They arrived just on time to see Dumbledore working on a stone that leaned innocently against one of the trees. "Ah Mister Potter, Miss Lyala, Miss Develd and Miss Granger." Dumbledore greeted with an over the shoulder nod. "I see you brought your entire entourage." he continued as he finished spellwork.
Harry struggled for the right answer as he couldn't figure out if it was a chastisement or a compliment for his forethought. "Yes Headmaster." he settled neutrally as he scanned the rest of the environment and his eyes landed on a table with a variety of swords of different styles, a twig, a club, several wooden swords and a wicked looking steel rod with spikes.
He felt the air shift and something washed over his senses. He shifted warily and worried when none of the girls reacted. "That was only a ward mister Potter." Dumbledore soothed. "I set up a few wards to keep the noise in and the nosy out." he explained. "So please do not damage this ward stone when you practice."
"Thank you headmaster." Harry said honestly as he realised what Dumbledore had exactly set up for him. Dumbledore chuckled good naturedly as he conjured a desk and a chair for himself. "Not a problem at all my boy." he said warmly. "Afterall how many people can say they have done research on authorities with a Campione's help? If anything I should be thanking you for this opportunity."
Once again Harry was uncertain what he should say to that. So he settled for a nod and walked to the table. He picked up the twig and intoned "Chosen blade of the hero reveal yourself in grand splendor. Cut all those who oppose your wielder. Stand fast against both claws and teeth!"
There was no glow or show of power indicating he had succeeded. With an uncertain swipe he hit the edge of the table and the twig promptly broke. "I do not think it works on something that isn't a sword." Harry concluded. Beside him he heard the scritch-scratch of a quail as Dumbledore noted something down. "I had conjured that with the idea it was a sword." Dumbledore replied as his free hand distractedly conjured another twig.
"Please try to hypnotise yourself that it is a sword and then apply your authority to it." Dumbledore said in a factual voice that left Harry blinking. He picked up the twig and mentally chanted 'this is a sword' as he started his incantation again.
Despite his best attempt his authority disagreed and the twig suffered the same fate as its predecessor. They repeated the test with the other blades and soon they could draw a simple pair of conclusions. The first was that repeatedly using his authority was rather exhausting.
The second was an insight into the definition of what a sword was according to his authority. Size did not matter and there was quite a pass on what shape it could be. He could even place his authority on wooden swords. Where the authority made the call when it was a sword or an axe or another edged weapon still eluded them as it happily accepted curved blades with a bigger curve than the few axes Dumbledore had conjured.
What they did figure out was that the quality of the weapon made a large difference in cutting power. A well conjured wooden sword could get through a log with some trouble. A steel one cut through it like butter. Dumbledore had then excused himself to get the sword of Gryffindor.
Mia saw the opportunity to get Harry started on learning to properly swing a sword and by the time Dumbledore had returned she had severely reduced the chance of Harry accidentally cutting off his own limbs.
When the authority had settled over the sword of Gryffindor Harry could cut a log by simply holding the weapon in a loose grip and place its edge first on the log. The weight of the blade did the rest. Harry was glad the wood was conjured however as the black rot that spread could not be good. With the haste Dumbledore vanished the rotting wood told him it was bad news.
"I had suspected this would happen." He declared somberly. "What was that?" Mia asked. "The blade's edge doesn't look poisoned." "Correct. The sword Gryffindor once was a sword of a goblin king, crafted with the purest metals they could forge and enchanted with the finest magics they had at their command. It will imbue itself with useful properties. Poison is one of them and no poison is more deadly than the poison of a basilisk."
"Will it take my authority then?" Harry asked worriedly and Dumbledore blinked at the leap of logic. "That…" he paused as he turned thoughtful. "... I do not think so. If anything I should have worried that your authority would disrupt the enchantments on the blade."
With some trepidation Harry released his authority on the weapon. Without being prompted who immediately set to work analysing the enchantments on the blade. "The enchantments appear to be unaffected." he declared after a minute of work. His off-hand went through his beard in a thoughtful stroke. "Which would make sense since the magic available to Goblin's is different to our own."
