Chapter 8: Of Castles and Classes Part 2
AN: This chapter took longer than the others before it as I had the other chapters pre written. Now the updates will be slower, but don't think the story is abandoned. I am going for 2 chapters a month. I have the story roughly planned out till the seventh year and beyond, so i will finish it.
This chapter took a long time to write as it was very boring. There wasn't any excitement, only plenty of character and world building. Other chapters should come out quicker. I intend to finish the 1st year in 3 or 4 more chapters.
This chapter hasn't been proofread, so there might be typos and grammatical errors. I plan to proofread at a later date.
Uploaded on 1st November 2020
Please Read and review
Coverart by u/noisy_mime
It was the first weekend of the term and Harry was excited to spend the day playing with Nero and exploring the castle with his friends but first Harry had to meet with Prof. Flitwick as he had promised earlier in the week. Harry had no idea what the meeting was about and Harry couldn't help but be a little apprehensive about the whole thing. After finishing a quick breakfast, Harry proceeded towards the charms classroom to meet with Prof. Flitwick. As usual Nero followed Harry and Hilda was perched on his shoulders. When Harry entered the classroom at 10:00 am sharp, he saw that all the desk and chairs were pushed towards the walls and there were three people in the room. Apart from Prof. Flitwick, Prof McGonagall and another woman were in the room. The other woman was young and had unkempt shoulder length hair.
"Mr. Potter please come in. I would like you to meet, my colleague Prof. Bathsheba Babbling, she teaches Move Mechanics and Minerva also insisted that she be here for the demonstration."
"Good Morning Professor," Harry wished Prof. Babbling
"Good Morning Mr. Potter. When Prof. Flitwick told me that your Houndour was capable of using multiple moves, I had to check it out for myself. Now what are the moves you say your houndour is able to use." Prof. Babbling asked.
Harry hesitatingly looked towards Prod. McGonagall and Prof. Flitwick and upon seeing them nod continued with some confidence.
"As of now Nero is capable of using headbutt, smog, roar, ember, flame-wheel, flame-charge, bite and flamethrower. His flame-thrower is in the early stages, but I am noticing that his ember and flame-thrower are sort of merging into one move." Harry said.
Prof. Babbling looked surprised. "I don't mean to call you a liar Mr. Potter but for a starter pokémon however unusual they may be, all of this seems far-fetched."
Harry just shrugged; it was not his job to convince his teachers.
Prof. Flitwick interjected, "And that is why we have set up this demonstration. Both Minerva and I, are very interested in exploring Neros full capabilities and helping you as need be."
"Now Mr. Potter could you command your Houndour to use all the attacks that you just said." Prof. Flitwick said, pressing a button as he had done earlier in class and a training target popped out of the floor.
"Are you sure we should be doing this indoors Professor? Last time we almost burned the class down." Harry said.
"Don't worry, Mr. Potter, we have taken precautions this time. I have had Mr. Mime set up barriers around the classroom and prof. Flitwick has is water types on standby." Prof. McGonagall assured him.
"Alright Nero, front and center," Harry said and Nero jumped in front him with a bark.
"Nero, use headbutt on the target." Nero ran forwards and headbutted the target. It seemed much more sturdy than the one in class, as it barely budged.
"Alright Nero now use roar."
"Now smog."
"Wait for the smog to dissipate, then use Bite"
"Flame-Wheel"
"Flame-charge." Nero rushed forwards sheathed in flames and collided with the target. This time leaving a good size dent in the target.
"Finish with your strongest ember." Just like in class, the instead of ember, large fireballs came out resembling more a flamethrower than an ember, setting alight the target. The burning target was quickly doused by Prof. Flitwick's wartortle.
Harry took a deep breath. In the anticipation of calling out so many attacks, he had forgotten to breathe. He looked at the Professors.
Prof. Flitwick and McGonagall looked pleasantly surprised, whereas Prof. Babbling looked flabbergasted. The notepad she was using to vigorously take notes was hanging limply from her hands as she was gaping like a magikarp.
"This is impossible. Even for Harry Potter, this is well beyond what a new starter should be capable of. I don't get it, how is this possible. The houndour shouldn't even have an inner flame powerful enough for even half those moves. This makes no sense." Prof. Babbling was rambling to herself trying to make sense of what she just witnessed.
"Calm down Bathsheba, the situation is not as cut and dry as you expect. Now if Mr. Potter wouldn't mind, I would like him to explain about Nero's unconventional origins. And Don't worry Mr. Potter, like myself and Minerva, Bathsheba too will swear pledge not to spread the information, that we learn today." Prof. Flitwick interrupted Prof. Babblings ramblings.
Prof. Babbling nodded in agreement, "Of course, of course, anything that we talk about today will be in my strictest confidence, I swear upon my profession as a professor of Hogwarts."
Harry sighed, he was really bad at this "secret" thing. Not even a week in and three professors already knew about him.
Harry told Prof. Babbling, his and Nero's story.
"All this sounds really incredible, no wonder the need for secrecy. But it still does not explain the number of moves, Nero is capable of using. Tell me Mr. Potter, have you heard of Sutton's theory?"
Harry shook his head no.
"You wouldn't have. It is something that is covered for upper years. Alright have you played those pokémon simulation video games, like red or blue. I believe now we are on Gen 7 games called sword and shield."
Harry never had the opportunity to own video games with the Dursleys. Dudley had video games but nothing pokémon related was permitted in the Dursley household. However, Harry had played a little bit of pokémon red on a Gameboy he had borrowed from a student in Mr. Blackwoods class. He had gotten to as far as the 4th Kanto gym in the game.
"I've played a bit of pokémon red", Harry replied
"Good, tell me, what is the maximum number of moves a pokémon is allowed to have."
"I think it is four?" Harry replied.
"Yes, it is. But why four, why not five or six or three? have you ever seen a pokémon only use four moves in battle in real life."
"Because it's a game?" Harry replied.
"While that is true, a lot of it has to do with Sutton's theory. Suzuki Sutton was a pokémon professor from Hoenn who over 130 years ago predicted that pokémon ability to use moves in a trainer battle does not depend on the number of moves a pokémon but on the number of distinct commands a pokémon can understand. For young starter pokémon this limit is generally four to five moves." Babbling explained.
"But Nero understands me almost perfectly. Not just moves but even general human speech." Harry confusedly asked.
"And that is where the issue lies Mr. Potter. Your Houndour seems to have near perfect human speech comprehension, which is impossible for such a young pokémon. Now it is possible for older pokémon that have been raised by a trainer for a few years, as pokémons intelligence seem to grow exponentially, the more time they spend with a trainer. Tell me how did you train your Houndour?"
