asked her as he automatically started making her a cup of tea as she helped herself to a bowl and filled Harry's and then her bowl with cereal. Harry reached for the pewter milk jug and poured the amount of milk she liked onto her cereal as she had finished pouring the cereal in before moving the jug and pouring some milk into her tea until it changed color to how she liked it and placed the cup down next to her while with the other hand sliding a spoon into her cereal bowl for her.
"Best sleep ever, thanks!" said Hermione having grabbed two pieces of toast, one white bread and one brown, from the toast rack while Harry was making her tea and pouring milk into her cereal for her. Taking the toast, she put just butter on one piece and just jam on the other before cutting them both in half and putting one of each type on two plates and slide one of the plates over to Harry and keeping the other for herself.
"Awwwww look how cute they are!" Ling gushed.
"That was seriously sweet you guys!" Hilde added equally gushy.
"What was?" they both asked at the same time with spoons of cereal suspended in midair.
"The coordinated breakfast making. You didn't get in each other's way or bump arms or anything. It was like watching some sort of coordinated dance." Mio pointed out waving her knife and fork in the air in a swirling pattern to demonstrate her point.
"Not really I just know what she likes." Harry replied shrugging.
"Yeah, we saw that last night lover boy!" smirked Fu causing a laugh from the rest of the table.
"Yeah seriously guys that was one hell of a kiss. I can't wait to play again and get my turn with Hermione if that's what I've got in store for me." Chen said to the table and getting a blush from the table.
"Who said that you'll ever get a go with me? I think I might take the Pocky hit instead." Hermione deadpanned back with a grin getting a laugh from the table as Chen put on a hurt face enjoying the banter and a secret happy smile from Harry.
"Alright guys, let's leave them be. Why not talk about Ling and Parker? You two weren't exactly shy last night either." Goro commented to the group before taking a mouthful of what looked like porridge.
"Yeah you two out did me and Goro. He was no slouch either by the way." added Mio giving him a wink.
"Well what can I say you two set the bench mark as it wasn't exactly a challenge for Li and Sapporo, what can I say Ling's a great kisser." Jürgen said giving Ling a dazzling smile causing her to smile at the compliment.
"You're not so bad yourself Parker." Ling replied blushing slight under the Belgian's gaze getting a winning smile back.
The rest of breakfast was spent laughing and joking about how drunk they had all been the night before and Chen and Tai complaining that they needed to play again soon as they hadn't got their turn and were feeling left out, which Fu and Hilde took as a compliment.
After breakfast Master Lin came into the dining hall and started handing out time tables for the week. She told the first years that she would be back to explain how all their equipment worked after she had finished distributing the time tables to the rest of the Clan and would escort them to their first lesson as it was with her anyway.
She made her way along the tables talking with the students and answering any questions they had with their time tables. She eventually wound her way to the eleventh year who all had the brains to put their heads down in reverence and hoped that Master Lin would go easy on them. She approached the table and came to a stop at the end of the table. "Good Morning Tigers." she greeted looking at the bowed heads.
"Good Morning Master Lin!" they all replied together as a group.
"So who wants to tell me about last night Tiger's hmmm...?" Master Lin said looking around the group.
"We're really sorry Master Lin. It was mine and Harry's fault. The rest of them kept saying we should go to bed and we kept asking them to stay up a little longer." Hermione declared before anyone else had chance to say anything. The group all started looking at each other as Hermione was trying to take the blame for all of them.
"Yes Master Lin. I'm very sorry I'd brought a new version of exploding snap from England and we wouldn't let anyone go to bed and kept asking for another game as we were excited with it being our first night here and all." Harry added.
"Hmmmm very noble of you both Miss Granger, Mr. Potter... However, Tao the elf reported back to me that he'd found you all in the bath having a splashing fight so I know that's what actually happened." replied Master Lin "But it's a good show of loyalty to try and take the blame for your Clan mates who know better.
We will let it slide this time Tigers, but next time you are wanting a rowdy night might I suggest at the very least to confine it to a Friday or Saturday night where people aren't having to get up early to go and study and possibly cast some silencing charms on the wall."
"Thanks Master Lin. We promise we won't do it the night before classes again. Right guys?" Mio asked the group to which they all agreed.
