Albus Dumbledore sat behind the grand desk in his office as he waited for the heads of houses and Madam Pomfrey to get here. He usually didn't call meetings in the summer, but then few summers had been usual of late. It didn't take long for them all to arrive. He was a little surprised that Poppy was last, but then she seldom was required to attend meetings.
She was perhaps the most important, but he doubted he would learn much from her that he did not already know. She kept her patient's secrets without fail, and would not even consider writing a single thing down. No, all of her secrets were behind some very impressive occlumency shields.
He waited for them all to get comfortable and for the house elves to provide them refreshment before he spoke.
"I met a most odd, yet quite remarkable young women a few days ago."
Filius said, "That sounds rather like young Ms. Lovegood."
"No, it was not her. Apparently a girl Harry's age moved into his neighborhood. She apparently helped Harry free his owl from where his relatives were apparently punishing him for something or other."
"Albus," scolded Minerva.
"I know well that Harry's situation is not ideal, but the wards are useful, and while I know it is unfair to Harry, I will trade his safety over his happiness."
"I presume," Severus said, "that she is at least magical, or you would not be wasting our time. It is quite odd that a magical would just randomly move in next to Harry Potter. What of your plant, that squib?"
"Arabella had no idea whom I was talking about. She is sure there is no one new in the neighborhood. I had her check anyway, and there isn't. I checked myself, and there is no sign of anyone magical moving in or anyone moving in period for that matter."
"Then she is a plant of some kind, though what would be the point?" wondered Snape.
"What indeed?" asked Albus. "My best guess would be some scheme to steal Harry's inheritance, so I arranged a little test to see if she truly was new to magic as Harry alleged."
Poppy said, "You're the one that showed them dual casting. That was a reckless."
"Perhaps, but Harry's magic synced nearly perfectly with hers, and the events from yesterday that I will cover shortly prove that she had not used magic in any significant way before meeting Harry."
Poppy snorted. "Yes, they did that. The fool boy is lucky he didn't kill her with his stunt or himself, depending on the backlash. The girl was luckier than anyone had a right to be."
"True, though I suspect Harry played some role as well." Albus paused to stand and walk over to Fawkes and gently pat the bird on his head. The phoenix sang a soft, hopeful aria before grabbing a bit of bacon that was set out for him and hopping out the window.
Albus turned back to the others, "I have two memories to show you, but I don't want what's in them spread. I'm still not quite sure what to make of it all."
"Must we watch memories of Potter and his new girlfriend?" quipped the head of Slytherin.
"I'm afraid so." He then pulled the cap from a small vial and deposited it in his pensieve. They each touched a finger to it and were drawn inside the memory. "What you see is my first attempt to find out more about the girl."
They watched in interest. Snape was the first to comment. "The girl has odd ears and blue hair and Potter is lying."
"He was not lying, I don't think, but he was leaving many things out is my guess." stayed Albus.
Filius said, "I don't get it. It's amazing they can dual cast, and I look forward to a new student. It's a pity she needs to hide her actual looks, but I just don't see the harm here."
"Harm? I don't think she intends any, hence my test."
"That is another thing that puzzles me," Snape said. "She was an unknown randomly appearing by Potter. Why didn't you just use legilimency on her? That is surely enough justification, at least for surface thoughts."
"I did, or rather I tried to. It is not that she is naturally invulnerable. I've seen a few of those. She is different somehow. The spell, or at least my wandless version of it fizzled."
"You should have just turned to Potter."
"Harry has earned enough of my trust, that I refuse to violate his thoughts without need, and while I was tempted, you saw what I actually did."
Minerva said, "Maybe you should show us the second memory?"
Albus said, "The second video was apparently young Mr. Potter deciding to try dual casting his Patronus charm through Lafiel."
"He did what?" squeaked Filius.
"Hold your surprise. You will need it." He put the second memory in and they touched into it.
Albus returned them from the memory right after it completed, absently returning it to its vile while he waited for the others to recover.
"My word," said Filius. "That was beyond corporeal." He said, almost in a whisper, "That was a true patronus. It must be, but I thought it a myth."
Minerva said, "She is going to be a Gryffindor. I know she is."
"Perhaps not," Albus said. "According to a letter I received from Bill Weasley this morning, she apparently coerced young Hermione to cover the entire first year in Arithmancy in one night, and she understood it. Bill said he later verified as much, when they spent much of the morning starting to bring Harry up to speed. He actually thinks they both will be ready for the normal fourth year class by the time summer ends."
Minerva replied, "I knew that boy was smarter than he let on. It's that lazy Weasley that's dragging him down."
Snape said, "Far be it for me to agree with Minerva, but she has a point about the Weasley. That one has zero work ethic. Harry is not much better, which is another reason he annoys me. As far this mythical learning an entire year of a subject in a night, call me skeptical. As far as the Patronus goes, well let's see the pair of them do that and sustain it when there are Dementors present."