"When I first found Nero, he was too young to train. So, I just kept him hidden in my cupboard. I would speak to him every day, we would play, roughhouse, I would take him to school in my backpack. One day he breathed fire, and almost set my cupboard ablaze. From then on I hid him in a local abandoned park. This was also around the time when we started training. We would mostly work on his physical fitness and fire-type moves. Since that was all the information I could find in the local library."
Prof. Babbling nodded along, taking notes. "How long did you train Nero before coming to Hogwarts?"
"About five months or so."
"Hmmm… I see… what about the moves? Moves like flame wheel, flame-charge are not something a Houndour naturally learns."
"My teacher of Intro to Pokemon class, Mr. Blackwood had a growlithe and he was a trainer from Kanto. Once I got my Hogwarts letter, he introduced us to his growlithe. Nero learnt those moves and flamethrower from him."
"That makes sense." Prof. Babbling said in a thinking pose before pausing for a breath and continuing. "If I were to conclude I would say that Neros astounding growth is because he was introduced to human language at such a young age, which drastically increased his intelligence. It has long since been speculated that the younger a pokémon is introduced to humans, the quicker the pokémon matures and increases their intelligence. The advanced moves also make sense. It is possible for an older experienced pokémon to teach a younger pokémon advanced moves."
Taking another breath Prof. Babbling continued again. "Neros young age at meeting Mr. Potter, also explains his calm and cheerful demeanor. However, I would not discount Mr. Potters training ability. Both Prof. Flitwick and Prof. McGonagall will agree with me, that even in the best of times, dark times are enormously difficult and impulsive to train. In his brief description I believe Mr. Potter has skipped the strict discipline Mr. Potter must have undertakes to train any bad habits out of the Houndour."
Harry blushed at that but he agreed with the professor. Nero did go through an extremely annoying phase where he would do the opposite of what Harry would ask him to do. Harry still thought that it was a miracle that they were not discovered at Privet Drive.
"But Prof. Babbling, I am not the first trainer to raise a young pokémon. I bet a lot of trainers raise pokémon from eggs." Harry questioned.
Prof. Flitwick decided to answer this question for Harry as Prof. Babbling and McGonagall were busy comparing notes and taking measurements of Nero.
"It is not as common as you would think. The starters that are given out are almost always around 3 years old. The pokémon, a trainer catches in the wild are way older than that. Around 4 or 5 years, with the exception of bug types and some flying and grass types which are known to mature early. Pokémon eggs are also rare as parent pokémon are extremely protective of their young ones. Taking an egg from the nest of a wild pokémon is courting disaster. We will cover this topic in depth in our Biology class. Trainers who raise pokémon from eggs either get the eggs from their own pokémon, who already trust their trainers, or in some cases when an egg is abandoned at a day care center."
Prof Babbling interjected, "Also while it may seem that pokémon training is a very open and helping community. In reality pokémon training methods are kept strictly secret and only passed on to apprentices and close family members. This is why there are very few research papers on raising baby pokémon. The field has picked up steam in the past few years with Prof. Elm specializing in young pokémon. However, information on young dark-types is still extremely scarce, due to both dark types and dark type trainers being so few and far in-between."
Harry nodded along. He had always thought that pokémon eggs were common but what Prof. Flitwick said made sense. A pokémon would not just give up their eggs to a trainer.
"In lieu of this I propose this," Prof. McGonagall said. "Mr. Potter keeps us abreast of Neros development and in a few years we publish a research paper with our findings. Mr. Potter will be a co-author."
"I would accept Harry," Prof babbling said, "You don't mind if I call you Harry do I," Harry nodded no.
"Good. It would be to your benefit to accept Harry. Your name as a co author of a research papers at such a young age, especially with such respected profs such as McGonagall and Flitwick will help you later on in life, when you visit other regions. It will open doors for you which would otherwise be close. This would also help you in Neros development as you will be in close contact with the professors."
Harry agreed.
"I accept professors." Harry replied
"Excellent. Now that we have an agreement, we will not keep you from your weekend Mr. Potter. However, you will also have to expend some effort on your part and keep notes, as detailed as possible on Neros development." Prof. Flitwick said excitedly.
"No Problem Professor. I already have notes on Nero." Harry said remembering his trusty flip notebook in which he took notes about Neros training.
"Excellent. Excellent, you are well on your way to becoming a researcher Mr. Potter." Prof. Flitwick said.
Harry left the room with Nero and Hilda after a goodbye and thank you to the professors and went to meet with his friends, leaving the professors to their own devices.
After Harry had left the room, Prof. Babbling exclaimed. "Oh man, I totally forgot to ask him about his HootHoot. What the deal with that bird?"
"That is definitely one strange mail HootHoot." Prof McGonagall answered. "She has attended all my classes till now."
"Mine too." Prof. Flitwick said "and what's more amazing is that she actually seems to follow what is being taught. Well, if that HootHoot manages to pass the OWL's, we will definitely have another research paper to write." Prof. Flitwick chuckled.
Harry was joined by his friends for lunch. Along with Neville, both Hannah and Susan found themselves seated at the Gryffindor table. This was the first time the four of them were on a table other than Hufflepuff.
"How did your meeting go?" Neville asked
"I met a professor called Babbling. She was interested in the moves Nero knows. We demonstrated some moves and I agreed to keep her informed about Nero's development." Harry replied.
"That's cool. What are you getting out of the arrangement?" Susan questioned. These were the moments when the foursome was reminded that Susan's aunt was the head of Law Enforcement and Susan had learnt from her aunt.
"The professor informed me that maybe in the third year we can write a research paper and I can be a co-author. Other than that the professors sort of kept an open door policy for me. Oh! And Flitwick and McGonagall were also there."
"That's good. But you are too nice Harry, make sure that they don't take advantage of you." Susan firmly replied. Harry nodded his head and after taking a bite from his chicken said.
"So, tomorrow is Sunday. Should we meet for training after breakfast. We could even meet up with Hagrid. He sent me a letter yesterday inviting me for tea. He lives in a hut on the grounds. We can ask his for a good place to train."
"Sounds good. Lets say at 10 am. I wont do any earlier because its Sunday and I like to sleep in." Susan pointed out. "Hannah, Neville you in."
"I a-am in. I don't know how useful I will be though." Neville said.
"I am out. There is apparently some sort of a club for people interested in healing. They have a sort intro or something tomorrow. I would like to go check that out." Hannah said.
"That's fine Hannah. We can train later. And Neville you have to come, we are all learning, so I am sure it will be fine." Harry patted Neville on the shoulders.