"Good. Then let's say no more about it. Here are your class time tables." Master Lin announced as she passed a stack of parchment to Mio who took one and past the stack on to Li who took one and passed it on to Sapporo and on it went until they all had one.
Harry and Hermione looked at their time tables as it was going to be nice having the same schedule for a change as Hermione had always additional classes so he'd spent more time with Ron when she was in those classes.
Week 1
Monday: Dueling (Double Lesson) / Free Period (Double Lesson)
Tuesday: Transfiguration (Double Lesson) / Care of Magical Creatures (Double Lesson)
Wednesday: Arithmancy (Single Lesson) + Alchemy (Single Lesson) / Quidditch (Double Lesson)
Thursday: Runes (Double Lesson) / Free Period (Double Lesson)
Friday: Meditation (Single Lesson) + Free Period (Single Lesson) / Healing (Double Lesson)
Week 2
Monday: Herbology (Double Lesson) / Defense (Double Lesson)
Tuesday: Charms (Double Lesson) / History in Magic (Double Lesson)
Wednesday: Astronomy (Single Lesson) + Free Period (Single Lesson) / Dueling (Double Lesson)
Thursday: Potions (Double Lesson) / Free Period (Double Lesson)
Friday: Quidditch (Double Lesson) / Free Period (Double Lesson)
"There's a lot of free periods on here this year." Fu commented studying her time table.
"Yes, we've structured this year so that you'll have more free periods to do independent study and we decided to leave the second Friday every week free so that years eight through eleven can leave earlier on weekends if they wish.
Now I want you all to put your best effort into your free periods and fill them with studying and research. These aren't leisure time to do nothing in as you've all got your NEWTs this year and I want you all to do well. If you've had enough studying, then fill your time with dueling practice or Quidditch training before needing to revise for your exams.
I'd really like to try and win everything this year, but especially the Quidditch cup as ever since Phoenix brought in Stacy Wong as seeker no one else has won it so I really want to win it this year. Master Ping is becoming unbearable with her gloating over it in staff meetings.
Right well, as you've all eaten I'll let you get to your first lesson." Master Lin said as the students stood and they all gave her a bow as she made her way back toward the first years to explain everything to them.
The eleventh years picked up their bags and started making their way to the dueling hall discussing their time table and how they were delighted to have so many free periods and told Harry and Hermione that it would be really good having the afternoon every second Friday as it meant that they'd be able to travel to the Banzai Bazaar and spend a couple of nights if they wanted to or at least get a full weekend there as they normally came back on the train in time for dinner on Sunday nights.
The Tigers were the first ones to the dueling hall it seemed and as they made their way inside Hermione asked Harry if they could have a chat later on after lunch but stressed to him that it wasn't something that he needed to worry about and to not be concerned about it as she really didn't want him panicking that something was wrong.
Harry had agreed that it wouldn't be a problem and she gave his hand a small squeeze and flashed him a smile as the other Clan students started heading into the dueling hall and joined the Tigers on the long benches against the nearside wall on either side of the tea urns. The Dragons were sat next to the Tigers and the Turtles next to Phoenix.
A gong sounded from an unknown place in the dueling hall and all the students got to their feet as Master Kuzuko entered through the main doors with her hands tucked in the sleeves of the opposite arm encasing her hands. The doors slid closed behind her as she walked onto the mat with the three colored squares in and stopped in the central square. She then turned and bowed to the class who returned her bow.
"Welcome back. So our final year together before you go out into the world and the challenges that lie in wait for you." Master Kuzuko began gaining everyone's attention easily before continuing, "As it's your NEWT year you will have this year to hone your skills to the best level possible before you reach your magical maturity. We need to get you as strong as possible and make sure you core platform is as strong as possible before you reach your next maturity."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other confused as they'd already reached their magical maturity when they came of age so they didn't understand what Master Kuzuko was referring to by saying their next magical maturity. Harry filed that question away to ask her about what she meant another time.
"This year before your examination I'll be teaching you to improve your power and technique as you know a good selection of spells now. However along with Master Ken in your defense class you'll continue learning about spell creation as well and we will make you as ready as we can for your NEWT's.
For anyone that wishes I have kept the Monday afternoon's in my schedule free this year so if any of you wish to learn NOMA style hand to hand combat and weapon techniques in your spare time then I will be running an additional class for anyone that wants them."
Someone further down the line must had raised their hand as Master Kuzuko turned to them, "Yes Mr. Fu?"
