For the final time that summer, Harry and Tonks were getting ready to duel. This time Lockhart was an eager spectator, having stayed with them for the last few days of summer. It was easy to see where the duels had been held in the garden, a circle of overgrown bright green grass indicating where Tonks repeatedly drew the barrier.
At the end of the garden, covered by its own mithril ward, was their new shed. Currently the only thing inside the shed was his bismuth kiln, glowing brightly as it turned the mithril into mithraite. In order to begin the process he had locked a cube of mithril into the kiln then told it to overload with magic.
Harry was midway through removing his mithril gear when Lockhart finally built up the nerve to interject. "So… why are you removing all your stuff?"
"Because in a real world attack he wouldn't have his mithril on him." Tonks said in exasperation, as if it was obvious.
"He had his mithril on him during the Quidditch attack." He retorted logically, which caught Tonks by surprise.
"Huh… okay. You fight him then." She said, grinning evilly as she stepped backwards.
"Um, why don't you do it? You are the one with auror experience after all."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't live it down if Mad-eye learned I was defeated by this git."
After a fair deal of arguing, Lockhart found himself facing off against a fully armed Harry, gauntlet and shield on his left arm, wand held in the right hand. His trench coat fluttered slightly in a summer breeze, causing faint flashes whenever it caught the sunlight.
Tonks, now stood outside the chalk circle, began counting down. As they got close to starting, Lockhart began shifting nervously, going over the spells he was going to use. Thanks to Harry he was capable of casting the majority of the spells in his repertoire, however in doing so he knew Harry was equally capable and knew how to protect against them.
During his year in St. Mungo's, he had learned a few new offensive spells from short-term patients, normally aurors or spell crafters. Between the majority of them being overjoyed that the Gilderoy Lockhart was talking to them and his fairly accomplished acting skills, it had been easy to convince them to help him out.
The moment Tonks shouted out "Begin!" he began weaving together the sword maker hex, causing a steady stream of swords to fly at Harry. To his dismay, Harry simply raised his shield, which blocked each and every sword, each one dropping to the ground in front of him.
Moving quickly, he cast two Hastam Proelium jinxes, one to his left and the other to his right. The spell was notoriously hard to use, because of its spiral trajectory making it extremely hard to aim. Unfortunately for Harry, Lockhart had always been extremely good at aiming, meaning both bolts were bound straight for him.
Lockhart hoped that one or both of his spells would manage to bypass Harry's shield, leaving him open to a stronger curse. To his great annoyance, Harry proved capable enough to block the right bolt with his shield while using the Armum shield to summon a small dark orange disk to block the left bolt.
However, this did leave him open for Lockhart's ebublio jinx to sail between his shield and wand and strike him clean on the chest. He expected the boy to be surrounded in a large magical bubble, instead the spell splashed harmlessly against a previously invisible shield.
He knew the boy hadn't had enough time to summon the shield himself, meaning it must've been there the whole time. However all magical shield's were supposed to be visible, even if the caster was strong enough to make it incredibly difficult to see them.
The magical shield around the boy's mithril was a perfect example, the only way you could tell it was there was due to the permanent heat haze that expanded about a foot beyond the physical edge. However the shield around the boy's chest had no such weakness, seeing as Lockhart couldn't tell it was there once his spell finished unravelling.
Harry's response to the attack was to point his gauntlet at the man and cast a light blue orb of magic at the man, which struck Lockhart's hastily cast Armum shield with a clang. To Lockhart's horror, the spell simply became lodged in the shield, causing a considerable drain on his magic. Harry then cast a disarming jinx, which Lockhart instinctively blocked by moving the shield into its path.
The shield shattered under the twin assault, although it took the blue orb with it. Unfortunately the disarming jinx sailed right through and struck Lockhart on the shoulder, forcing his wand out of his arm.
"Harry wins." Tonks said, sounding faintly bored.
"But… how?" He asked in amazement, stunned that he had been beaten so easily. "He only used two offensive spells!"
"Now you know why I didn't want to fight him." Tonks replied loftily. "He can also use his gauntlet as a wand, even if it makes the spells wacky. Then you have his shield, which is basically impossible to break, unless you put everything into a shield breaker. Even then, you still have the physical shield, which can basically only be penetrated by dark magic."
"Also, my mithril ensures I am at full power throughout the entire fight." Harry added happily, pleased that he had won the fight.
"And… how would one go about learning how to make this mithril?"