Minerva said, "I'm guessing she is like some muggleborn. Now and then we have one that knows a great deal of muggle math. They typically do well in Arithmancy."
Sprout said, "I agree with you there Minerva. That is the most likely guess. Still, I'd love the girl for my own group. That she can sync so well with someone she barely knows, would make her good match for my puffs. As for the Patronus, if that really is a true Patronus, which is more legend than anything, well another part of the legend may also be true."
Filius said, "They, if they really exist and that is one, is the only know way to kill certain dark creatures, including Dementors."
Albus turned to Poppy, "Have you anything to add? Is there anything you can tell us about he girl?"
"I saw no evidence that she was any danger to Harry, other than the obvious one. Dual casting can work really well. It can also end badly. All evidence so far is they should be fine, but we should be watchful. Really, Albus you should not have taught it to her, not to solve your pet curiosity."
"Can you tell me anything medical about the girl?"
"She is healthy."
"But you know something?" he pressed.
"That I'm not going to tell you." she responded.
Severus said, "We'll if we are done, I have some potions to finish. If dual casting that soon that much power didn't kill the girl, well she may just have potential and it is a useful skill. Hopefully Potter doesn't screw it up." He rubbed his inner left forearm through his cloak.
"That is all. I've no doubt she is hiding something and Harru knows, at least in part. Severus lay off the legilimency. The girl has a lot of potential. Let's not give her any reason not to trust us."
Filius asked, "What about the event your planning, the Tri-Wizard tournament? Must we go through with this mess?"
"We must. Politics is involved, and it is not a battle we can win. I'm adding an age limit and will add an age line around the goblet. I'm even bringing in Moody to teach defense and provide security. It should, hopefully, go well."
Snape snorted, but said nothing as he reached for the door handle.
Molly was still annoyed that the Headmaster had told the kids that they couldn't get caught doing magic inside the wards, though she admitted the chores got done faster. Hermione was a veritable treasure trove with small and useful spells that she could teach people.
It would be another few days before Poppy would clear Lafiel to cast again, though if her guess was accurate, some of the delay was likely Poppy trying to stress how serious it could have been. The girl had been puzzled at some of the chores to start with, but quickly joined in, determined to do her absolute best at whatever she did. It was an amazing thing really, and something she more than half wished Ginny would learn.
Ginny was of course annoyed that Harry had a girlfriend, even if she wasn't that, at least not yet. The really interesting thing was Hermione. Lafiel didn't seem to have a jealous bone in her body, and she was fast becoming friends with Hermione as well. The three seemed to be forming a new trio leaving Ron more or less behind. She sighed. Had either of her youngest had a fraction of the work ethic she was seeing, well she could dream.
It wasn't that Ron wasn't asked to remain a part of their activies. He just didn't want to do the work. He just wanted to relax, or maybe play a little Quidditch and eat. One other thing was of interest. The new girl had watched intently the two pick up Quidditch games they had played, and she wasn't just following Harry like Hermione was at her side. She had wanted to play, but since using a broom meant using magic was still forbidden. She didn't like that at all, but she accepted it without complaint, at least if you ignored her body language, which spoke volumes.
She was just finishing dinner when she carried plates into the living room only to see the twins, Ron, and Harry throwing a small charmed ball around, while Lafiel was in the middle, trying to intercept it and doing a remarkable job at it. She was using no magic, she simply was good at moving quickly and catching it. She interrupted them with, "That's probably better for outside, and its about time for dinner."
They quickly stopped and went to get cleaned up. Ron was behind the rest so still in the same room. She said, "Lafiel seems to be pretty quick."
"That she is. I'm hoping we can get her on the team. Harry said she can fly, and even if she is only a backup, we could use the help."
"How did everyone else do?" she asked in curiosity as she waved her wand and the entrees starting coming out.
"We were outside for most of the games, this was just a bit more. I caught 4, Hermione 2, Fred and George got 5 each, Harry 7, and Lafiel well 7 too, but I guess you interrupted it, so I'm guessing she would have gotten 10 or 12?"
"What inspired all this?" she asked in curiosity.
"Harry was concerned that Lafiel couldn't play yet, so the twins thought of this. It seems a good idea from what I can tell." Molly nodded absently, even as she finished laying out their meal.
Ron was eager for the day. Pomfrey had finally given the new girl an all clear to play. We'll she had actually said the stupid sport should be banned, but she no longer had a medical reason to restrict her, which was the same thing really. She did insist that no bludgers would be in use and got their mom to agree to it, which was annoying, but not that big a deal.
Surprisingly Luna had shown up with her own Broom and suggested a game of boys vs girls. It took quite a bit of convincing to get Hermione to agree, but it ended up with Ginny as Keeper, with the other girls as chasers against Ron as Keeper with the twins and Harry as Chasers.
Nobody was particularly used to their positions, so it was expected to be an interesting game, but first Harry suggested they spend some time practicing, which brought an immediate sigh of relief from Hermione.
