"I wonder if she is trying to gather information." Cressida noted softly to Hermione as an owl departed after delivering a letter to Draco. "What could she want to know?" Hermione asked curiously. Harry was oblivious to the conversation as he discussed his recent bout with Mia he had barely won.
"She'll probably want more information on how much I exactly know. If you did not let us know they were common titles she would have fooled me nicely." Cressida admitted with a small frown at the reminder that she nearly failed the Campione she swore to serve.
"So she wants to know what she can get away with?" Hermione asked a frown of her own. "Most likely. I doubt Draco will provide anything useful. And I am certain she is smart enough not to ask him to try anything overt." Cressida confirmed with a glance at the boy in question, seizing him up and estimating his abilities.
"Overt?" Hermione asked unsurely. Cressida held back a sigh at the girl's naivety. " We are holding Draco's well being as an oblique threat. She probably reasons we are rightly tied by Dumbledore, yet it remains a risk and she clearly cares greatly about Malfoy junior." "Well Harry could always ask Sirius or Dumbledore to do something…" Hermione pointed out.
"I had hoped to solve this without Harry's influence." Cressida replied with audible disappointment. "We'll await her reply. There is no need to start drawing the saber while we can still rattle it." Hermione listened with interest as Cressida explained a few more ways she could 'rattle' the saber. This political intrigue was not entirely her cup of tea. However Hermione was always willing to learn.
"Mister Potter, could you stay behind?" Professor Umbridge asked. Harry snapped himself out of the daydream involving Hermione and a sunny beach and noticed that everyone was packing up. "Yes Professor." he replied politely and glanced sideways to find Cressida still deep into whatever reading material she had brought. Mia was not with them as she wanted to keep her skills sharp by sparring with her former colleagues.
He patiently waited as the woman who preferred pink way too much composed her query. He had expected her to scold him for his inattention but since she seemed to mull over his words he suspected she wanted something from him. Considering her ties to the now kicked out minister he put his galleons on her wanting a favor from him.
"How do you like your lessons here?" She asked with a smile that had Harry wonder how it was not loudly declaring it was fake. "Most lessons are quite good. Professor Snape is well… professor Snape. Divination and History could be better." Harry replied honestly. The woman's faux smile increased a notch.
"I am happy to hear that my defense program is up to your expectations." the woman reinforced with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. "I am actually on the fence on that." Harry replied with the same bluntness and the smile died a vicious death. The woman opened her mouth with what Harry suspected would be a threat only to remember he was a Campione.
The fake smile resurrected itself in record time. "And what do you find lacking mister Potter?" The inquiry was at the same faux polite tone. "There are no practical lessons at all." Harry replied, already tired of the conversation he did not see going anywhere productive. "Mister Potter. A young man of your talents can surely master the spell in a single try. I fail to see the problem as you can do such spells with the proper grounding in the theory." The insult was registered but ignored by Harry.
"I have no problems with my spellwork professor." Harry replied while putting on the same fake smile as the teacher displayed, setting up his counterattack. "But I do worry about my fellow students who are not as talented. I know Malfoy has made no progress at all." The mention of a 'proper pureblood' family name brought her to a halt. "Is that so? Is that not an accusation based on your recent feud with the young Malfoy?"
Harry stopped himself from pointing out that the feud with him and Draco most likely started on the first train trip to Hogwarts and that it was mostly Draco keeping it alive. "If that is what you want to believe." Harry suddenly folded leaving all the women in the room blink in surprise. "I have other lessons to attend to. Have a nice day professor."
He marched out of the room leaving Cressida to hurry after him while Professor Umbridge slowly recovered from the surprise and then started to fight with the niggling doubt that set in.
"Why did you suddenly fold?" Cressida demanded with a frown. "What else could I do? Keep arguing with her in circles? The stupid woman can probably not even do half of the spells we are supposed to do at our OWLs." Harry replied with some heat. "I'll be better off just practicing with Hermione and maybe a few others."
"Maybe." Cressida allowed. "Your next lesson is with the first years. I suggest you try to relax a little before you frighten them and undo whatever optimistic work the headmaster managed to complete." Harry held back a snappish response as the useless defence lessons had really gotten to him and took a deep breath in before letting it out. "Yes. You are right."
