Harry sat in the Great Hall rubbing his temples after dealing with a potentially hostile Potions class led by one Severus Snape. "I got the questions right, I didn't answer with any sass until the end, and still he calls me out for being my father's son…"
"Some people's grudges are sometimes too much for them to let go all at once," said Luna as she ate an apple behind him, Hermione doing research on a laptop while Padma rubbed his back. Parvati was leaning back in a chair beside her twin, feet on the Ravenclaw table and trying to take a nap. "He won't let it go just yet, because it was his only link to his past with Lily. Psychologically, for someone who can't let go of the past, it's often for the better times than the worst ones. For him, more than likely the worst times came whenever he feuded with your dad and was later assuaged by your mother before their falling out."
"So I have to act as his fucking catalyst towards letting go? Fat fucking chance."
"Language," said Hermione, Padma and Holly. Harry turned to Padma.
"Et tu?" She smiled and nodded, making him sigh as Blaise came in. He saw the girls sitting around him and raised an eyebrow.
"Is part of this 'Technomancy' that you get a harem?" The girls blushed as Harry chuckled.
"No, that's just the benefits of being raised by my mother."
"Ms. MacGrath, right?"
"Yeah. Take it your house had her already?"
"Just came from her class. She seems like a good woman."
"She is," said Padma.
"Until you piss her off," said Harry. "Then… well, you saw yesterday's incident after I got hit."
"I did. Merlin, She got scary enough, but to damage V-Voldemort in such a way…"
"Just call him Riddle," said Harry as he stood up. "Don't give him power when it would be so easy to take it away from him by calling him his actual name."
"Right, still can't believe the man so many Pure Bloods followed was actually a half blood."
"Not the hard to believe," said Harry. "Most people in Magical London come from just a small amount of inbreeding, at least in the high class society of Lords and Ancient Houses. Why else do you think a lot of people are related in some way or another."
"That's… actually very troubling, now that you point it out," said Hermione.
"Of course, it's only common with the more fanatical families, and as for the normal wizarding families outside of the high society, the Lords and Ladies of the controlling government, it's a lot less common considering they actually have a small amount of common sense." Harry went to the center of the room as Luna jumped off of the Ravenclaw table and flipped Parvati out of her seat in the process. She yelled out in surprise as she rolled to a sitting position as her twin snickered. Hermione moved her laptop when she saw Harry moving and Harry, Luna, and Holly moved the tables out of the way.
"Mind helping, Blaise," asked Harry.
"What about those three?"
"They never do any heavy lifting," said Harry, sending them a slight glare.
"It's not a lady's job," said Padma.
"'at doef hat make me," asked Luna, the apple clutched tightly in her teeth.
"A thief," said Hermione. Luna shrugged before she and Blaise helped him move the tables as Millicent walked in with Neville, both practically dragging Draco with them.
"Well," said Blaise with a grin. "This is a sorry sight for the mighty Draco Malfoy."
"Sod off," said Draco as he shrugged off the hands of his abductors. Harry looked at Neville curiously and saw him shift slightly in discomfort. Millicent grinned as she buffed her nails on her cloak.
"So easy to get him to help. He's like a big agreeable teddy bear." Neville blushed and turned away from her slightly. Harry chuckled slightly as Tonks walked in, Lena close behind her. Harry looked at them.
"And here come our Hufflepuff Technomancers. Hey, you are in the same year as them, where are the Weasley Twins?"
"You mean Gred and Forge," asked Tonks.
"Let me guess, they pull the whole 'which twin am I' thing often."
"Yep," said Lena as Draco tried to leave, only for Millicent to drag him into a seat. "And as for where they are, no idea. They left the class we were in as quickly as it was over. No idea where they went."
"Hold on, let me try and find them."
"And how are you going to do that?" Harry simply tapped his temple with a grin and activated Navigator, the GPS equivalent of Schematic. Harry pulled up the digital map of the entire school and looked for anyone in the school that had a GPS signal to track. He found three outside of the Great Hall and blinked. He looked around. Me, Padma, Luna, Neville, Blaise, Malfoy, Tonks, Millicent, Lena… Oh right, Su!' Harry looked at Padma.