"Did someone mention training. It sounds absolutely ace. Can I come too." A girl sitting at the Gryffindor table piped up. Since Harry was in Gryffindor, he decided to make the introductions.
"Susan , Hannah, this is Kellah Moore, she is in our year."
"Kellah this is Susan Bones and Hannah Abott and you already know Neville and me."
Kellah spoke up again. "I have a machop as a starter and I am absolutely dying to start training. I already know some martial arts. I used to attend a self defense workshops hosted at my dads station. He is a cop."
"That sounds brilliant and of course you can come." Susan ever so kind invited her.
"You can also teach us some martial arts. I always wanted to learn some, but my relatives would never allow it." Harry said. He remembered asking Uncle Vernon if he could attend a karate class when he was younger. He got a smack atop the head for his efforts.
"Honestly Harry, you realtives don't sound like very nice people and every time you talk about them it makes them sound slightly more horrible." Hannah pointed out.
Harry just waved his hand as if to point put it was no big deal, but he didn't notice Susan's eyes narrow at that.
"So tomorrow at 10 am it is. We should also ask our classmates if they are willing to come. The more the merrier right." Harry said waving of his friends concerns about his relatives.
"I will ask the Gryffindor girls." Kellah said.
"I will ask around in Hufflepuff and Harry I agree with Susan, we need to talk about your relatives." Susan said.
Harry waved her off again and Susan harrumphed, "Neville and I will ask around among the boys."
"By the way guys Prof. Babbling mentioned about some kind of pokémon games that are out there."
"You don't know about them?" Hannah asked with a surprise. "it's all the rage amongst our age group. Let me think there is red, blue and yellow which cover Kanto, Gold, silver and crystal for Johto. I love those games."
"Umm… there is also Ru-Ruby and Sap-sapphire for Hoenn and Diamond and Platinum for Sinn-Sinnoh. I have those at home." Neville added.
"I also have pokémon Red and Silver. Though I haven't played through them completely. My aunt rather had that I spend my time outside than playing video games. I also wasn't a big fan. Why do you ask?" Susan said
"Professor Babbling pointed out something interesting about those games and how they can be valuable learning tools. I also played a bit of red and wanted to finish it. Do you think I can buy one in Diagon Alley? Are we even allowed to have one at Hogwarts?. Harry asked
"I am sure they are allowed. I saw Macmillan and Hopkins playing on one in the common room. And you don't need to buy it Harry. I can just ask my parents to send over my Gameboy and game cartridges." Hannah offered.
"Are you sure Hannah? I don't want to be a burden and it all sounds really expensive. Plus, you said you love the games."
"Its all right Harry, I have played through the blue and gold a million times already and while they are a bit expensive. I am sure you will take good care of them." Hannah assured him.
"I can also ask my gran to send over Ruby and Platinum. You can play those too." Neville added.
"Thanks guys." Harry said with an almost choked voice. He loved having friends.
After lunch the foursome moved to the library to work on some of the homework for the week.
They chose an empty desk and sat down to work. As they were discussing the training tomorrow a voice asked,
"Are you talking about pokémon training." The quartet turned towards them and saw Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. Harry remembered the girls from when they spoke in the behavior class on the first day.
Susan who was the default spokesperson for the group spoke up. "Yes we are Daphne. Harry here is some kind of a pokémon prodigy. He will be training us." Susan said with a grin.
"This is my friend Tracy Davies. Both of use would like to join in too. Could we join Mr. Potter?" Daphne asked.
"You and Miss Davies are welcome to join Miss Greengrass. And I am no pokémon prodigy. Susan here is just pulling my leg. And Please call me Harry."
"You may call me Daphne as well."
"And call me Tracy." Daphne's friend replied.
"We will be training after breakfast tomorrow. Right now, we are working on our homework. Would you too like to join us?" Susan offered.
Before Daphne could refuse, Tracey accepted the offer on their behalf and planted herself on a chair.
"Sooooo Harry, I have to ask, are any of the things mentioned in the Harry Potter books true?" Tracey asked
"No, they are not. I didn't even know about Hogwarts till I received my letter. I grew up in East Albion and my relatives hated pokémon."
"No way… You know loads about pokémon. All the professors love you and your houndour seems super powerful. Your lecture about Persians in the first behaviour class was absolutely brill. Daphne here loved." Tracey said elbowing her friend
"I did not LOVE it." Daphne replied tartly. "I just thought it was impressive knowledge for someone our age."
"I don't know that much. I just know some basic knowledge. Nero is awesome though." Harry said with a red face while rubbing his head.
Nero on hearing his name barked and jumped on the table from a dark corner, with a lolling tongue looking more like a demented puppy than a ferocious dark type pokémon.
Susan spoke in a stern whisper. "Harry…. what is Nero doing here. Madam Pince specifically said no pokémon in the library, especially no fire types."
"Well…. I didn't know how long we would be here, so I dint want to keep Nero in a pokeball for long and I couldn't leave him in the dorms. He would get bored and eat Ron Weasley or something. Plus I am sure he is afraid of Hilda."
Nero barked softly in confirmation.
"But Harry Nero is a fire type, in a library. It's a disaster waiting to happen." Susan replied
Harry picked Nero up and shoved him face first into Susans face.
"Look at this face. Can you leave him all alone and lonely and sad?" Harry said
Nero made a particularly pitiful face and gave a sad whine.
"Awww… no I wouldn't." Both Hannah and Tracey replied at the same time and then looked at Susan with a questioning face.
"Fine-fine. Neither would I, but I am blaming you three if we caught or worse if the library burns down." Susan said with a sigh taking Nero from Harry and petting him into a pile of goo. It was funny seeing a ferocious dark type pokémon be so pathetic and then friendly.
"Don't worry Susan. Nero can be perfectly quiet and he can blend in the shadows even better than a ghost." Harry placated Susan
"Are you sure he is dark type pokémon? He seems like a baby growlithe." Daphne skeptically asked.
"Nero is very well behaved and he loves rubs and pets. You can pet him too." Harry said
"Are you sure? Dark types aren't the friendliest lot." Daphne asked again.
"He is sure. Here hold him." Susan said handing Nero over to Daphne.
Daphne reluctantly took Nero. "He is heavy. How is he so big for a starter?"
"Good genes I guess" Harry replied
Harry looked on with exasperation as both Daphne and Tracy petted Nero at first reluctantly and then with growing confidence.
"What is this about a Persian lecture?" Hannah asked remembering Traceys earlier comment.
"You don't know. In our first class Harry gave a comprehensive lecture about how normal types are underestimated and they are super versatile and know many moves and blah blah blah." Tracy replied. "It was all very professor like. Even McGonagall was impressed."