The dumpy boy from Phoenix took a step forward and gave a quick bow, "Why would we need to know NOMA fighting techniques Master Kuzuko when we have magic that can easily over power them?" the boy called Miguel Fu who turned to look at his friend and got nod of the head as a well done.
"Anybody want to answer that?" Master Kuzuko asked the class at whole, "Yes Miss Sanchez!" she called as a pretty dark haired girl took a step forward onto the mat and bowed before answering.
"Battle Mages of old used hand to hand combat techniques that they learnt from NOMA's when they were too close to their opponent to be able to draw their wand and it is also a way of preventing being overpowered by multiple opponents." Sanchez said while stepping back into line.
"Very good Miss Sanchez five points to Dragon Clan. Yes, Battle Mages of old used to insert their wands into a long thin piece of wood known as a staff that could be used as a weapon against many opponents and they used to channel their wands power through power crystals that they would fuse to the top of the staff.
Now if done correctly a NOMA fighting technique known as a martial art can disable an opponent without having to draw a wand." Master Kuzuko announced to the class. Harry heard a scoffing noise from the Phoenix end of the line. "Very well, Mr. Cadogen please join me on the mat. We'll give the class a little demonstration."
A boy stepped out of the line that must have been around six foot four inches in height and broad shouldered. He stood a good nine or so inches taller than Master Kuzuko and looked like he'd be able to overpower her easily. Having seen many muggle action films over the last couple of weeks and seen the martial arts in them Harry knew what was coming next.
"Right Mr Cadogen, when you are ready I want you to draw your wand and hit me with a stunning spell. I'll give you three shots and after those three shots either I'll have been stunned or you'll have been disarmed. No need to tell me when you are going to do it as it matters not." Master Kuzuko said as she part turned and set her feet a little wider than shoulder width apart and slightly bent them as she brought her hands out of her sleeves and held them down by her sides slightly away from her body.
Without warning the boy suddenly reached with his right hand to his back pocket to get his wand out of his pocket and as his quickly whipped his wand arm forward and sent the curse at where Master Kuzuko was stood saw the curse sail away as she wasn't there.
Master Kuzuko on seeing the first movement of his hand had moved to the side dropping down to her right so that the first spell went to where she had been stood and gripped his wrist while pulling him off balance and doing a perfect judo throw over her hip until the boy landed flat on his back and she was on one knee down at his side with his wrist and hand bent an unusual angle and his wand pointing at his face.
"Give up?" Master Kuzuko asked getting an affirmative nod from the boy and letting him up and telling him to go and stand back in line as she turned to the rest of the class. "Well I hope that gave you all some insight into how useful those techniques can be. So anyone wishing to do hand to hand combat can ask me about it throughout the year."
Straightening her Karate Jacket to make sure she was properly attired again as she didn't want the boys having a free ogle of what she had underneath her jacket she announced "This lesson we will be taking your power rankings again as I need to see where you are in terms of your power, so that I know what you are going to need and who will need it the most urgently.
I've got a list of your birthdays and so in the earlier weeks I'll be focusing on those students turning seventeen first and will do the same for the rest throughout the year. Now Miss Granger and Mr. Potter, I know you have already passed through your maturity and are of age so I'll be teaching you consistently with the rest of them once I've established the level you are at." she said before continuing.
"However from looking at your uniforms I can see that you are already at a very high level with your defence and duelling. I may if acceptable to you along with some of the other students on occasion ask for you to both assist me in helping your class mates who need more work shall we say?"
Harry and Hermione nodded their understanding and gave a slight bow.
"Now then Miss Steiggson and Miss Sanchez could you set up the power reader please and the rest of you form an orderly queue." The two girls went and got the power ranking machine from the far wall and set up at one end of the hall.
Master Kuzuko walked up to it and tapped it with her wand that had been up her sleeve and the two poles grew to around eight foot from the four that they had been and the gold curtain stretched out forming a big square and Harry noticed a smaller black square in the middle of the curtain about a foot square.
She then moved her way to two of the posters on the wall that had the lists on them and cast what Harry assumed was an expansion spell as the posters grew and grew until they looked like a pair of giant scoreboards that took up the whole a good sized amount of the wall.