"I'll be back, I'm going to get our missing students."
"Alright. Leave Holly here, I'll get her to the Server Room like we planned."
"Here you go," he said as he handed her his Multitool. Harry waved to the others as he Charged into the cameras. Lena looked at where he was and blinked.
"Didn't know I could do that. I always just did it in the air."
"We can all do the same thing," said Padma, Holly now sitting on her shoulder. "According to Harry, as long as it's connected to a network, we can travel through technology."
"Any technology," asked Tonks. "Even computers?"
"Apparently, if Luna's demonstration yesterday was any indication. Harry and I have been visiting each other by traveling on our phone calls." Tonks grinned and sidled up to her.
"Already going steady with my cousin, are we?" Padma blushed darkly as Hermione pushed Tonks away gently.
"We're all just friends. We're too young to be thinking about dating," said the bookworm.
"Try and convince yourself all you want, I'm older and know what I'm talking about." She grinned at them. Harry Charged into the Ravenclaw common and saw Su on one of the computers, watching a video.
"You know, you're going to miss your lessons."
"Too busy watching cat videos." Harry facepalmed.
"The bane of work strikes again." He drained the computer, making her glare at him.
"You're lucky I don't know how to shock you yet."
"Wouldn't do a thing if you did. Come on, we need to get the Weasley twins and get to the Great Hall." He held out his hand to her.
"Holding hands already? I feel so special."
"Make all the jokes you want, you can't Charge yourself, yet. Not without practice, or one of the Student Cards."
"I know, I know." She took his hand and he Charged them to where he knew the twins were. On the way there, they literally bumped into someone in the system with them and were ejected out and into a hallway in the dungeons. "Ow, what the hell was that?" Harry looked up and saw a girl he remembered was sorted shortly after him, dusting herself off.
"Ms. Parkinson?"
"Mr. Potter, Ms. Li."
"MacGrath," grumbled Harry as Pansy Parkinson helped them up off the ground. "How did you Charge? The cameras are supposed to…"
"Be monitored at all times to prevent it without those stupid cards of yours?" She grinned and held out her hand to the camera above them. "You forget, we can manipulate data and alter things to work in our favor. Like say… making sure they can temporarily allow access without the cards."
"You've been looking through the camera feeds without Charging, haven't you?"
"Yes. I found a forum a couple of years ago started by you when I learned about my magic during a family trip to London, and I saw one of us drain a street light like it was nothing, and the Muggles didn't even bat an eyelash! When he sensed my weakness, he taught me how to drain electrical appliances to keep myself healthy and showed me your forum where you explained Charging a lot of our magic. How can we use magic in front of the Muggle public without them freaking out?"
"Technically, to the No-Maj people, we're people with electrical superpowers, not mages."
"Explains why a kid asked if I was a superhero like the famous Harry MacGrath."
"Question, how did you not have a GPS signal?"
"Is that how you knew where I was," asked Su. Harry nodded and Pansy grinned. She held out a device in her hand.
"Signal blocker. My own invention after I learned about Navigator and GPS. I'm a Beta Technomancer."
"Nickname is Mechanist."
"Mechanist? Definitely fits."
"How do I do that, Navigator thing," asked Su.
"First you'll need a map of the school in your head. Luckily, the cameras have a decent layout of the entire school, allowing us to map it pretty easily," said Pansy as she walked to her. "Here." She pressed two fingers to Su's temple and uploaded the map. Su blinked as an entire map of Hogwarts appeared in her vision and two dots appeared in apart from a group of them and two others further down the hall.
"Found the twins," she said, pointing down the hall. "Looks like the Potions Lab."
"Dammit, come on. Let's stop whatever prank they have planned," said Harry.
"You can go ahead, I'll just continue with what I was doing," said Pansy.
"No, you'll go to the Great Hall and help teach the others about what they can do."