Unlike last time he entered the room with the rest of the first years who all stared at him curiously. Some of those already in the room stopped looking at Dumbledore who decided in a flash of eccentricism to start animating some weird purple plant he'd transfigured into existence. Harry quickly took his seat and wondered how Dumbledore did it as the first years slowly sorted themselves out.
"Welcome to the second lesson on Campione." Dumbledore said cheerfully as he happily ignored the garish meter high purple plant wriggling behind him. "Now I believe I had assigned some classwork. Are there any volunteers?" Harry felt proud that it was one of the Gryffindor firsties who proved that they were indeed the house of the brave. The question also showed that he was no Ravenclaw.
He was a bit disappointed that most of the questions were not interesting as the one Matilda repeated. "That is an interesting question." Dumbledore admitted as he gazed thoughtfully towards the girl. Who started to fidget in response and glanced towards Harry in the hopes he would bail her out.
"Indeed. I am afraid after a few experiments that I cannot use any other magic than that of my Authorities or with my wand. Wandless magic is comparatively easy for me." He'd compared with Hermione, who had a lot of trouble getting a simple lumos going on her wand without actually touching it while Harry now knew he'd never had to worry about finding his wand in the dark.
The other questions came and went. Harry felt a certain sense of impatience grow as the students wanted to see an Authority. He knew they'd be disappointed. His Authorities lacked a show or a display of awesome destructive power. Dumbledore seemed to sense it as well and instead of selecting a volunteer he asked if anyone had a question. None stepped forward this time.
"Well then we shall head outside soon. Thankfully the weather, although a bit brisk, was dry. Does anyone perchance know why mister Potter is not demonstrating his Authority inside?" A few decent suggestions flew in like the chance of damaging the castle or hurting people. But none knew. "I am a bit disappointed in the ravens and snakes." Dumbledore noted before he explained why.
After the explanation Harry led the way while Dumbledore and a pair of 'volunteered' prefects herded the first year students to Harry's little corner near the forbidden forest. The prefects with the help of Cressida stopped the first years from shouldering their way to Harry's toes. "Each Authority starts with a chant to invoke it." Harry explained again to the approving nod of Dumbledore.
"Noble white steed born from a monster's blood. Thunder forth and bless the earth with spring again. Carry a hero aloft once more to victory!" Some of the first years flinched away as the silver blood sprayed around. Harry calmly noted it seemed to be a bit less the last time he really observed the summoning.
Victoria stepped into the clearing in her pure glory. "Hello Victoria. Nothing urgent is going on." Harry told his steed as he showered the pegasus with affection. Victoria happily returned it, messing up his fairly chaotic hair with her nose. "Victoria is not just a normal pegasus, as you can already tell by her size." Harry explained to the wide-eyed firsties regardless of their origins.
"She is also highly intelligent and a great partner to fight along with." he continued as he ducked under the left wing. "Miss Marigold." He did his best attempt to sound like a stern teacher. "If you could come over here." The girl squeaked and needed a moment to gather her courage to do so. It was clear she was worried to be in the center of attention and was too surprised to protest when Harry lifted her up and placed her on Victoria's back.
"Could you do me a favor and fly a round around the castle Victoria?" The horse let out a happy neigh and gave Harry just enough time to duck before leaping to the air and taking off. Harry grinned as nearly every head tracked the pure white pegasus's process through the sky. Dumbledore merely spared a moment to shoot a nod to Harry before doing the same.
He considered for a moment letting the girl figure it out only he or Victoria could remove a person of the female gender from her back. 'No, that would be too mean.' he decided as Victoria wheeled around for a moment before deciding to land someway from the group and trotted the rest over revealing an excited little girl hiding between her broad neck and folded wings.
She shared a grin with Harry as he helped her off. The girl darted to her classmates who immediately surrounded her. A hubbub arose as everyone wanted to know how it was and how the view was. "Thanks Cressida." Harry noted to the swordswoman as she had thought to bring along some carrots for Victoria. The pegasus spared a moment to nuzzle both of them before attacking the carrots in Harry's hands.
"Well Victoria. You can stick around or return if you want." He offered to the Pegasus as he patted her side. The carrots had disappeared in a blink of an eye. The winged creature seemed to be content to stand at his side as the first years not cluttering around Matilda realised that the show was not over yet.
Some more questions and noisy poking followed which was ended by a thoughtful clearing of the throat by Dumbledore. "If we may have all the attention back on mister Potter." "Thank you headmaster." Harry thanked the old wizard as he was not entirely sure if could command the same presence as he did.