Harry could see that they were in fact lists and had 'Year Eleven Students' written on one with all the students names and their scores on. Harry noticed that the different Clan's had their names written in their Clan colors and could see that Dragon Clan were pretty powerful. The other list said 'All-time top twenty' and had the person's name and date they were at the school on the list. Harry looked down and saw the words 'Tom Riddle - Year 1968 - Score 9747 and was number four on the list.
The two girls had joined the queue with their housemates and Harry and Hermione saw that the Phoenix clan were going first, then the Turtles, Dragons and finally the Tigers. Harry and Hermione hung towards the back and stepped out to the side to try and see what they needed to do. The first student who stepped up was Chinese looking boy who went up to a red line on the mat and took his wand out then waited.
Master Kuzuko took her place next to the net and called out to the class that it was stunners for the first test and then Hammer or mace strikes only for the second test. The boy took an inhaling breath and set his stance and then with a loud shout of 'Stupefy' sent his stunner at the gold curtain hitting it around three foot from the square in the middle and the tumbler on top of the curtain span around and landed on '5012'.
The Poster on the wall with the eleventh year name changed as in the number one slot at the top of the poster to 'Eddie Chung - Stunner - 5012'.
The boy who Mio whispered was called Eddie Chung who was one of the nice boys in Phoenix along with Kiki Kim. She told them that Eddie had a twin brother called Charlie in Dragon Clan.
"Well done Mr. Chung. Your stunner is a lot better than at the end of last year if we can sort your accuracy out I think we might get you over 6000 this year before you hit your maturity. Next!" Master Kuzuko shouted the last as Eddie went to the back of the line and introduced himself to Harry and Hermione.
They congratulated him on a good score on his casting and he shrugged and said that there were others better than him and advised them to not focus on the scores until after they'd done their casting as he said that a few people in the year spend the whole time before their go watching the scores and worrying about them and then when it's their turn they cast badly because they are so worried about getting a low score.
Hermione and Harry explained that they had never cast a hammerstrike spell before and while in the queue Eddie showed them the wand movement and explained the theory until they were confident that they had a good handle on the spell.
After twenty minutes the list for the eleventh year students was complete except for Harry and Hermione's scores.
The highest score had been recorded by Hester Steiggson the good looking girl from Dragon who had welcomed Harry to school on their first night at the school.
Hermione was called forward and Master Kuzuko told her to focus on her spell before releasing and to send as much power as accurately as she could at the power curtain. Turning to Harry he stepped up close to her and putting his hands on her upper arms told her to steady her breathing and focus her magic before drawing her wand and casting.
Hermione nodded determinedly and turned to face the curtain and took a deep breath. Remembering what Harry had taught her she focused on the black square and flickered her wrist and grabbed her vine wand as she allowed her magic to flow and quickly shouted 'Stupefy' and fired her spell straight at the square and caught it in the top right hand corner. The tumblers span and landed on 7500, which was the highest stunner score throughout the day.
"Very impressive Miss Granger. Good accuracy and big power." replied Master Kuzuko.
Master Kuzuko turned to the Eleventh year power rankings list and pointed as Hermione turned to look at the list.
Year Eleven Power Ranks
1) Hermione Granger - Undecided - Stunner - 7500
2) Hester Steiggson - Dragon - Stunner - 6423
3) Kirchiro Takahiro - Turtle - Stunner - 6201
4) Yoko Hami - Turtle - Stunner - 5834
5) Stacy Wong - Phoenix - Stunner - 5801
6) Marco Ronaldo - Phoenix - Stunner - 5583
7) Goro Jing - Tiger - Stunner - 5547
8) Sunny Hichiro - Dragon - Stunner - 5234
9) Mio Naiko - Tiger - Stunner - 5212
10) Riko Rei - Dragon - Stunner - 5176
11) Eddie Chung - Phoenix -Stunner - 5012
12) Charlie Chung - Dragon - Stunner - 5012
13) Cadogen Ryan - Phoenix -Stunner - 4877
14) Rachel Yu - Dragon - Stunner - 4866
15) Rosa Sanchez - Dragon - Stunner - 4842
16) Trevor Startlegnash - Dragon - Stunner - 4798
17) Akiko Yuki - Turtle - Stunner - 4734
18) Ling Au - Tiger -Stunner - 4697