"And why should I?"
"I'll buy you something next time I find myself helping my uncle in America."
"A full outfit, latest fashion, $1,000 minimum."
"$500."
"What am I a cheap hooker? $800."
"$600 and I'll treat you to a dinner made by me."
"Asking me out, MacGrath?"
"More like upping the incentive."
"Fine. Deal. See you in the Great Hall." She gave a mock salute and Charged into the camera above them. Harry shook his head.
"Can't believe I forgot about reprogramming and signal blocking."
"To be fair," said Holly from the camera as it paned to them. "You haven't had that much interaction with other Technomancers and haven't been able to bounce ideas outside of your own personal ideas. You've also only used the forums to give tips and not get them other than once."
"How long have you been watching," asked Su. "The whole conversation."
"Padma works fast."
"Yep," said Harry. "Come on. Let's stop the Weasleys." Harry and Su took off down the hall and found a dead end. Harry looked around. He pulled up Navigator and saw they were beyond the map he'd made of the school. "Secret passage. That could only mean one thing." He turned to Su. "Keep an eye on them, please. I need to pay a visit to my godfather."
"Why do you need to?…" she turned to him, only to find he'd already Charged away. "And I'm talking to myself… asshole…" She kept an eye on them with Navigator, getting used to having the digital layout in her vision as Harry Charged to the DADA classroom and found Sirius and Remus discussing the classes they had today.
"Hey, Pup," said Sirius. "Come to chat?"
"Maybe later. Dungeon passage, do either of you know how to access it?"
"How do you know about?…" started Remus.
"The Weasley twins are hiding out there, and more than likely, have your map. And I know about that from my birth mother's journal." Sirius frowned slightly as Remus shook his head.
"Shouldn't have helped make that thing. The dungeon passage can be accessed by depressing a brick a about a foot and a half off the ground directly below a torch hanging next to a painting of a basilisk nest."
"Seriously, could Salazar have been more on the nose about his parseltongue. We get it, snakes are your thing. You don't see me advertising it…" Harry Charged away and Remus turned to his lifelong friend.
"What's wrong?"
"He called her his birth mother, not his mum…"
"Give it a rest Sirius. Ms. MacGrath is his mother now. Lily and James aren't with us. He didn't have anyone to call 'Mum' for a long time. Let him have this."
"I know… I just… I wish he would call her 'Mum' just once. She deserves that much."
"He will," said Cindy from the doorway. The two men jumped when they heard her speak up. "In the four years I've known him, Harry has wished to see his mother's grave, just once."
"Why haven't you taken him?"
"I've wanted to. But every time I bring it up he just says: 'It's not the right time'."
"What do you think he means by that," asked Remus.
"I think, he's waiting for Voldemort to be gone for good. Get revenge for their deaths. That, and preparing for the future, have been his two driving forces these last four years."
"What, is he planning on opening his own company and not taking over Isabel's," asked Sirius.
"I forgot he wouldn't tell you."
"Tell us what," asked Remus.
"If you have a bottle of Fire Whiskey, I suggest you bring it out. This is going to be a long story."
Harry landed nest to Su as she watched the wall. "You know," she said. "It's incredibly rude to just leave a girl by herself."
"Sorry, needed to know how to get in." He found the basilisk painting and kicked the brick below the torch. They watched the wall fold away like the one in Diagon Alley and saw the twins tinkering with some scrap metal before looking up.
"Well, hello…" said the twin on the right.
"…Mr. Potter," said the twin on the left. Harry growled softly before draining them slightly in annoyance.
"It's MacGrath. Both of you, come with me. I'm going to teach you about your magic." They shook their heads from being drained and looked at him.
"That hurt, you know?"
"Then if you want to avoid it, don't annoy me." He handed them a pass each. "Hold out your hand to the camera and let your magic do the rest. One at a time, hop out one camera down." He handed one to Su. She was the first to Charge and jump out of the next camera, stumbling slightly as she did. The twins grinned before doing the same thing, both landed flat on their asses as they lost their balance. "Good. Now follow me. Holly, can you guide them through the system?"