Harry followed Hermione up on her broom, Lafiel shadowing them and just listening, only to pay closer attention as Hermione seemed to be having more trouble with her broom than made sense.
The twins flew close and said, "We're sorry about that Hermione. That broom isn't the best." One of them added, "Here you can trade me."
Lafiel said, "I would like to try Her broom. She can use mine."
The other twin said, "Are you sure? I know your new at flying too."
"Yes, it looks like an enjoyable challenge."
Hermione glared at her, but quickly settled to the ground where they traded brooms. Immediately Hermione's form improved. It wasn't the kind of improvement she needed to be serious at quidditch, but at least the broom was under her control.
Curiosity, while Lafiel's flight was uneven and jerky she mostly smoothed out within a few minutes, save that you could see Lafiel make a bunch of small motions that seemed to be keeping the unruly broom in check. Hermione flew over to her and asked, "How are you doing all that?"
"I'm unsure exactly how these work, but this one seems to lack some of the stabilization of the one you have. You have to provide it yourself." She pulled back absently to keep the broom level and counter the wind.
"Your countering all the forces put on the broom yourself?"
"No. I"m not sure that is possible. I'm only able to counter about a third of them, part by willing the broom in a particular direction and part body weight shifts and such. It is requiring a lot of my focus to do so, though, so perhaps this makes it better."
She paused in thought before shooting into the sky in a fast spiral, then following that with a fast circle of the property, the others on her heals before she skimmed circles over the pond, feet just making the smallest ripples in the water.
A couple minutes later they all met up over the center of the pond. Hermione approached first. "If you can do that, then I should be able to too. Will you teach me?"
"I would be glad to, though the mental discipline necessary may take a few years. It is a tricky subject to learn."
"You know Occlumency?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know what that is," she replied.
"What do you mean by mental discipline?" The others were listening as well, even Ron.
"My family taught me many things. How to learn. How to focus on the important, and discard everything else. How to train ones body. Logic and Reason. The pitfalls of leading with emotion. Self recognition of flaws and continuous improvement. I was raised to be the best. Less would have brought shame on my family and I could not tolerate that."
Ron said, "But you can teach us the broom thing?"
Lafiel sighed softly. "There is no broom thing. It is a lifetime of training, no more, and no less. I am glad to teach, but the path is not a quick one, and not just for brooms."
"I'm in," Hermione said.
A few seconds later Harry added, "I want to learn as well."
The twins said in stereo, "We might attend a lesson or too."
"I'll not waste time teaching you if you are not going to take it seriously."
The twins were quiet, unsure how to recover.
Luna said, "I'm in. I think you could really help me."
"I will do my best." She then turned to the twins. "Would you like to sell this broom?"
"Huh?" the one on the left asked. "That old thing. It's not worth much. You could buy better for probably a few galleons."
Lafiel got ten out of her pocket and held them out.
"It's not worth this much." Lafiel shrugged, but continued to offer the money. The twin took it and said, "Look I'll go ask mom, if we can sell it for this, but I doubt she will take your money, and dad's at work."
"Then consider it payment for room and board."
The twin nodded, both heading off to ask. They returned less than ten minutes later, even as Lafiel was trying to explain more about her mental discipline to Hermione and Luna.
"She said you can have it, and you can have the money back if you want it."
"I will not ask for the money back." The twins nodded.
Lafiel turned to Hermione and said, "You should keep that broom. It suits you better."
"I can't take this. It must have cost a lot of money!"
Lafiel shrugged. "Ordinarily, I would not spend someone else's money, but in this case Harry paid for it, and I don't think he would regret it going to you."
"Of course not," Harry stated. "I've got money, but good friends are far more precious. That broom was Lafiel's and she can do what she wants with it. I'd have bought you one already, if I thought you would use it. Lafiel and I can swing by and get her a new one..."
"No."
All eyes turned to her when she interrupted Harry. He waited for her to elaborate.
"I like this one. It is a challenge, and I still wish to build my own."
Harry shrugged, "That's fine with me, but if you change your mind..."
Lafiel smiled.
Ron said, "But what about the team? If she has a decent broom we will win for sure."
The twin on the left said dryly, "I don't really think she needs one." The other said, "This is with just some practice. Can you imagine her playing seeker to Malfoy on that crap broom and beating Malfoy?"
The first twin said, "Hmm, if she won a game with that broom and we started a rumor..."
The other finished, "that it was just the special broom's fault, and we could trick Malfoy into stealing it."
"It would be priceless," the first finished.
Lafiel and Harry grinned. The former didn't recognize the name, but she, apparently, recognized a fun plan well enough. Hermione tried to look disapproving, but she too smiled, and Ron seemed to be lost in his own dreams.
Ginny said, "Count me in. I'd love to get some over on him, and if we can trick him in using it for an actual game..."
They never did get their actual quidditch game in, but there was always tomorrow.