19) Jürgen Platz - Tiger -Stunner - 4682
20) Sapporo Haru - Tiger -Stunner - 4681
21) Trixie Popowitz - Phoenix -Stunner - 4593
22) Gosia Potiszska - Phoenix -Stunner - 4507
23) Tim Schmidt - Turtle - Stunner - 4492
24) Omori Hanso - Turtle - Stunner - 4445
25) Emre Efe - Dragon - Stunner - 4376
26) Kuki Kim - Phoenix -Stunner - 4368
27) Tai Taylor - Tiger -Stunner - 4358
28) Po Lee - Turtle - Stunner - 4353
29) Quillaq Kankook - Dragon - Stunner - 4337
30) Luis Marcel - Turtle - Stunner - 4321
31) Giovanni Tustudo - Turtle - Stunner - 4319
32) Miguel Fu - Phoenix -Stunner - 4298
33) Erin Seung - Dragon - Stunner - 4277
34) Li Mali - Tiger - Stunner - 4268
35) Hilde Stormcrantz - Tiger - Stunner - 4245
36) Lei Bei - Phoenix - Stunner - 4231
37) Fu Naomi - Tiger -Stunner - 4229
38) Bronwen Eirwen - Phoenix -Stunner - 4203
39) Chen Dai Chen - Tiger -Stunner - 4188
40) June Chow - Turtle - Stunner - 4106
41) Gwen Yakimoto - Turtle - Stunner - 4100
42 - Harry Potter - Undecided -
"Seriously, well done Miss Granger. Given that, that was just your Stunner spell then I'm very impressed as you may make it into the top twenty in the power ranking list" Master Kuzuko said pointing at the second list and Hermione saw that she was only 1100 points off making it into the all-time top twenty power ranking places with her stunner and saw that Voldemort was number four on the list with a score of 9747, he was behind Gellert Grindelwald who was third with 9762, Professor Dumbledore who was second with 9976 and on the top of the list was someone called Master Hao Can who was number one with a score of 10217.
This went some way as to explain why Voldemort had always been wary of Dumbledore as Dumbledore had a higher ranking score on the list by two hundred and twenty nine points and also explained why he had wanted to read up as much dark material in the library as he could as he would have wanted to become more powerful than Dumbledore.
Hermione absolutely beaming turned to Harry who was grinning at her and she enveloped him in a big hug. "Seriously well done Hermione that's an amazing score. You should be proud of yourself as you've nearly hit the all-time top twenty with a stunning spell" said Harry as he wrapped his arms around her enjoying the feel of her again as last night memories of the night before coming flying back to his mind. It obviously came back to Hermione's mind as she stepped away he saw she was blushing and biting her lower lip in that way she does that makes him all how and bothered.
"Good luck Harry." she said as she worked her way back along the line getting 'well dones' and 'congratulations' from people as she walked passed before the Tigers all wrapped her in a big group hug
"Mr. Potter if you would please." Master Kuzuko directed as Harry stepped up to the line he could hear excited muttering behind him.
"Let's see if all the hype is true." Harry heard someone mutter and turned slightly but couldn't see who had said it but clearly someone wanted him to mess up.
Focusing on the black square on the curtain he fired his wand into his hand and quick as a snake striking he fired a quick silent stunner at the black square that hit the centre of the square in a perfect shot and the tumblers span before landing on 7500.
"Did they both just get the same stunning score and he did it with nonverbal casting?" someone asked behind him amazed.
"Damn that was crazy!" said another voice.
"Hmm most interesting, well class what you have just seen is the stunner's max power number which tops out at 7500, Anyone with a really large power reserve can hit 7500 but as this is the highest score registered with a stunner I hope it shows why we also use the Hammerstrike or Macestrike spell because we are not sure what that spell number tops out at. While some have speculated 20000 we aren't sure." Master Kuzuko finished.
"Humph, so what I bet their power won't be the same when they try the hammerstrike spell. That will prove they aren't as strong as the claim to be" the male voice said again.
He heard a girl say quietly "Why are you being such a jackass? That was some seriously impressive casting and he'll kick your arse when you have to duel him."
"There's more to duelling than just raw power Wonga." said the male voice again and Harry looked back over his shoulder and saw that it was the tanned boy with the slicked back hair from the Phoenix table the other night that had said it and Harry noticed he was casting a disdainful look at Hermione looking her up and down as if she was some sort of wild animal. Hermione for her credit just crossed her arms with her wand still in her hand staring hard the boy.