"I'll try. But we've never actually tested out that theory before.
"Just try, please." He turned to the three beside him. "Come on!" He Charged into his camera and Su was quick to follow. The twins exchanged a look before smiling and giving chase. In the networked system, Harry saw Su catching up to him and sped up, not willing to be shown up. From the outside, it seemed like the system was going haywire and was sparking all over the place as the four children raced through the wires. Su passed Harry and as they raced, they looked at each other. They appeared as they did when solid just as images formed from lightning. Harry grinned and sped ahead forcing her to strain to catch up. All the while, the twins kept a good pace, just watching their two junior students race on ahead of them. Harry ejected from the camera in the Great Hall and stayed as energy for a second, flying above the others and focusing on his form before landing just as Su and the twins landed themselves.
"Gah… that was difficult to control…" Harry shook his head as his eyes flashed slightly.
"Stop pushing yourself," said Holly as she projected a human sized version of her normal form in front of everyone, using the Gibraltar's hard-light projectors. She stood at 5'6", with her figures hair showing a bun. Harry blinked as he noticed she looked like a more reserved version of Sasha. She even replicated her lab coat. "You know taking on too much at once is taxing. Remember when you crashed shortly after creating me."
"That was because I didn't let myself sleep for three days."
"Still."
"Whoa," said Blaise. "This is that pixie thing?"
"Why must everyone call me a pixie?"
"Because your chosen form is the exact size of one," said Padma. "You can't be surprised about being called a pixie."
"Still, you'd think by now some people would know to call me what I am. It's been mentioned enough."
"Thank you," said Harry, speaking about his last name.
"Ah, stow it, Potter," said Pansy with a grin, hovering over all of them with her Static Thrusters.
"It's… never mind." Harry sighed as he looked at the group. "Everyone here?" Millicent nodded and pointed to Draco who was Arc Restrained to the wall by the entrance, curtesy of Luna who sat on the ground in front of him, a small smile on her face.
"Get me down," shouted Draco.
"It'll wear off in a couple of seconds," said Pansy. "I suggest you brace yourself, or you'll…" Draco shouted out as the restraints disappeared and he fell flat on his face. "…Do that." Draco growled and stood up, dusting off his robes. Harry walked over to him.
"You don't have to be here. It's optional."
"You said, I have to learn from you."
"So your magic doesn't kill you, yes. And because of the changes my family and I have made here, you won't be killed during your time here. But I can't teach you if you don't want to be taught. I only ask you do me one favor before you decide to leave." Harry pulled out a ring from his jacket pocket. "My mother's ring went missing earlier and I found it in the hall. I need you to Charge to my mother's location in the castle. I think she said something about speaking with Professor Lupin, Professor Quirrell's replacement for DADA." He handed Draco a white pass. "Make your decision after you deliver this, please."
"I don't know how to."
"Just hold out your hand and let your magic instruct you. Do this favor, and then make your decision."
"Harry," asked Padma. He sent her a reassuring look before turning back to Draco. The Malfoy Heir hesitantly took the ring and pass before turning to the camera.
"Can't believe I'm doing this…" Draco held out his hand and was instantly pulled into the networked system. Harry leaned against the Slytherin Table.
"What are you doing, Harry," asked Hermione.
"Upping the incentive." Pansy quirked an eyebrow. As Draco traveled through the Gibraltar, it was unlike anything he'd experienced before. He felt like he was more open, more alive than he had been before. As he looked through the windows of what could only be described as a long tunnel with windows showing the outside world. As he looked through one of the 'windows', he saw a few older students moving at a snail's pace. A ghost of a smile appeared on his energized face as he sped through the Gibraltar. He finally found the DADA classroom and saw Ms. MacGrath sitting and chatting with Mr. Lupin and Sirius Black. Draco blinked as he landed outside the classroom and shook his head.
"It can't be…" Draco knocked and waited. Remus opened the door and looked at him.