"Basically, be eleven years old. Our current theory is that if you don't learn how to make mithril when you're around eleven it becomes way harder to learn. I learned how to make mithril shortly after my eleventh birthday, while Hermione only just managed to make a ring and she had just had her twelfth birthday. I tried to teach Luna last year, but she couldn't feel her magic like me and Hermione could."
Grumbling about being cheated out of learning a powerful piece of magic, Lockhart recovered his wand and returned his robes to their previously spotless appearance.
"So… fancy a rematch?" Harry asked cheekily.
Eventually September first rolled around, finding Harry back on the Hogwarts Express once more. As was usual, he was one of the first to arrive, although this time he was accompanied by Luna and Tonks. Absently, he leaned against the window and watched as students slowly trickled in. Mentally, he played a bingo as he tried to match student's faces with names. It didn't take long for Colin Creevey to show up, followed by a boy that had the same mousy brown hair.
The next to arrive from his group of friends was Neville Longbottom and his overbearing grandmother, although the blond boy seemed to have gained some confidence over the summer. He was no longer slouched over and instead stood at his full height, almost towering over the other students. Finally, just as the station clock neared eleven a flood of Weasleys drifted through the barrier.
They seemed to be having some sort of argument, although Harry couldn't make out the words over the din of the students. Their argument was ended by the conductor blowing his whistle, forcing Mrs Weasley and one of her elder sons to step back. By the time Ron pushed into the compartment the train had started to pick up steam, the station swiftly disappearing.
"Unbelievable!" He muttered hotly, placing down his owl cage and collapsing into the seat beside Neville. The owl inside the cage hooted cheerfully, rattling the lock and staring around the compartment, until Ron threw a maroon something over the cage.
"What's unbelievable?" Neville asked passively, used to Ron's bursts of anger.
"Apparently something's happening at Hogwarts this year, but my own brother won't tell me what it is! Say Harry, with you living with Dumbledore, you must've heard something right?"
"Hm? Yeah, Dumbledore told me a few days ago." Harry replied honestly.
"Well go on then, what is it!" Ron demanded as he and Neville leaned forward eagerly.
"Can't tell you, Dumbledore made me promise not to tell anyone until after the feast, didn't want me to ruin the surprise."
Swearing loudly, Ron slouched back in his chair. "That's what Bill said, it's like everyone is conspiring against me! Why can't anyone just give me a straight answer?"
Any reply was halted by the door opening, revealing Draco and Crabbe.
"And miss out on leaving you in the dark, Weasley?" Draco asked mockingly, although Harry noticed the bite was missing from his words.
"As if you know what it is, Malfoy!" Ron retorted hotly, crossing his arms angrily.
"My father is one of the organisers, so obviously he told me from the beginning."
"You didn't come here just to gloat, so spit out whatever you came to say and leave." Ron returned, having failed to come up with another argument.
"I- We wanted to say something to Potter." Draco said softly, all confidence leaving both his voice and body.
"I'm listening." He replied, turning his full attention on the blond.
"Well… it's hard to say."
"While I was unconscious, I lost my wand." Crabbe cut in gruffly, talking in front of Harry for the first time. "Draco's father went to try and find it after he collected us from St. Mungo's, but he couldn't find it."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Harry said honestly, knowing the pain of losing a wand well. "But I don't see why you needed to bring that to my attention."
"Well, the reason my father couldn't find Vin's wand-"
"Vin?" Neville interrupted, looking lost.
"Vin, Vincent… Vincent Crabbe." Draco said impatiently, indicating his friend behind him. "Anyway, the reason he couldn't find the wand is because the area we were hiding in… well it was a crater by the time my father got there."
"Oh… Good thing we found you then." Despite their differences, Harry would've felt awful if he had left Draco and Crabbe behind only to find they had died.
"Yes, without you me and Vin would've been stuck there… meaning House Malfoy and Crabbe owes House Potter a life debt." Draco finished solemnly.
"I'm a bit rusty on the life debt traditions." Harry replied slowly, glancing at Neville nervously.
"Basically, it means you did something to save another wizard's life, such that if you had done nothing they would've died. If you reject their debt, then that means you see both Houses as completely worthless to you, which would be a big deal both due to your popularity and House. If you accept however, you can make a request, which both Houses are honour bound to fulfil." Neville explained patiently.
"So, there's no magical compulsion to do the request?"
"Technically no, but fairly to complete it will curse the debtor. Oh, don't worry, the curse is just that people will find the debtor untrustworthy, they won't die or anything."