Dumbledore hummed thoughtfully even as his hand seemed to be failing to document his thoughts. "Which is actually a horrible assumption that the goblin magic system would be comparable to that of ours." he continued to muse out loud and his writing hand seemed to speed up.
Harry worried for a moment he would set his parchment alight while at the same time he was very impressed Dumbledore could actually write that quickly. He turned to see Hermione and Mia look on in disbelief while Cressida looked mildly impressed.
Harry opened his mouth to possibly interrupt Dumbledore's thoughtstream when the headmaster interrupted him instead. "Why don't you and miss Develd spar for a while. Your authority does not imbue you with the knowledge on how to wield a sword. I need to order my thoughts for a while."
Mia shook her head out of her stupor and nodded. "That sounds like an excellent plan." she said enthusiastically and Harry felt a shiver travel up his spine as she reached for one of the wooden blades. He knew this would hurt and everybody would agree it was for his own good.
And despite the Sword of Gryffindor pulling him out of a nasty situation, he wasn't all that fond of swords.
Hogwarts fields
Harry did not notice it the first time he was disarmed by Mia's superior swordplay. He had far more power in his blows and if he went all out he could match her speed. Unlike Mia however this was the second time he swung a sword around and it showed.
What Harry did notice the third time he was disarmed was that the authority did not dispel as he expected to. And instead of walking the trot of disarmed humiliation he headed to the bench where the other blades laid and intoned the invocation to the curiosity of the group.
"Harry? You should stick to the sword I picked out." Mia chided in a neutral voice. "I am finding out a weakness in my authority." Harry replied with a frown. Despite the intonation he knew his authority still rested on the wooden blade lying on the ground. "A weakness?" Hermione asked curiously.
He nodded. "Yes. I cannot dispel my authority on the sword on the ground, but I can't put it on this sword either." Harry explained. "So it is bound to the sword until you let it go?" Hermione confirmed. "A curious weakness. We best keep this to ourselves." Cressida noted.
Aside from Dumbledore who was still scratching away at a high tempo the rest nodded as Harry went and retrieved the enhanced sword. Without a word he dispelled the authority. He felt no change in his authority and with a chant he returned it back into the wooden sword. Mia grinned as he brandished it in her direction and the two clashed again.
Mia and Harry continued their spar while Hermione watched enthralled how her friend slowly seemed to improve as she watched while Cressida observed it all with a calculating eye. "Mister Potter certainly seems to be improving by the minute." Dumbledore spoke suddenly and Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin. "Headmaster." she yelped.
"Ah, my apologies for startling you miss Granger." Dumbledore apologized while he kept his eyes on the two sparring partners. "Miss Develd, Mister Potter. I think it is best for you to rest now. Mister Potter I advise you let yourself be checked over by Madam Poppy to ensure you don't not strain yourself. It will also allow her a chance to have a better insight when you inevitably end up back into her realm."
Harry stepped back from Mia wary for another sneak attack. "I do try not to end up in the infirmary every year, Headmaster." he protested. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with mirth. "So far your efforts have not been successful mister Potter." he teased and Harry was torn between gaping in surprise or looking like a scolded puppy.
Instead he hung his head. "Yes Headmaster." he agreed reluctantly. "Excellent. Excellent now if you excuse me I have some research to cram between my duties." Dumbledore said as he rose from his seat. "Headmaster, what did you find out?" Hermione asked hesitatingly. Dumbledore smiled at the curiosity. "Miss Granger, Goblin magic is fundamentally different from ours as it can safely interact with the divine. Yet an union between a human and a goblin can safely bear a child into life."
"We know these children are capable of our magic. But I will need to ask around if they are capable of goblin magic as well. If it is, and we can figure out the 'how' this could mean a breakthrough on the subject of magical compatibility. As only in the legends it is noted that people could command the magic of another branch in the wanded history."
Dumbledore left a thoughtful Hermione and Cressida behind after cleaning up while Mia and Harry looked at each other wondering if the other had a clue. "Soooo… I suppose we are the brawn of the outfit?" he mock whispered to Mia. The sword wielding woman bopped her head in agreement. "I think we are Harry."