"Hello, Mr. Malfoy. What can I do for you?"
"I need to speak with Ms. MacGrath. I was told she'd be here."
"Come right in." Draco stepped into the classroom and saw exactly who he saw while traveling in the Gibraltar.
"Sirius Black?"
"Nice to meet you, Cousin."
"Right. Forgot you were cousins with Mum."
"Young Draco here," said Remus. "Said he needs to speak with you, Cindy."
"What about, Mr. Malfoy?"
"Your son said he found your ring. Wanted me to bring it to you."
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Malfoy." She took the ring and Draco nodded. He walked out of the classroom and Cindy glanced at him just as he Charged through a camera. She grinned as she put on the ring. "So that was his plan. Clever, Harry. Clever."
"What," asked Sirius. "Did I miss something?"
"Earlier today, Harry and I were discussing how to get to Draco and convince him to start accepting his magic and start learning with the others. We knew from his encounter with Draco earlier this summer, that he would be difficult. Harry's first instinct was to meet him with force, I told him to try a different tactic. He asked to borrow my ring earlier, this was what it was for."
"A bit manipulative, isn't it," asked Remus.
"Well, he is my protégé," said Isabel from the doorway. "I taught him to know the ins and outs of a person's thinking. How to coerce people into seeing things his way and turning deals in his favor."
"I knew having you teach him that would be a bad idea," said Cindy, pinching the bridge between her eyes. "I hope he doesn't use that too often."
"He may need to," said Remus. "If what Cindy's told us is true, he'll need to find ways to bring more people to his side. Political allies as well as combative ones. Lily used the same tactic, at least she tried to during the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Riddle," said Isabel and Cindy.
"Use his real name, instead of the hyphened or false name everyone knows him as," said Cindy, taking a sip of Fire Whiskey. She stood up and turned to Isabel. "Shall we observe how well of a teacher Harry is?"
"Let's go. You boys coming?" Sirius and Remus exchanged a look before following Harry's family to the Server Room.
Harry looked up at the camera as Draco Charged through and grinned internally. 'He Charged back instead of walking. Like a charm.' He stood up straight and walked to Draco as he stood by the entrance to the Great Hall. Draco looked up at the camera before turning back to Harry.
"Well, Cousin? What's your choice? Stay," he gestured with his right hand to the group behind him. "Or go," he gestured with his left to the doorway. Draco looked at the card in his hand before turning back to Harry. Draco said nothing before pocketing the card and walking to the group. Harry grinned slightly before turning to the people around him. "Now that everyone is here, we can begin!"
"Finally," said Tonks. "I was getting bored!"
"It's worth the wait, Nymphadora." He grinned as she glared at him, sending a purple bolt his way. He just held out his hand and absorbed it. "Thanks for the snack. Now then! First, we need to establish which variant you are. Conduit or Mechanist."
"How do we tell which one is which," asked Su.
"Simple tests," said Pansy as she stepped to Harry's side. "Beta's, or Mechanists, can see blueprints of a device just by looking at it. This is Schematic and is the single most basic thing for the Beta variant. With it, we can identify faulty parts, construct appliances from scratch or see potential modifications for existing ones."
"And it shows with blue lines like a circuit board in our eyes," said Harry. "Like so." He and Pansy activated their eyes and showed the blue lines. Padma and Luna did the same, showing they were Mechanists as well. "Alphas, or Conduits, are better with energy based magic. They have stronger lightning attacks than Mechanists, but don't have the same knack with inventing physically. Instead their mechanical manipulation is limited to more conductive and magnetic pieces of tech, Instead, they have magic that can deal with writing, reading, and manipulating data and code. Their magic is identified with light green eyes." He sent a small bolt to both Millicent and Draco. They instinctively absorbed the shots and their eyes took on the green circuit lines like the others.
"There's also a third type of Technomancer. This is the rarest and by far the most powerful and it seems the Weasley twins are our only example," said Hermione. "Harry refers to this as First Generation Technomancy. Robert Kessler, the First Technomancer, and leader of the terrorist organization, First Sons, was a First Generation. He could manipulate machines on a level beyond the rest of you."