"In that case, Draco Malfoy and Vincent Crabbe, I recognise your debt and make this request. The next time you see anyone that would benefit from your help, you will try your best to help them. You don't have to risk your life doing it, but I want you to show someone the same kindness I showed you." As he spoke, Harry felt the Mithrilium in his head churn, guiding him towards the right words.
"That… I can do that." Draco said hesitantly, clearly thinking over the words. Behind him, Crabbe was nodding absently, looking at Draco for guidance.
Nodding once more, Draco turned to go before stopping at the door. "It's silly… But I want you to know that I'm going to get stronger. I am never going to be caught hiding in a pit again, I am going to be strong enough to stand by myself and weather the storm… Like you."
"Draco… If you want help, well I'll be in the old classroom once a week, I wouldn't mind giving you and Crabbe some help if you want."
"I would like that." Draco said softly, before he left the compartment in a hurry. Giving a huff, Ron jumped from his seat and shut the door, then tapped the lock with his wand… then frowned and tapped it again.
"Give it a slight tilt as you tap it." Harry prompted, his voice laced with humour. Following Harry's instructions, Ron was finally able to lock the door. Looking very pleased with himself, Ron sat down then frowned at the others, who were barely holding in their laughter.
"So, who knew Malfoy had a weak side." Neville said with a certain amount of glee. To his annoyance, Harry noticed Neville was grinning slightly, until his friend spotted his expression and looked down in shame.
"What was he talking about anyway Harry? Why does he owe you a life debt?" Ron asked, completely missing the interaction between his two friends.
"So you know the Death Eater attack at the world cup? Well, as me, Tonks and Lockhart were escaping, we ran into Malfoy and Crabbe… Well, more like we ran past their hiding space and I stopped to get them. Basically, Crabbe had been hit with a spell and was unconscious, but all Malfoy was able to do was get himself and Crabbe under cover. Anyway, I then carried Crabbe to the edge of the forest, where Lockhart took the pair of them to St Mungo's."
"Ah, so if you hadn't spotted them then they would've died, hence the life debt." Ron said, nodding along. "Wait, what's wrong Neville?"
Shocked, Harry turned to Neville who looked grim. "Oh, I just- I just don't like thinking about how somebody our age was in a life or death situation… Like, that could've been one of us in that situation."
"It almost was me." Ron said blithely. "We were right under where the Dark Mark was cast, almost got stunned by the Aurors and everything."
Collectively, Harry, Tonks, Luna and Neville stared at Ron, who was distracted by adjusting the maroon cloth over the owl cage. Eventually Ron finished and turned back to them. "What?"
"Okay, first off: What's with the maroon thing?" Tonks said, causing Ron to blush beet red
"Oh, this? It's… It's my dress robes, my mum said I would need them this year." Ron replied awkwardly, talking softly.
"Fair enough, secondly: Care to explain what you mean about being under the Dark Mark?"
"So, dad won tickets to the World Cup, top box and everything. I wanted to invite you to watch it with us but dad pointed out we only have one spare ticket, two if mum stayed home. So anyway, Percy invited Penelope over and Bill and Charlie came home for like the first time since they left. We had to leave super earlier too, since dad wanted us to catch the portkey, even though we could've been apparated there."
"Not that this isn't fascinating, but do you think you could fast forward a bit?" Tonks asked impatiently
"Right right. So our tent is basically as close to the stadium as possible, meaning we are one of the first to the top box. It was brilliant, although the Malfoys showing up was a shame, Percy kept trying to bow anytime an official walked in and Penelope had to keep pulling him back into this chair. Only strange thing was this house elf was holding a seat for 'Mr. Crouch', Percy's boss, but he never showed up.
"Anyway, when the riots broke out, dad told me, mum Ginny, Penelope, Fred and George to go to the forest. Somewhere while we were running we got split up, so it was just me, Penelope and George. But when I went to grab my wand, it was just gone. I thought I might've dropped it while we were running, but looking back on it I don't remember feeling it since the game.
"So, eventually we ran into that elf again, who muttered something about flying wizards, then we ran into Bagman in the middle of this clearing. Somehow he didn't know about the death eaters, cause he apparated away the moment we told him. Then, get this, we were just resting and going 'We must be safe.' when somebody goes ahead and casts the dark mark! Like, we could hear the guy say the incantation, so he could probably see us from the dark.
"Next thing we know, Aurors have apparated to us and started firing blindly and we are just crawling on the floor trying to avoid being hit. Then dad comes out of nowhere and is like 'Stop firing!', so we get to stand up and then they start accusing us of casting the mark. We of course deny it, but Crouch was fairly demanding, until Mr. Diggory goes to where we pointed and comes back with Crouch's elf."