Harry noting the boy's behaviour towards him and Hermione and wrote it down in the 'kick his arse' section in his brain and filed that information away for the time he had to duel that guy in class. He seemed like a bit of a know it all.
As he moved into the back of the line getting the same congratulations from everyone and another look from the boy who he remembered was called Marco Ronaldo. The line restarted but this time they were using the hammer strike spell 'Pugilo'. Everyone's score went up 1000-1500 point difference from their stunner scores and updated the eleventh year score board.
Now it was Hermione's turn again and the students fanned out again so that they could get a good look. Hermione turned to Master Kuzuko and stated. "Master Kuzuko, I have to be honest that Harry and myself have never actually cast a hammer strike spell before."
She heard a couple of people snigger behind her before adding, "but Mr Chung here has explained the theory and the wand movement, so we'll try our best but it might not be very good." Hermione said.
"Just do your best Miss Granger" replied Master Kuzuko trying to contain her excitement at seeing what they can do as hitting the max score on a stunner wasn't an easy thing to do.
Refocusing on the black square she unleashed her hammer strike spell that sent the tumblers spinning very quickly before landing on 10170 everyone stopped what they were doing to confirm that Hermione has just moved up into number two in the all-time power ranking list above Professor Dumbledore.
Master Kuzuko looked absolutely delighted like she was about to burst with joy. She said breathlessly "100 points to your future clan Miss Granger and it is an honour for me to see someone become number two in the all-time power rankings." Hermione's name appeared on the all-time power rankings as all the names shifted down and the previous number 20 disappeared in the number two spot now showed: Hermione Granger-Year 2016-Score 10170.
Hermione absolutely beaming turned running to Harry who was grinning at her and she enveloped him in big hug and gave him a kiss on the lips in her excitement at making a massive impression on the school on her first day.
"Mr. Potter if you would please?"
Refocusing himself Harry thought about the information Eddie Chung had given him about the hammer strike spell and taking a deep breath cast the spell at the square that he fired as hard as he could be pushing as much of his magic into it as he could.
His eyes tracked the spell as if it was in slow motion and saw it was sailing off centre but instead of it flying straight as his spells normally did he saw that it was going in a corkscrew motion creating a smaller and smaller spiral before hitting the black square with an audible thud.
The tumblers starting spinning before coming to a stop on 12126 and Harry saw Master Kuzuko almost faint and point not at the eleventh year scores but saw she was pointing to the all-time top twenty board and Harry saw all the names again shift down and the top of the poster read Harry Potter - Year 2016 - Score 12126.
Harry stood there stunned as almost all the students gave him a very loud round of applause and cheer and all surrounded him patting him on the back and offering him congratulations that was eventually broken up by Master Kuzuko who offered her congratulations as well.
"Congratulations Mr. Potter for making number one on the all-time list! 200 points to your future clan!"
The rest of the lesson was spent refreshing the eleventh years on strike dueling and in Harry and Hermione's case Master Kuzuko worked with them teaching lots of different striking techniques.
Master Kuzuko was delighted to find that Harry and Hermione were both very quick studies and by the end of the lesson they had been able to cast the 'Plaga' spell which acted and had wand movements like striking someone with a sword, 'Pugilo', which they already had cast during the power ranking test. She also showed them 'Dutus Plaga', which was mace strike and while powerful wasn't as hard hitting as a hammerstrike but still powerful and the final spell she taught them was something called 'Katano', which she explained was like hitting someone with a samurai sword as it was powerful but more importantly with enough power behind it was capable to slicing through their opponent's shield.
The rest of the lesson they watched their class mates in some one-on-one duels before Master Kuzuko said that she had seen enough and would tailor their personal development plans and have them ready for next week. She asked if Harry and Hermione could have a word with her in her office, while the rest of the class helped themselves to tea from the urns and told them all that they could thank Miss Granger when they came back.
She led them to the far right hand side of the hall past the two-on-two mats to the wall where there was a large life-size photo of the Master Hao Can the number two on the top rankings list and Master Kuzuko bowed to the picture that swung in like a door.
They followed her into the room that turned out to be the Master's office and she conjured them two seats to sit in as she herself sat in the chair behind the desk.
"My congratulations again on a fine display. I can see that you two are going to be a real help in the class as I need to get the rest of them up to scratch as there are some students I'm worried about as their scores are quite low and I know they can do better and I can help them get them up.