"It's unclear at this moment if anyone is a First Generation, but that's why we're doing these tests." Harry nodded to Holly and she projected a hologram of Harry's Sonic Multitool. Harry grinned as he saw Schematic activate in the eyes of Tonks, with her circuit lines appearing purple like her lightning, Neville and Fred. He looked at the twins curiously. 'So their automaton comes from them working together. Conduit and Mechanist. Raw power combined with refined control. I need to test that.'
"Looks like everyone seeing the blueprints come apart and describe every part in detail is a Mechanist, a Beta Technomancer. Which means, more than likely, the rest of you are Conduits. Luckily, I have experience working with a Conduit. My uncle, Cole MacGrath, is like you. Holly?"
"Projecting," said the A.I. Keeping her form stable, she used the other hard-light projectors to show footage of Cole in New Marais.
"Because of your higher control of our more energy based magic, you can do pretty much the same things as my uncle." He showed Cole's wide range of abilities. Holly demonstrated Cole's Lightning Bolt. "This is the basic ranged attack both Technomancer branches can use to varying degrees of effect. Using these Bolts, you can shock your target into submission, or stun them long enough to get in close. Conduits Bolts are definitely deadlier than Mechanists. Cole can kill if he uses it enough or if he aims properly. We Mechanists can only act like your basic stun gun or taser."
"That's a bit of a letdown," said Tonks.
"But understandable," said Padma. "As far as the Technomancer community can tell, the amount of energy one can generate is relatively equal all across the board. The only difference is how much energy can be sent through the rest of the body, vs how much is used in your mind. Abilities like Schematic and Construct take about the same amount of energy as the variants of our Lightning Bolt."
"What's Construct," asked Neville. Harry and Padma grinned as they both mentally manipulated her skates from her bag. They disassembled the skates with practiced precision and made the parts float around them.
"Using a combination of electromagnetism and telekinesis, we can mentally control the components of a machine," said Harry. "And either mentally construct or deconstruct small equipment. However, it's preferred to make them by hand first, so you get a feel for how it's made first. After that, you can use Construct to make changes as you see fit."
"Another ability you can use," said Hermione. "Is the Static Thrusters." Holly showed Cole hovering in the air. "You use this ability to hover in the air." Feeling like it wasn't enough to show in a recording, Harry had Holly project steps high up into the air. He ran up them and jumped at the top, activating Static Thrusters to slow his descent.
"This ability is you channeling static electricity in the air around you to keep yourself suspended for as long as possible," he said. "Unlike you Conduits, we Mechanists need this when we find ourselves up high."
"Why's that," asked Draco.
"Your high energy output has a side effect. You're constantly having energy flowing through your muscles. You can survive long falls because of this. You don't need to worry about breaking anything. We Mechanists do. Cole basically uses this to maneuver from rooftop to rooftop or to get some height on the First Sons in New Marais." Harry landed and popped his neck. "Throughout the year, I'll be teaching you how to properly use these techniques and the more advanced ones as well. Today, just focus on the basic stuff. Bolts, Schematic understanding, Charging, Thrusters. Any questions?"
"Yeah," said Tonks. "What about what Lena can do."
"That I've named Flash Step. It's basically like Charging, except you don't need the electrical equipment like Charging does."
"And," said Lena. "It's only for quick bursts. Haven't figured out how to hold it for longer periods or travel farther than I have. Also, it's draining!"
"Still seems like fun," said Tonks.
"It's a more advanced ability," said Harry. "Kessler was the only other person I knew who could use it. That and a lot of other abilities he used against my uncle in Empire City. I didn't see the fight, but I saw Cole's memories."
"Can we see them," asked Blaise.
"I'd need to bring the equipment here, but I think we can do it."
"Couldn't we just use a pensieve," asked Draco.