"Well… we'd best get going." Harry noted and then spotted the sword of Gryffindor Dumbledore had placed against the runestone. "... he forgot a legendary house relic in his desire to do.. Magical science?" he trailed off uncertainly. "It looks like it…" Mia agreed in disbelief.
"Well… you'd best get it. You know how to hold a sword the best and who knows when you'll need it with my luck." Harry commanded sourly. Mia blinked and then nodded. "That is a good idea since my own sword would mess up with those wards." she agreed. She picked up the sword after a bit of fiddling secured it to her side.
Hermione sighed. "Only you Harry…" she complained softly and Cressida chuckled lightly at Hermione's comment as Harry and Mia set off to the direction of the castle. "You'll find most Campione are not the intellectual types." She smiled wryly. "I suppose that is why they keep the people like us around when punching something very hard isn't good enough."
"We tell them where to punch instead?" Hermione asked wryly in confirmation and she got a self-deprecating grin in reply. "That…" she paused for a moment. She had figured out things for Harry over the three years in Hogwarts that ended up with Harry punching, grabbing or stabbing things "... is not different from what I am already doing."
Second Gryffindor common room
Harry didn't want to show it but the announcement professor McGonagall made had him thinking. She had announced that over the christmas break there would be a Yuletide ball. He had the feeling of his new status as an incredibly important person he could hardly skip out on it.
So that meant he needed two things in order to not make a total berk of himself, which would be bad for the 'kingly' image Cressida insisted he made with Hermione's help. He wasn't sure if the Slytherin in all but sorting woman was right but so far it seemed to work in convincing people that he was not about to cut them down on a whim.
The first thing he needed was dancing lessons. Professor McGonagall had offered those so he could join those general lessons. As an alternative he could ask Cressida since he knew she had been raised as a nobleman's daughter and she had idle mentioned that as the things she had been schooled in.
The real problem was getting a date. Going stag was certainly an option but that would open up a free can of worms for the press piranhas. 'On the other hand. A date would also be prime cut meat for them as well…'
Harry held back a sigh as it would draw the attention of the trio of females studying. Although Harry doubted Mia would learn much from her intense study of the insides of her eyelids. He made a sly glance and confirmed Cressida was deep into one of her own books while Hermione was beefing up her knowledge on house elves.
He blinked as it hit him; his three companions were female. Not only female in 'the other gender' but female as in 'viable politically acceptable dating partners'. Harry focused his attention back on his book before they caught him staring as he weighed his options. It only took him a moment to realise Hermione was the only person he really knew. Cressida and Mia only knew him, and the other way around, for a few weeks.
So he had to ask his best friend since his fallout with Ron if she wanted to be his date and dance lesson partner.
Harry fervently hoped Perseus would make an appearance. But he would cheerfully wrestle with Heracles, have a battle of wits with his life on the line against Zhuge Liang or go head to head with Shaka to avoid that question.
He closed his eyes and gathered his courage. 'I am a Campione. If I can't ask a girl I know to go on a date with me. How should I be able to face those gods and whatever monstrosities they'll conjure.' Harry asked himself. He then thought back of facing the Basilisk and he realised despite his trepidation it was actually fairly simple. Tell the door to open and face the problem head on alone.
"Hermione." He heard himself say and he realised he had just commanded the figurative door to open. "Harry?" Hermione replied puzzled. "Would you be my Yuletide date?" Harry said rapidly before Brave Sir Harry could bravely run away.
Hermione looked at Harry and he could say the girl briefly wondered if there was another Hermione in the room. Mia had snapped awake in her usual power-nap fashion the moment something interesting happened while Cressida had lowered her book and observed the ongoings in undisguised curiosity.
A blush crept into Hermione's cheeks as she realised Harry really had asked her and with a shy nod she replied. "Sure Harry." Harry belatedly put together this could be as hard for her as it was for him. "Thanks Hermione." he mumbled and started to put much more focus into his own book than he had ever done.
The teens promptly ignored Cressida's amused chuckle and Mia's barely disguised laughter.