"Harry you have got to tell us these things." Hannah whined. "Neville why didn't you tell us?"
Neville who had been quite for a while now turned red as all eyes on the table turned on him.
"I guess… I forgot." Neville timidly said.
"No probs Nev. No probs. Are there any more incidents we need to know about Mr. Potter?" Hannah asked
"No there are not." Harry firmly said
"Well… there was the one in Flit-Flitwick's class." Neville said
"What happened?" This time it was Tracey with her eyes gleaming in interest.
"Nero sort of ble-blew up the target while dem-demonstrating a move in class." Neville said
"No way." Even Daphne who had an impeccably neutral face till now was open mouthed.
"But that's impossible Longbottom. Prof. Flitwick had also called up our class to display moves and no could even get the target to budge a little bit." Daphne said in disbelief with a glare at Neville.
"It-it happened. Nero used a move and the target was completely des-destroyed. Prof. Flitwick had to use his war-wartortle to douse the flames." Neville said while sinking under Daphne's glare.
"Man, all the interesting things happen around Harry here. We should have had more classes with Harry here. Daphne would sure love that, wouldn't you Daph." Tracy said with a smirk.
"No, I would not. I prefer the class schedule the way it is. I am sure the professors have put great thought into making it. And please don't butcher my name." Daphne said sternly. This time directing her glare at Tracy and her face back to being prim and proper and expressionless. Both Susan and Hannah smiled at that while Neville and Harry looked confusedly at each other.
"Guys we should really work on our homework. Nero go back to the corner and embrace the darkness!" Harry pointed at Nero and then at the corner and Nero moved with a pout.
The four friends along with Daphne and Tracey worked on homework for the rest of the day. Harry had a feeling that today he had made 2 new friends. Though Daphne seemed a little weird.
The next morning was a Sunday and Harry was looking forward to the training. The last week Hogwarts was great and Nero had spent more time with Nero than he had in the past few months but he missed the training. Before at Privet Drive they would train daily but since coming to Hogwarts they had no time to train. As Harry was getting up and getting ready for the day. Neville was also up along with Dean.
"Hey Neville, looking forward to training." Harry asked.
"Sure man. I am not sure how good I will be. Cyndaquil doesn't really listen to me."
"You got to have more confidence than that. You will see. Soon you will be commanding Cyndaquil like a pro."
"Hey Dean, you wanna come along.?" Harry asked Dean.
"No man, I am not much for battling and stuff." Then after a thought Dean added, "Will there be a lot of pokémon?"
"Apart from Neville and I, Susan will be there, and so will Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis from Slytherin. There might be a few other people."
"Hmm… Could I come and maybe sketch your pokémon, while you guys will be doing your training thing. It will really help me and smeargle practice our drawing and it will help build my portfolio for later." Dean asked
"Sure man. You are welcome to come." Harry said. "We will head for breakfast in a while. Come with us and then join us for training later."
"Thanks Harry."
After half and hour or so, as the Harry, Neville and Dean were heading down to breakfast, they saw Hermione Granger in the common room pouring over a book and looking agitated. Harry had been noticing her for the past week and while Harry was happily basking in the aura of newly found friendships, he had noticed that Granger always seemed rather lonely.
Harry nudged Neville and pointed with his eyes to Hermione and then he whispered. "Should be asked her?"
Neville just shrugged his shoulders while Dean shook his head in a no.
Harry decided to ask anyways. He didn't like the idea of people being lonely.
"Hey Hermione, would you like to join us for breakfast. After breakfast we will we visiting the grounds and doing a little training with our pokémon. Some of our year mates will be joining us."
After a few moments Hermione looked up from her book and shook her head no. "I don't have the time. I need to finish this book, work on homework and research some papers."
Harry hesitated but asked again. "Haven't you already done all your homework for the week?"
"I have just finished the second draft. I need to finalize everything and look up all the references and I cannot submit subpar work."
Taking that as a denial Harry moved on. Well he had tried.
At breakfast Susan informed Harry that Wayne Hopkins and Roger Malone from Hufflepuff and Su Li and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw would be joining them. Harry was excited at the news. More people meant more pokémon therefore more fun.
After breakfast Harry joined the others outside the great hall.
There were Susan, Neville, Kellah Moore, Wayne Hopkins, Roger Malone, Su Li, Padma Patil, Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass.
Everyone looked at Harry.
Suddenly self-conscious Harry stumbled on what to speak.
"Ummm… I am Harry Potter."
"Hi guys I am Wayne Hopkins."
After this everyone took turns introducing themselves. After the customary meet and greet was over everyone again looked at Harry.
"So, Harry what are we going to do?" Daphne Greengrass asked.
"I was thinking we will approach Hagrid on the grounds and ask him for a quite spot where we can begin training." Harry said.
Everyone agreed at that and followed Harry as he walked out on the grounds towards Hagrids hut.
Harry knocked on Hagrids door.
"Coming," Hagrid shouted.
Hagrid opened the door and large Arcanine came running out. Its toungue lolling and panting.
"Wow Hagrid, that's an Arcanine. Its awesome."
"Thanks Harry, that's Fang, what are you doing here and with so many other students?"
"We were looking for a place to train."
"Out on the grounds. You do know that there are plenty of training grounds inside the castle."
Harry nodded his head no. "There are?" Harry asked.
"Of course, you don't think you lot are the only trainers in Hogwarts now, do you? Hogwarts is filled with students who love battling and training pokémon. You will find that there are lots of training rooms inside Hogwarts, But I guess you won't be able to access them till third year anyways. I will show you lot a quiet spot by the lake."
"Thanks Hagrid."
"Alright you lot follow me. I hope you aren't doing any battling. First and second years aren't allowed to have unsupervised battles."
"Umm…. Hagrid we were, maybe!" Harry said. "Couldn't you supervise. You are a professor."
"I could. Tell you what, you practice for a while, I will be back in an hour and we can have some practice battles."
"That will be great Hagrid. Thanks a lot." Harry said
Hagrid led the group to a clearing by the lake.
"You can train here. I will be back in an hour. Don't do anything reckless." Hagrid left after that warning.
"Harry what do we do?" Susan asked
"I dunno, why don't you guys start with what you guys normally did before."
"Before, there was no before Potter." Daphne said. "We are all new to this training thing, but apparently you aren't." Daphne asked with a raise eye brow.
"Ya Harry we are all here because we were sure you could help us train. We have all witnessed your performances in class." Padma reminded him.
Seeing as he was the de facto instructor Harry cleared his throat and began.
"The first step is to release your pokémon." Everyone did.