"No. It's saved in a special device Izzy made years ago. It's supposed to be the pensieves replacement. I'll see if I can bring it. For now, Pansy, Luna, can you ladies please help tutor the others? Lena, you as well please."
"Sure thing," said Lena. Padma nodded with a smile and Pansy shrugged. As the more experienced Technomancers taught the others, Isabel and Cindy watched from the Server Room, Sirius and Remus behind them. Cindy smiled as she watched her son teaching Millicent how to generate a Lightning Bolt.
"He'd make a good teacher," said Cindy.
"Too bad he doesn't get a chance," said Isabel as she tried hacking into the First Son countdown website. "Dude's gonna be too focused on stopping whatever Kessler warned him about."
"Do you have any idea what it is," asked a voice from the doorway. The adults jumped and turned around, seeing Daphne and Tracey standing there. "Sorry," said Daphne.
"It's fine, Ice Queen," said Isabel with a grin. Daphne glared at her. "What? Don't blame me for being a Cryomancer. I call 'em as I see 'em!"
"That's my bosses way of saying, 'nice to meet you'," said Cindy. She smiled and went to the two first years. "Hello Daphne, Tracey."
"Hello, Ms. MacGrath," said Daphne with a slight curtsey. Tracey timidly waved beside her best friend.
"How can we help you," asked Isabel.
"We wanted to see what Technomancy can do."
"She wanted to see," said Tracey. "I just got dragged along with her."
"Why does that seem so familiar," asked Remus as he turned to his old friend.
"I don't know what you're talking about," denied Sirius.
"To answer your question," said Cindy, adjusting her glasses. "No. We don't. I'm not even sure the man who gave Harry the warning knew fully what it is."
"And Harry has to face it?"
"Not alone. At least, we hope not." Daphne saw the worry on Cindy's face. "We've been saying we will help him face it together, but some part of me worries that in the end, he'll be all alone. No friends, no family, no loved ones. Just him and whatever is coming."
"Why do you think that?"
"Just a mother's worry."
"And Harry has a habit of doing things solo," said Isabel. "He was basically alone while he grew up with his horrible relatives. And it forced him to work out his problems alone, no help from anyone because no one was willing to help. The bastard of a man that was his uncle spread lies that Harry was a troublemaker and was likely to join a gang and sell drugs. And the whole neighborhood was eating it up. Assholes…"
"How could anyone do that," asked Tracey.
"How could anyone believe their superior because their blood is 'Pure'? Because they're idiots. Take it from me, a dhampir who's a prodigy at everything including Sanguimancy. That's Blood Magic, by the way. Actual blood magic, not those damnable blood sacrifice rituals from the old magic families. Blood is blood. Unless it's from another organism with a different biological make up than our carbon based ones, it's all red, has oxygen, and stains a perfectly white carpet."
"That's morbid," said Tracey.
"But true. Have you tried getting blood out of a white fabric without magic? Fucking impossible." Isabel took a sip of her water only to spit it back out as she felt herself get smacked upside the head.
"Language," said Cindy.
"Dammit," said Isabel as she dabbed at her now wet shirt, which Daphne was just now noticing was a bit too revealing.
"Isn't that against uniform regulations for a teacher?"
"You would think," said Cindy, pinching the bridge between her eyes. "But she's made it a rule to follow the rules while also breaking them. It's revealing, yes, but it still follows the dress code. And she wears a lab coat majority of the time so there's no risk of her flashing someone."
"Hey, I'm not the smartest woman on Earth for nothing," said Isabel with a cocky grin.
"That's a bold claim," said Daphne.
"But true." Isabel tossed a couple of bags of chips at the two students and conjured a couple of chairs. "Take a seat, kiddies, and let's watch Harry at work."
Back in the Great Hall, Harry was helping Draco with Static Thrusters. "Control your energy, cousin. It should feel like your brushing against a carpet."
"I'm trying!"