"But the elf would need a wand surely? Also I doubt Mr. Crouch's elf would be a death eater supporter" Harry argued.
"Who is Mr. Crouch?" Luna asked curiously, blinking at him owlishly.
"He was head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement during the Wizarding War, people expected him to become the next minister. Hated death eaters with a passion, like he despised them. Then his son got caught with a group of death eaters attacking… a family, which soured the public's opinion of him. He got shoved into the department of magical cooperation and ole' Bonsie got promoted to head of the DMLE." Tonks explained easily.
Harry couldn't help how angry Neville seemed to get during her explanation, nor did he miss the look of relief when Tonks avoided naming the family. It was easy enough to piece together than it had been Neville's family that had been attacked, explaining why his gran had been responsible for raising him.
"Yeah, what she said. As for the elf, Blinky I think, well she had a wand… somehow she had my wand! No idea how she got a hold of it, suppose she must've nicked it out my back pocket during the match. Anyway, Crouch stormed into the woods to try and find someone else I guess, then when he returned he basically disowned her on the spot. Don't know what happened next, cause dad made us go back to the tent."
"So, what was the match like?" Neville asked eventually "I wanted to go, but by the time I convinced Gran she couldn't get any tickets."
"Oh it was wicked." Ron began. Having been present for the match Harry let Ron's words wash over him, until something caught his attention.
"Then the Veelas started dancing and oh boy, was that something. Their allure almost made me jump out of the top box to try and get to them, until dad snapped me out of it."
"Wait, when did the Veela use their allure? I didn't feel anything from them the whole match." Harry asked in confusion
"Oh they definitely used their allure Harry, I could feel it across the stadium." Luna said, confirming Ron's story.
"The press box might've been shielded." Tonks suggested "After all, the reporters would need a full, uninterrupted memory of the match."
"I suppose." Harry murmured, trying to remember if he had seen a shield around the box and coming up empty.
"So what happened next?" Neville asked eagerly, leaning forwards in his seat.
Eventually they rolled into Hogsmeade station, having been traveling through a continuous wave of rain. As Harry stood in the carriage doorway, he stared at the downpour before flicking his wand upwards and forming a magical umbrella. He trusted the enchanted layer of air beneath his soles to keep his shoes dry, but he took a moment to cast the same enchantment on his friends' shoes before they stepped into the deluge.
Despite the rain hampering his vision, he easily made out Hagrid and his giant lantern.
"Heya Hagrid!" He called out over the noise.
"Harry! Would yeh mind comin' over here a mo?" Hagrid yelled back, his voice easily heard over everyone else.
Turning to his friends he yelled "I'll catch up with you guys later." Before he made his way over, Tonks grabbed hold of the back of his jacket to avoid being separated.
"What's up Hagrid?"
"Well, I was wonderin' if yeh would help me with the first years. What with the rain an' all I don't want to lose one o' 'em, especially since I can't… yeh know… do magic. I wouldn't normally ask but I know I can trust yeh, plus yeh can look after yerself."
"Oh, sure, I'd be delighted to help."
"Good man! If yeh an' Tonks stay at the back o' the group an' make sure the first years are okay, then when we get to the boats if yeh two take the last boat an' make sure nobody takes a swim."
Walking along the path again felt very nostalgic to the pair of them, even if the dirt path had been churned into a thick mud. When they reached the boats, Harry was shocked to see most were underwater, having been drowned by the rain. Together the three of them raised the boats out of the water and dried them, although Tonks very pointedly avoided looking at Hagrid while he cast magic.
Seeing that the students were all completely sodden, Harry took sympathy on them and gathered them to him. "Okay, everyone. Time for a little lesson, I want you all to take out your wands and give them a flick upwards then a little circle… Give it a bit more wrist action, good. Now, you need to say Vitant nice and clearly. Now, point your wand at the boats and do put the two together."
As they cast the spell, Harry and Tonks went up and down the line and dried the students. Gradually water started avoiding the boats, forming small invisible umbrellas over the boats. With a nod to Hagrid, he ordered everyone into the now dry boats and set off. Once again Harry used his magesight to look under the boats, this time he was able to clearly see the tentacles of the giant squid holding up all of the boats. It was fortunate the squid was there as a particularly close fork of lightning startled several students, one of which tumbled into the lake.