Outcame a houndour, a cyndaquil, a growlithe, Kellahs Machoke, Traceys Pikachu, Daphnes Snorunt, Padmas Staryu, Su Li's Horsea, Wayne's sandshrew and Roger's elekid. Seeing such a large variety of pokémon Dean and his smeargle pulled out a sketchpad and got down to sketching.
"All right. This is great. Su you can put your horsea in the water as he will have problems on land."
"Now when Nero and I started training, we would always start with physical training first. Both Nero and I would exercise for some time. Say 20 minutes or so before moving on too training in moves.
For physical training let's start with a light jog around the tree." Harry said pointing to a distant tree roughly 200 m away from their position. Harry guessed that a round trip would be roughly 400 m, so a couple of rounds around the tree would be sufficient warmup. Harry also noticed that the muggle-borns of the group were dressed in proper exercise clothes and wearing sneakers but the purebloods were dressed in robes and what appeared to be dress shoes.
"You expect us to run around like a Muggle. I though this was about training Pokémon." Daphne asked with disdain while the muggle-borns, Wayne, Roger and Sue geared up for running.
"Yes, Pokémon training is as much about training yourself as it is training your Pokémon. Why do you seem so surprised?
You are from a generations old trainer family aren't you?" Harry asked Daphne.
"Harry, you see, purebloods training as an exclusive pokémon only affair. They believe that training themselves alongside their Pokémon will lower their prestige." Susan answered.
"But that makes no sense, lower what prestige?" Harry asked confusedly, "Its clearly stated in every training manual, that fitness is very important for a trainer."
Daphne shrugged, "Maybe in the modern ones, but West Albion is very much an old world traditional society. We subscribe to tried and tested training methods."
Su Li spoke for the first time, "You also have to remember that not all of us become battling trainers. I know about physical training and such because my family is one of the few that focus on battling and tacking gym circuits and exploring and such. A lot of Hogwarts students simply don't become battling trainers, A majority will move on to things like medicine, research, the ministry and the like, things that don't really require intense training."
"A lot of the old families also focus on things like estate management and family business so there is really need to go all out on battling." Daphne pointed out again.
"Oh wow, I keep forgetting that there is so much more in the world than battling with Pokémon." Harry said
" Me too." Both Roger and Wayne said at the same time. They were both muggle-borns from East Albion so probably had the same idea as Harry.
"Well I guess, before we start we should discuss what we want to do in the future?" Harry hesitantly asked. He knew that 11 year olds didn't really have set life goals.
"I will start." Harry volunteered.
" I would like to become a battling trainer, definitely. I want to go on a Pokémon journey probably start in one the foreign countries, like Sinnoh or Unova, travel, explore, train, compete in a league." Harry finished.
Susan continued, " I would like to travel as well, start in Kanto most likely, attempt the gym circuit, but ultimately I want to join the law enforcement here in Albion, like my aunt."
Next was Daphne, "I want to specialize in ice type pokemon. I don't know about competing in the gym circuit, but I would like to try my hand in maybe local tournaments possibly apprentice under an ice type master like Prof Flitwick or Lorelei."
Tracy continued, "I want to become a contest star. I love pokemon contests, I love pokemon races and fast Pokémon. I hope to compete in Pokémon ride competitions as well."
Su Li said, "Like I said earlier, I want to become a battling trainer, compete in gym circuits and the Pokémon league. I also want to specialize in water type Pokémon."
Padma was next, "I want to go into research. Becoming a professor is my goal." A very Ravenclaw answer.
The three muggle-borns in the group's were up next.
Kellah went first, "I don't really have a goal right now. I am still new to everything, but I definitely want to go into battling. I love physical training and I attended a few self defense workshops held in my dad's precinct. He is a cop by the way, I think will enjoy training with Machoke."
"If you like fighting types Pokémon, you should join a fighting dojo in the summer." Susan pointed out.
"Fighting dojo?" Kellah asked.
"They are sort of like Pokémon gyms, run by fighting type experts. They focus on training fighting type pokemon. But alongside that the trainers also focus on training themselves. A well trained dojo trainer can go toe to toe with a fighting type Pokémon." Susan replied.
"Wow, that sounds absolutely brilliant, but where would I even find one. I live in Bristol, in East Albion." Kellah dejectedly replied.
"Hmm… that could be a problem. The only one in East Albion that I can recall is in London." Susan said with a thought.
Harry could have guessed that too. Anything Pokémon related in East Albion could probably only be found in London. He still made a mental note to check out this place next time he was in London.
"Don't worry Kellah, the next time I am in London, I will check out the place and write to you about it, see if they have any pamphlets or something that can guide you while you are at home." Harry pointed out.
"Thanks Harry. I will hold you to that."
After a while Wayne decided to speak for both Roger and himself.
"We are both muggle-borns too. We don't really have any idea as to what we want to do. We definitely like the idea to pokémon training so when Susan invited us we thought why not give it a try."
"Its not really a problem. That what Hogwarts is for, help you find your goal in life, I also only showed up because I thought it would be fun to train with staryu even if I don't want to go into hardcore battling." Padma spoke to them.
"I of course want to be a Pokémon watcher," Dean piped up from a distance as he was busy sketching the pokémon.
"Let's start with the training everybody. Now that we know that everyone here is at least partially interested in training we better start." Susan suggested.
"Okay let's start." Harry said
"Despite protests," Harry said, looking at Daphne we will start with physical training. "We will all jog towards the tree and back. Ask your pokemon to run with you. For the water types", Harry looked at Padma, "Please put them in the water. They can swim beside us."
The run was hectic for a lot of the students gathered. Harry could see the purebloods in relatively worse shape, panting and sweating with their faces red. The muggleborns were doing better.
"Please form a circle, we will now do some stretching. Kellah, you have some experience, if you want you can lead the session." Harry said.
Kellah nodded and moved to the centre of the circle. After stretching the entire body the group turned towards Harry once more.
"Now that warmups and stretching, are done, I would usually continue on with some physical training. Run some more or do suicide sprints, do some pushups and pullups."
"Wait we have to do more running around. I thought we were done" Daphne asked with a pointed glare as she was barely catching her breath.
Harry hesitated at the glare. "Um... you don't have to, if you don't want to. This is our first day so the people who are really tired can take a break."
Tracey nudged Daphne and said to Harry, "We will at least try to do some of it, wont we Daphne?"
Harry showed them how to do suicide sprints and they started the girls except Kellah stopped after a few rounds, but the boys except Neville continued.
Neville looked particularly disheartened at not being able to do the exercises. Harry noticed this and approached Neville.
"Don't worry Neville, this is just the first day, you will surely get better over time. It took me over a year to get to this level. I am sure even Roger and Wayne are used to physical exercises from primary school."