However I'm going to have to spend more time with them and as a result might have to ask you two to help with the higher scoring students to keep pushing them and learning while I help the students who are struggling more."
"Well we will help in any way we can Master Kuzuko, but as you've seen you're teaching spells that we don't even know." Harry said.
"Well I can recommend some spell scrolls from the library to help you catch up with them but also remember that you'll also know spells and curses etc, that I probably don't teach so maybe speak with some of your Clan members see what they know." Master Kuzuko explained as she poured them all a cup of tea from a tea urn in her office and Hermione took the liberty to cast the spell on it to change the flavor of the tea and Master Kuzuko thanked her for doing that for her.
"Now the reason I wanted to speak to you privately is because any student that is able to get over seven thousand on a hammer strike I believe will be capable of dual casting and I'd to see if you two are able to do that and try and teach you both." Master Kuzuko announced as Harry and Hermione looked at her stunned.
"Are you sure? Do you really think we'd be capable of doing dual casting?" Hermione asked excitedly as she'd never seen anyone cast through two wands at the same time before.
"I believe so. I was wondering whether you'd be prepared to purchase a second wand to try and learn."
"I know that I'd like to try for sure. What about you Harry?" Hermione asked looking at Harry who was sat back in his chair with a thoughtful look on his face and she could see that he was thinking about the benefits and possibilities it could bring.
"I'm in." Harry answered getting a smile from Hermione.
"Excellent!" Master Kuzuko exclaimed as she reached into her desk drawer and took out some parchment, ink and a quill out and wrote out a quick note for them. "When you go to Banzai Bazaar not this weekend but the one after I'd recommend visiting Kendo's wand shop give him that and note," she handed it to Hermione "and he will sort you both out with a second wand and holster if you want to get one and once you've got them then come and see me and we'll sort something into your schedule and I'll teach you duel casting away from the class as it will be a nice surprise for your opponents when you decide to unleash it."
"Right well let's get back out there and make sure that Phoenix and Dragon aren't at each other's throats already." Master Kuzuko finished as they all stood and made their way back into the dueling hall.
After class they made their way back to Tiger Land with the tigers who were all talking excitedly about Harry and Hermione's scores and both hitting in the top five as they had an afternoon off with no homework yet the Tigers decided to play exploding snap and chess in the common room after lunch and then they'd show Harry and Hermione the dojo and the Quidditch pitch. During lunch Hermione told the Tigers that she needed a word with Harry in private and that they'd meet them at the Clan dojo.
Hermione led Harry out into the gardens near the pond and sat on a stone bench and patted the bench beside her indicating for Harry to sit beside her. He took his seat next to her and waited studying her as he watched her face as she was trying to organize what she wanted to say.
She let out a large breath and turned to look at him. "Harry about last night, I just...I understand we were drunk, I know that I really shouldn't have kissed you but... but I couldn't help myself I just needed to know for sure... to confirm to myself that what I felt about you was right..." she paused thinking what to say next, to explain herself properly.
"I've had to listen to Susan, Daphne and Tracey telling me about how amazing a kisser you are and how much they like you and... and things that you've done with them. I mean fuck even Parkinson has told me how good a kisser you were. I just couldn't help myself."
"I'm sorry about what's happened with them Hermione. It's just that I was hurt after Ginny and you'd gone from Potter Manor, which I understand why you did but I missed you and felt alone as Paul and Beatrice were gone and I knew you needed time to reacquaint with your parents and you needed to do that away from me." Harry replied looking down studying his shoes feeling his stomach balling up with dread.
"You don't need to feel guilty for anything you've done with them Harry. You're a single guy and they are single girls. It's natural for you and them to do what happened. It's just I...I..."
"You wish we hadn't done it?" Harry said shaking his head feeling like his world was crashing in. He'd been wrong about how he hoped she'd feel about him. He didn't know what she would feel about Susan and the others but he didn't want her to hate him for it.
"I don't know Harry; I just don't know. Ron has been distant over the summer and I think he's been lying about the time he is finishing his Quidditch practice, and don't get me started about him missing the dinner with my parents.", she let out a long sigh thinking about Ron and the situation she had got herself in with him.
"Can you imagine how he'd feel if me and him split up by letter and then you and I got together immediately afterwards or if he found out what had happened last night?" she asked him.