"Surge forth, over the banks and into plains. Crash over the dunes into the lowlands and drag all caught to sea! Spare none and devour all!" A blob of water formed rapidly at the end of the intonation and Harry smirked at the disappointed looks. "Now this Authority does not seem to do much." Dumbledore spoke up before Harry could. "But I personally think in the right circumstances it could be mister Potter's most powerful authority."
His eyes swept the class. "Does anyone have an idea why this could be so?" One of the Slytherins raised his hand. "The right circumstances would be surrounded by a lot of water?" the boy clad in green offered. "A lot of the planet is covered in water..." one of the Ravenclaws added with realisation.
"That is correct. A point to both Slytherin and Ravenclaw." Dumbledore noted pleased. "And although it looks like harmless water. If you'd jump into it now you will not be able to swim out of it." Harry added with a nod drawing a look of surprise from Dumbledore. He in turn quickly covered his surprise with a polite look that silently inquired him both of the wisdom of sharing this and what Harry meant.
"It… it isn't just water?" One of the students asked. "No. It is not. And should you have the incredible bad luck to ever encounter a heretic entity. Never assume it is just a 'fire' or some odd 'grass'. Most legends have mundane items that do horrible things, and heretic god's powers are based on those very same legends." Dumbledore lectured and Harry was certain none would forget the lesson.
Looks of understanding flickered through most of the class and more than one weary glance was thrown at the blob of water that still hovered placidly besides Harry. With a mental command Harry released his authority and snickered as the class scrambled away from the splashing water as if it was acid.
"Well then. That concludes the class." Dumbledore said pleased after another round of questions and answers. Harry hopped on Victoria's back and led the way back to the castle, temporarily forgetting the extra work he'd be putting on Dumbledore's shoulders. A few more of the more adventurous Gryffindors dared to walk beside the pegasus towering over them and carefully touch the wings.
"Well, there is the front door. I think they can make the last dozen or so meters or so Victoria." Harry whispered to his loyal steed. She needed no further encouragement and with a neigh charged into the skies. "I think he forgot he's supposed to have Transfiguration next." Cressida noted to Dumbledore. "I am sure Minerva will understand, she was responsible for making him a seeker." The headmaster replied with an amused smile. The old wizard thought it funny to see his colleague figure out what she thought of that.
Voldemort glared at the sniveling rat of a man. "Are you certain?" Peter Pettigrew flinched at the demand. "Yes.. Yes my lord." he confirmed as he tried to bow his head through the floor. "The cult of Thebes is planning to descend the goddess Wosret at hallows eve." "And are you certain we are the only group who knows that?" Voldemort snapped impatiently.
"I cannot assure you that master!" Peter exclaimed horrified. He was well aware that anything could have been a spy. He was just another rat scurrying in the hideout he lucked upon while searching the historical sites in Thebes. He had hoped that the information would push him into the lord's favor but instead he was stuck in a thankless spying assignment.
"Then return to their hideout and make sure you know the exact position and time. I will tolerate no failure or mistake understood?" the dark lord commanded. "Yes my lord!" Peter squeaked and sprinted out of the room. Voldemort snorted in disgust as he watched the man scramble away. "Barely useful weakling." he noted to Nagina who pooled at his feet. "One day I will feed him to you." he added in parseltongue.
He rose from his throne and for a moment regretted that he had tried to keep the operation as covert as possible. Instead of bellowing for an idiot of a pureblood to fetch him his more trusted minions he had to fetch them himself. Pouring over the books he had commanded them to gather he found Lucius alone. He hid his displeasure as he was quite certain he commanded two other of the more intelligent purebloods to do so as well.
"Malfoy." He hissed to draw the man's attention to him. "My lord." he replied calmly. Not giving away that he was aware that he had fallen into disfavor and had been punished heavily through the cruciatus curse. "I need you to find out everything you can about the Theban goddess Wosret. Ignore all the other works you have been researching."
"As you wish my lord." Lucius said. He half bow meant he missed the dark lord flinging another spell at him and he collapsed in pain. "And make sure you do not allow the other fools to neglect their duties. Their failures are yours. Be grateful I am feeling merciful today." Voldemort threatened. The Dark Lord's good mood further buoyed at the pained twitching of a 'noble' pureblood and with that sight burned into his brain for later amusement Voldemort left the room.