"Yeah don't worry Neville," Roger said, "My Pa is a gym teacher and he always says that key to physical fitness is consistency."
Harry, Wayne and Roger continued exercising, while the rest of them rested under the shade of a tree and drank some water that luckily Padma had brought. Harry made a point to remind everyone to bring a bottle of water and if possible, some snacks next time. The pokemon who were all young also looked slightly tired though Nero looked fine.
When everyone was rested after physical training, Harry continued.
"Now that our physical training is done. I would generally next practice some pokémon moves with Nero. Do all of you know the moves your pokémon knows?"
Some of them looked clueless at that. This was a question Harry had never considered. How would the muggleborn with very little experience with pokémon figure out the moves. Once again Padma came to their rescue.
"I borrowed this from the library, when I heard about the training." And she pulled a very thick hard bound volume from her bag. On the front of it, it stated, "The comprehensive pokémon encyclopedia, for Kanto, Johto and Hoenn, Edition 144."
Amazed at such a thick book. Harry asked, "Wow, what is that?"
"It's the pokémon encyclopedia, silly" Tracey replied.
Seeing blank looks on faces of the muggle raised and muggle borns Susan continued. "It is a complete book on pokémon. It has been continually published for the last 300 years at least, and new editions come out every couple of years or so, or quicker if some major discovery has been made. It lists things like known pokémon locations, move-sets, typing, weaknesses and stuff, of all the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn pokémon basic information but the most important for a trainer."
"Oh wow, I didn't know such a book existed, where can I buy one?"
Harry excitedly asked. This was the probably the most important book he had ever purchased. He could just imagine all the information that was present in the book and he was salivating.
"Diagon Alley," Daphne said with a dry voice.
"Really, that's amazing,"
"It is really not as amazing as you are making it out to be Harry. You will probably not find it in Flourish and Blotts, as that caters to school books, but in any other bookshop you will easily find it. I am pretty sure every family in West Albion has atleast one copy of the book, if not multiple." Daphne finished.
"May I see it," Harry asked Padma. And Padma moved the heavy tome towards Harry.
Harry put the book on the ground and opened the first page. It was the index and all the pokémon were listed on the basis of their pokedex numbers. Harry decided to open Houndour's page. On the page was listed basic information for the pokémon, things like average height and weight, location where wild Houndours could be found, all the moves Houndour line ever learnt in order of experience, and some more information about evolution. All in all Harry could see that the book was pretty basic and would not really help him pass any Hogwarts classes, but to a trainer the information about just the moves itself would be priceless. Figuring out what moves a new pokémon knew was a very tedious task and was basically just trial and error on the part of the trainer and the pokémon.
"So who wants to go first Harry asked?"
Kellah immediately raised her hand alongside her Machop who excitedly with a cry of chop-chop supported his trainers decision.
"All right, Machoke, lets see," turning back to the index Harry followed the listing till he landed on Machop, "Machop is No. 66".
"The entry reads", Harry said and them read out loud,
"Machop is a humanoid, bipedal Pokémon that has gray skin. It has three brown ridges on top of its head, large red eyes, and a relatively flat face. On either side of its chest are three, thin, rib-like stripes. Its feet appear to have no toes, while its hands have five fingers. It has a short, stubby tail. Machop's entire body is covered with muscles that will never tire or cramp. With these muscles, it can lift many times its own body weight. Machop is capable of hurling up to 100 adults. It trains by lifting Graveler every day and becomes more dedicated the more its muscles grow. Machop's muscles can never get sores no matter what training it does. It spends its time and energy practicing all different forms of martial arts and trying to improve its abilities. Once it feels confident, it challenges Makuhita to a battle. Machop lives in the mountains." (Taken from biology section from Bulbapedia)
"That is brilliant." Kellah said excitedly, "Machop you are awesome."
"Lets see the moves now," Harry read down to the moves section, "Since Machop is a starter, we will see the first few moves. Here it says that most Machops know Leer, Focus Energy and Low Kick pretty much from birth, so we will start with those moves."
This process repeated for both Roger's Elekid and Wayne's Sanshrew.
"Now that we know the moves, the next step is to practice them with your pokémon. This part is slightly tricky, as most new pokémon only have a basic understanding of the human language, it is up to the trainer to form a connection in their pokémons minds between the trainer calling out the move and the pokémon preforming the move." Harry said.
"Are you saying that our pokémon don't automatically know the moves?" Padma questioned.
"They do know the moves, but if they don't understand human language how will they know which moves their trainer is asking them to do. Take your staryu for example, say it knows how to use watergun, but it has to know that you are asking it to use water gun when you order it to. Its like me talking to you in Kalosian, it will make know sense to you, until you actually know the language. This is also why it is recommended for trainers to spend plenty of time talking and communicating with their newly caught pokémon. As a pokémon spends more time in the company of humans, its intelligence grows and overtime it becomes easier to command pokémon." Harry answered
Tracey started clapping and hollering at the end alongside Roger, Wayne and Kellah.
"That was amazing Harry, are you sure you are not a professor, first in behaviour class and now here?" Tracey asked
Harry red with embarrassment said, "I just learnt all this information yesterday."
Tracey waved her hand as if all that didn't matter. "Don't care. If I hang out with you, I am sure I will become a world-famous trainer in no time and I am sure Daphne wouldn't mind that either. Wouldn't you Daph?"
"Don't call me Daph but know I wouldn't mind. Harry here has shown that he is an excellent trainer." Daphne said with a small blush and then glared at Tracey.
Susan cleared her throat, "Back to training please." This lot would get easily distracted and it was up to Susan to keep them on task.
"Now that we know the moves. The next step will be to command your pokémon please spread out and command your pokémon to preform the moves. Remember that the first time, it may take a few tries and if your pokémon looks confused try miming the action yourself. This usually did the trick with me."
The group spread out and everyone started ordering their pokémon. The purebloods except Neville were doing distinctly better here. They had obviously trained with their pokémon before. The muggle borns were having some problems but they were slowly getting along. Kellah and her machop were doing the best having done all the three moves, Leer, Focus Energy and Low Kick.
"Ask machop to attack with Revenge. That was the next move on the list." Harry suggested. When Kellah ordered Machop to use revenge, it looked visible confused staring at Kellah blankly.
"Hmm… so I guess it doesn't know revenge. No problems, that was a little advanced. Keep practicing the first three and rest if machop looks visibly tired." Harry advised.
Roger and his elekid were doing well too. Elekid could use thunder shock and leer easily but was having problems with quick attack.