Before Harry could even think of reacting, the kid was picked up by another tentacle and plopped back into the boat. Unfortunately the rain and lightning blocked the students view of the castle, although Harry was able to make out the lights through the grey. He knew the house elves went through a lot of work to ensure the south side of the castle was fully lit, so it was a shame the first years couldn't get the full effect.
"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as they neared the underground cove, although seeing as Hagrid was able to remain standing as they sailed under the ivy the warning was probably unnecessary. During his first trip he had missed it, but now he saw the squid let go of each boat as it sailed under the ivy, giving the magic complete control.
As soon as they got out, Harry cast a drying charm on the boy who fell in while Tonks cast warming charms over them all. Hagrid used the time to do a quick head count before leading the students up the short flight of stairs and knocking… only for the door to remain closed. Frowning, Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the Marauders Map, checking to see McGonagall's name. Before he could find her name the door was opened by the irate deputy head.
"Potter? I remember your sorting well enough and I hardly think you need to be sorted again." She asked the moment she saw him.
"My fault professor, I saw him on the platform an' decided I could do with some help. Hope tha' isn' a problem." Hagrid answered guiltily, clearly struggling to meet the woman's eye.
Sighing, McGonagall turned to the man "Of course it isn't Rubeus, although next time it might be worth sending a message to the school to let us know why Mr. Potter will be delayed in arriving? Potter, Nyphadora, if you two go through now you should be able to make it to the hall with the stragglers… If you come to my office after the feast you can use my floo to go home dear."
After thanking her, Harry and Tonks calmly strolled through the door, until they were out of earshot of both the professors and students. Once free they grinned and each other and began sprinting to the hall, neither wanting to be the last to enter. As they ran Tonks subtly changed her appearance so that she had green eyes and long black hair, while transfiguring her robes to look like a Ravenclaw student.
Upon reaching the entrance hall, Tonks suddenly let out a loud curse and slipped on a large puddle of water, taking Harry with her. At the sound of laughter, Harry looked around until he spied Peeves floating above them, an empty crate floating beside him.
"Peeves!" He grumbled, pulling first himself then Tonks to their feet. "Right, you've had your fun, now leave." He ordered the poltergeist, who flipped him the bird and blew a very loud raspberry.
Annoyed, Harry activated his gauntlet and reached out his hand towards Peeves, summoning him to him and drawing a startled yell from the being. "I thought you were ordered to leave me alone Peeves. Don't forget, I can hurt you if you attack me or my friends." At his threat, Peeves suddenly went pure white and limp, while shaking his head frantically. Disgusted, Harry flung Peeves through a nearby wall.
"I'm not going to question that." Tonks said eventually, as she vanished the water on the floor. Together they made their way into the great hall and to their seats across from Luna.
"When you said you would catch up with us, I didn't expect it to take this long." Luna said simply, holding a handkerchief up to her forehead.
"Neither did I, Hagrid wanted us to help escort the first years." Harry answered. "What's up with the handkerchief?"
"Oh, Peeves was throwing water balloons in the entrance hall, but I guess rocks must've gotten into the one he threw at me." Luna replied airly, although Harry could tell she had been hurt by the action.
"I'll kill him." Harry muttered, starting to stand only for Tonks to roughly pull him back down.
"Later, it would be better to do it when I'm not around since he does technically have human rights." Tonks replied, easily healing Luna's wound and removing the blood.
It was mid-afternoon when I sat down to finish this chapter... now it's midnight, whoops!
Things I think I need to explain:
- Harry's power: With his mithril it is basically impossible for him to lose in a duel, especially against friends. But that's mainly because his friends aren't using dark magic. So something like fiendfyre from the
- Philosopher's Stone or the Basilisk venom from Into the Chapter would tear right through his mithril easily. Likewise all of the unforgivables would sail right through all his mithril, including the gauntlet. This will be explained later, but I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that Harry is 100% untouchable.
- Life Debts: I kind of picked the middle ground between having Life Debts not exist and having them be 100% magically binding. So to reiterate, if somebody has been told to do something because of a life debt, but doesn't, they will be cursed so that people find them untrustworthy. That would be bad for someone like Malfoy who would need to seem trustworthy to get any political power, but not deadly, meaning you couldn't use a life debt to make the person a slave etc.
- Ron and the riots: Ron's adventure from leaving the burrow to the dark mark is pretty much exactly what happened in canon, except he obviously didn't run into Draco.
- Peeves: Yeah, he's still in this story. For those that can't remember, the reason Peeves can't pass through the mithril is because it is exactly magic made solid. Peeves phases through walls and the like by making his physical form magic made gaseous, meaning he can pass through anything magic can normally pass through.