Harry could well imagine Ron's reaction to finding out that he and Hermione had started dating or if he found out about the kiss last night. "So do you regret the kiss last night?" he asked giving her a small smile and looking at her sideways causing her to lightly laugh at him.
"God No! It was the most amazing, magical thing that has ever happened to me." Hermione said bumping his shoulder. "I'm not going to lie Harry…. I….. I really care about you and I have since first year and I've….. I've dreamed of what happened last night for years, but I'm not the kind of person to just end things with Ron when he doesn't appear to have done anything wrong except not come to dinner as promised."
"What happens if he does do something wrong?" Harry asked hopefully.
"I'm just all confused at the moment Harry about how I feel about the situation and what to do for the best as there is still so many issues that need to be sorted out, not in the least that you're going to have at least two wives due to the Black family name requiring you to take a pure blood wife... Unless you're going to sacrifice the Black family name and let Malfoy have it, which I can't believe you would that to Sirius for a second..." she was struggling for words as she was still confused about whether she could except there being another woman permanently in Harry's life.
"I...I... I think , for the time being that we just carry on as friends… as if last night didn't happen and if something else happens then we'll discuss it again. We need to figure out what you are going to do regarding all the family lines and whether you are going to continue you them or not. I hope you're not upset or angry with me and I still want to talk about absolutely everything like we always have and just see what happens in the future. Are you alright with that?" she asked him as he looked up and smiled at her.
Harry looked down in thought 'I know she is having trouble with this but I think I still have a chance with her. I can wait for her a little while longer I know I can!'. He was absolutely gutted that she didn't want to start seeing him straight away but understood what she had said about Ron and he knew he needed to try and protect his friendship with Ron.
Ron was on his last warning with him as Harry had never done anything to deserve some of the things that Ron had done. However Ron finding out that he and Hermione had kissed while he was still going out with her would be Harry and Hermione's fault and they both didn't want to be the cause of their friendship with Ron ending.
"Yes I understand that you want to see how things go, but I really care for you Hermione and it probably wouldn't be right of me to tell you how much so at this present time. But I hope that my actions go some way to helping you understand what you meant to me." he looked at her to find her eyes starting to well up as she thought about all the things he'd done for her.
He continued "As for the family lines I've potentially got to further I really don't know. I've been trying to figure things out in my own head what to do as I was talking to Neville about it and he told me some pretty startling stuff about line continuation and things.
I'm assuming that you know what's happened to me over the summer. I promise I didn't initiate anything only reacting to what was happening I..." he faltered at this point as he didn't really know what to say.
Hermione seeing him struggling with the events of the summer took pity on his as the girls had told her all about what had happened. "Well as for what happened with Susan and the others well I think that I might be a little at fault for that." Hermione said biting her lower lip in that way that made him really hot for her.
"How so?" Harry asked her curiously wondering how she might be at fault for what had happened with Susan and the Slytherin girls.
"Well I told them all in Runes and Arithmancy all about how great you are and I've talked to them about how I feel about you and things over the years, especially Susan and I guess over time they must have started thinking about you how I do...well a little bit of how I do." Hermione said looking at her feet suddenly finding her shoes very interesting all of a sudden.
"Hmmmmmm, well that would explain it a little bit. But I'm still confused about why they would be the way they are with me?" Harry said scratching the back of his head.
"Well I can guess why they are the way they are with you?" Hermione said as Harry looked up at her expectedly "You're Harry Potter." she said breaking into a fit of giggles as he pulled a face at her using his own line against him.
Just then they were distracted by Mio shouting at them to hurry up as they have been ages. They got up and gave each other a hug and promised to carry on as normal and that they wouldn't mention the previous night and Hermione linked her arm through Harry's as they headed to the Clan dojo to see what it was like.
Authors note - Ok so this is without doubt the hardest chapter I've had to write yet because of the talk Harry and Hermione needed to have. It took me and my Beta Goldzar about four days on this chapter bouncing ideas back and forth and he's becoming more of a co writer rather than just a Beta so have to give him the biggest thanks for all his work on this and my other chapters.
So I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter and I'm starting to pick up a head of steam again so I'm hoping to have quick up dates for my next few chapters where I'll be developing the story more and also getting to show you more of Mahoutokoro and it's students.
Thanks
Craggle