Wayne and sandshrew had a few problems in the beginning, but miming scratch a few times, sandshrew was able to use it alongside defense-curl. However, sandshrew was unable to use poison sting or sand attack, Harry guessed that it was probably because of Sanshrew begin very young.
All the other girls, Susan, Su, Padma, Daphne and Tracey were doing well. Their pokémon were performing all the moves accurately and with sufficient speed. Neville however was having some major problems with cyndaquil. As Harry observed it was clear the problem was not with cyndaquils intelligence, he obviously understood Neville, he just refused to follow commands, cyndaquil would either just fall over asleep or use the wrong move, or just run around in circles. About 1 in 5 times, Neville got cyndaquil to listen to him. Harry had no idea what the problem was, maybe he could ask Hagrid in private. He just nodded at Neville and asked him to keep up.
While Harry was helping his class mates, Nero was training alone, Harry would occasionally pop over and command him, but Harry was happy to see that Nero was training diligently on his own. Nero would also occasionally talk to Susan's growlithe or Neville's cyndaquil. It seemed as if he had become the leader of the pack of fire pokémon.
After a little over half and hour Hagrid arrived with both Machamp and Arcanine behind him.
"How are you lot doing," Hagrid asked in a booming voice.
"We have just been practising moves, but now that you are here can we do some battling please." Harry asked
"I don't know Harry, you lot are awfully young to be doing battling." Hagrid hesitated.
"Please Hagrid we will be careful and listen to your instructions." Harry pleaded.
Hagrid though for a moment and then said, "All right but when I say stop the battle ends." Hagrid said in a stern voice.
"Thanks Hagrid and we promise we will listen to you." Harry said and everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
"All right, why don't you lot introduce yourselves, I already know Harry and Neville here." All the other students introduced themselves and Neville was surprised that Hagrid already knew him.
Hagrid looked carefully at all the assembled pokémon, "So there are 3 fire types, 2 water types, 2 electric, 1 ice and 1 ground and 1 fighting. A nice distribution." Then Hagrid stopped at peered carefully at the Sandshrew in Wayne's arm, "Wayne is it?" Wayne nodded his head
"Yer, Sandshrew is a bit too young, youngest of all the lot present here. I would advise you to wait at least a couple of months before starting battling with him. You can continue training but don't battle."
Wayne nodded his head, "Thanks Prof. Hagrid."
Hagrid waved his hand and said "Just call me Hagrid. Now we won't be matching any type disadvantages, for now, so let's see, Growlithe against pikachu, elekid against cyndaquil, machop against horsea and snorunt against staryu. I will have you sit out his round Harry you houndour are a bit too powerful for the young lot here." Harry was disappointed but nodded his head. He agreed with Hagrid, Nero against any of the pokémon here would really be an unfair battle.
"All right Hagrid, while you supervise the battles, I will train with Nero."
"Take Fang with ya," Hagrid said, maybe he will offer a few tips to Nero
Hagrid nodded and Harry moved a little distance away with Nero and Fang.
"Nero use smog across the lake, now set it alight with ember."
"Nero use fame charge around the edge of lake, mind your directions while turning."
"That was great Nero, now use bite," Harry shouted and tossed a large piece of wood the thickness of Nero torse up in the air.
Nero leapt up high and with his teeth glowing black, bit the piece of wood in two cleanly.
Harry started clapping in excitement. That was brilliant Nero, your bit is getting stronger.
"Now for the last attack, come on Nero, it's time to see how good you have gotten, Fire a flame thrower across the lake."
Nero immediately fired a flamethrower looking ember across the lake, causing steam to rise from the lake. It wasn't the constant stream of flamethrower but it was better than before.
"That was great buddy, now do it again, but this time take a deep breath, and let the fire built up," Harry demonstrated this by taking a deep breath himself and holding it in for fifteen or so seconds before exhaling.
Nero got the message and took a breath and then after a few seconds released a flamethrower. This was far better than his previous attempt and Nero seemed visibly exhausted.
"That was awesome. You are almost getting there boy. We should have it down in a couple of months, sooner if we keep practicing like this." Nero yipped in excitement but then panted again.
"Boy, you seemed to have exhausted you fire. Rest for some time." Harry advised as he handed a couple of oran and cheri berries from is pocket to Nero. Nero ate the berries as he settled under the shade of a tree. Fang plodded and rested alongside Nero seemingly talking to him in quite tones.
Meanwhile Harry turned his attention to his friends battling. Hagrid had clearly chosen the matchups well. No side had a clear advantage.
The first fight was between Tracy's Pikachu and Susan's Growlithe. It was even battle with both pokémon being evenly matched up at speed, but it was clear that Susan had more experience commanding pokémon and eventually edged out Tracy. Pikachu was down for the count with a final tackle. Growlithe had taken damage from thunder shocks in the fight and seemed to be on its last legs.
The next battle was Rogers Elekid vs Neville's Cyndaquil. This was both their first battle and both seemed underconfident, but Rogers Elekid seemed fired up, Cyndaquil on the other hand looked bored. Both trainers started the battle by calling out the basic moves, Neville shouted ember, while Roger called out thunder shock. Elekid immediately fired a thunder shock at cyndaquil, while cyndaquil looked like it was snoring. Cyndaquil ignored the first thunder shock, and the second, however when the third thunder shock hit, cyndaquil finally seemed irritated, without listening to directions from Neville, the flames on his back flared and it rushed at Elekid head on delivering a devastating quick attack. Elekid seemed dazed. Roger ordered it to get out but the elekid was too slow and ended up taking an ember to the face. Hagrid called the battle to a stop and asked Neville to recall his cyndaquil. Neville gladly did so with a sigh of relief. Hagrid then offered an Oran berry to elekid to recover some health and asked Roger to recall him as well.
The battle was surprising to Harry. Quick attack was high level move for a starter. With Neville's chronic under confidence, cyndaquil head strong attitude and high level, it seemed almost a disaster in the making. Harry wondered what Ollivander was thinking matching up the two.
The next battle was Machop vs horsea. This was a slow battle as Horsea couldn't fight effectively on land so it stuck to the water, and Machop only knew physical moves, so it was unable to hit Horsea effectively, while Horsea could use water gun to hit Machop. However, Kellah surprised everyone by using her creativity and ordering Machop to toss rocks from the ground at Horsea, effectively ganing a ranged attack. The battle showed that Su's earlier talk of being from a family of battling trainers was far from a brag. Horsea was quick on its "feet", rapid to respond to instructions and aware of its surroundings. While Horsea was getting pelted by rocks Su ordered Horsea to use twister on Machop. It was clear that twister was a newly leaned move as it came out pretty weak but it did do some significant damage to Machop. Kellah ordered machop to go all out and jump into the water with a kick and hit horsea. Now in the water Horsea was faster but its water gun was not strong enough to do much damage. Hagrid called the battle to a draw after 10 minutes as no clear victor was in sight.
The last battle was between Daphne's Snorunt and Padmas's Staryu. Daphne however was also far from being a slouch. She used Snorunts defensive abilities to her advantage. Snorunt used double team to confuse Staryu and then used powder snow to cover the battlefield. Su quickly ordered Staryu to use rapid spin to get rid of the copies but due to the confusion of double team and the obscuring by powder snow was hit in the gem by Ice shard. This pushed back Staryu but also gave away Snorunts position. Padma ordered staryu to use water gun and then follow it up with a tackle. The battle was close but Staryu ultimately edged out due to having more offensive moves.
Finally, it was Harry turn to ask Hagrid something.
"Hagrid do you mind if we have battle, between Fang and Nero."
Hagrid though for a moment and then said. "I won't have a battle with you Harry, however why don't you ask Fang. I am pretty sure he can battle you unassisted."
Harry ran over to the tree under which Nero and Fang were resting and asked Fang, "Fang would you like to have a battle with Nero and me?" Fang looked towards Hagrid and Hagrid nodded his head giving Fang his permission. Fang got up swiftly and moved to one end of the battlefield. Hagrid took his position as the referee and the rest of the students gathered behind Hagrid.
Harry was brimming with excitement. "Ready Nero," he yelled.
Nero barked back in equal excitement. "Let's go then."
Nero hit Fang with a headbutt.
Fang darted to the side and dodged the attack.
"Again Nero."
Fang dodged again but this time Fang shot a flamethrower at Nero.
Harry had been waiting for this. Nero flame charge through the flame thrower. The rest of the students were surprised that Harry made Nero charge through a flamethrower but Nero came out on the other side glowing and hit Fang with a flame charge. It didn't do much damage to Fang but did discompose him a little bit.
Taking advantage of Fangs temporary confusion, Harry yelled, "use Bite."
With its teeth glowing black Nero leapt at Fang but Fang recovered faster than expected and turned around and hit Nero with an Iron tail. Nero went careening some distance from the hit. Harry winced at the hit. The same tactic had worked on Mr Blackwoods growlithe, but Arcanine was a completely different cup of tea. Fang was faster, more agile and more powerful than a growlithe. Harry decided to rethink his battle strategy.
"Nero use smog. Cover Fang in it."
Nero took a breath and released a potent looking smog. Using the momentary advantage, Harry decided to take a breath. He realized that Fang had been hurt by the Flame charge earlier, that meant that he did not have Flash Fire.
Nero keep hitting Arcanine with Flame charge while its disoriented with the smog. Nero hit Fang with a couple of flame charges, before Fang decided not to humour Nero. With a loud roar Fang blew away the smog, but Harry noticed that Fang looked a little purple which meant he had been poisoned.
"Nero quickly use howl." Nero howled loudly increasing his attack.
Arcanine charged at Nero with electricity from his body.
"Nero that looks dangerous, dodge with Flame charge," With his increased speed from earlier Flame charges, Nero manged to dodge the wild charge attacks, but just barely. Nero was panting in exhaustion.
"This doesn't look good Nero, but we wont give up. One final flame charge, give it all you have."
Arcanine also collided with Nero in what looked like take down. In the final collision. Nero took the worse of it and promptly fainted. Arcanine looked hardly ruffled.
"Good job Nero," Harry patted Nero sitting on the ground with his head in his lap. Nero whined at the loss.
"Don't worry, Fang is way more powerful than we are, the fact that we even lasted a few minutes is amazing."
Nero growled cutely at that; Harry just laughed. "Don't worry we will only fight people our own age from now on, enough of taking on overpowered trainers."
"Well done, Harry," Hagrid bent down and fed Nero what looked like berry juice. After drinking the whole bottle, Nero looked much better. Harry recalled him back to his pokeball.
The rest of the students looked amazed at the battle and few even looked shocked at how violent it was.
With all the battles done Hagrid asked everyone to take a seat on the ground in front of him. He gave an oran berry to each of the pokémon and started giving some advice and criticisms.
"Sit all of you. Now all of you did great for your first battle, but let me point out a few things. None of you except Daphne here used any defensive or status moves. Tracy, you could have had your pikachu use thunderwave, or Susan could have her growlithe use howl to increase his attack or use leer on pikachu to lower his defence before going in for a tackle.
The battle between Machop and Horsea showed the importance of paying attention to terrain and having a diverse movepool. By jumping in water machop lost much of its mobility advantage it had on land, but Kellah creativity also showed us that the terrain can be used to the trainers' advantage. Also, Horsea is capable of using smoke screen, if Su had used that to block Machops sight and then used twiser, she would have scored a critical at the very least.
Daphne did well in using both double team and powder snow as a defensive move but she lost because her snorunt was young and did not have enough moves. However, she also made a critical mistake, after obscuring Padma and Staryus vision she called out ice shard which gave away her position. Instead she should have continued to attack with powder snow.
All in all, we learnt that using status moves and defensive moves is important, always be mindful of your terrain and keep your head about you."
Su raised her hand, "Mr. Hagrid, why did Harry let his houndour charge through the flame thrower, surely even being a fire type, his houndour could have gotten injured."
"Harry would you like to answer that," Hagrid gestured at Harry
"Okay, Nero had the ability flash fire, I discovered it by accident a while back. Flash fire makes Nero immune to fire type attacks."
Su nodded in response. It made sense
"Ability?" Roger asked
This time it was Su who answered giving Roger a very brief breakdown of different abilities.
Once, Hagrid was done with his long lecture everyone thanked him. That was amazing Hagrid, you gave a lot of goods advice. You will be a great professor. Hagrid blushed at that. After that all the students decided to proceed towards the great hall for lunch.
"I had a great time," Kellah answered
"So did I," Tracey added on
"We should do this again," Susan tagged on.
Harry looked at everyone and then said.
"I had a great time as well, we should do this every weekend, both Saturday and Sunday." Everyone agreed and then moved towards the great hall for lunch.
All in all, this had been a great first week for Harry at Hogwarts.
I end the chapter here. This concludes the Harrys first week at Hogwarts. The next chapter will cover all the time till Halloween The next chapter will be an interlude featuring Ron, Draco and a few others.
In this chapter I expanded Harrys friends circle a bit, but i will stick to the people mentioned here. It is a nice mix of cannon and non cannon characters, spanning all four houses.
I hope this chapter was up to standards. The last part of the chapter was frankly very boring to write and it took me almost a month to do it, so there might be some inconsistencies with grammar and tense.