"Don't get angry. Stay calm. Anger makes our magic stronger and could propel you into the ceiling when you activate your structures. If you see your sparks go from blue to red try and calm down. We don't need you getting concussed." Millicent tried lifting a slab of metal off the ground using electromagnetism and ducked as it flew at her head. Blaise shouted in pain as it hit his back.
"Sorry!"
"I'm ok," said Blaise as he massaged his back. "Just bruised!"
"Too much power and fear," said Harry from his perch at the top of the projected stairs. "You need to be confident and reel in your power. Your magic will tell you how much to use, listen to it." Neville tried sparking his hands and jumped when they did, Pansy caught him and helped him stand as he stumbled.
"Don't be afraid. This is a part of you. Embrace it, control it. And don't be a wuss." Neville visibly deflated and Harry shook his head at Pansy. Luna floated above Draco with Harry's skates.
"Would you stop that," shouted Draco.
"Come up here and make me."
"You know Thrusters don't work like that, Luna," said Harry.
"The Mysterious Girl?"
"She cheated. I know she did." Fred and George created a snake automaton and sent it at Harry. He blasted it before it could strike him, feeling the metal moving towards him. Harry had been sending out small pulses to detect if they tried it again. This was the third attempt after a small automaton dog slobbered oil into his hair. 'I can still feel it. Where the hell did they find oil?!' Hermione hooked up a few electrodes to Lena and Tonks.
"Ok, let's see…" she typed away at a laptop as Tonks looked cross-eyed at a node on her forehead.
"This itches," said the Metamorphmagus.
"Deal with it. Harry uses these nodes to study his and Mr. MacGrath's electrical outputs. I'm doing the same, using the instructions Harry put on here. Ok, both of you, please ignite your hands." Lena and Tonks nodded and sparked up blue and purple respectively. "Whoa! Ok, no need to compete.!" Harry floated down on his Thrusters and looked at the laptop. Their readings were both steadily increasing and, looking at their hands, it was showing. Hermione jumped as a stray bolt arced her way and shocked her.
"Sorry," said Lena as she stopped.
"Are you two always like that," asked Harry.
"Sometimes," said Tonks. "Other times we're thick as thieves."
"Speaking of thieves," said Padma as she patted her pockets. "Where's my phone?"
"Floating up here," said Luna as she stared at it. "I didn't do it this time."
"Like I'll believe that." Luna pointed at Su from where she floated. Harry turned to her and saw her meditating, several pieces of tech floating around her, including his gun. He patted his holster and felt it unclipped.
"That's impressive…"
"What is," asked Su as she opened her eyes, breaking her concentration. Harry rushed to get her as a slab of metal was about to crash down on her. In his hurry, he didn't realize he'd Flash Stepped to her and scooped her up, turning them both into energy for a brief second before reforming. Harry cringed as the sound of crashing metal filled the Great Hall behind him. "Did I do that?"
"Yeah. And I'm jealous," said Pansy. "I've been at this for two years and I can only lift a slab that big about five inches?" She thought for a second. "No, six. I was frustrated one time and upped my record."
"Why do we even have slabs that big," asked Draco.
"Because Cole can throw two ton cars like it's nothing," said Harry. "Holly." Holly projected footage of Cole using electromagnetism to lift a car in front of him five feet off the ground before sending it flying at a couple of First Sons. "This slab weighs about 200 lbs., or 90 kg. Good for testing our limits as we are right now. And Su is the one to beat. Holly?"
"In her meditative trance, Su Li lifted the slab roughly 15 ft. off the ground."
"What," asked Blaise. "Are we competing?"
"Sort of," said Hermione with a smile. "Competition brings out the best in everyone. And setting records like this is a good way of pushing yourself to get better. Say Su manages to beat her own record, she'll strive to beat it again. And so will you. It's human nature to want to compete to see who's better, otherwise sports wouldn't exist."
"Interesting theory, Ms. Granger," said a voice from the entrance. The Technomancers and Hermione turned to the door and saw Professor Flitwick standing there. "Oh, don't mind me. I heard a commotion and came to investigate."
"Hello, Professor Flitwick," said Harry. "Stick around, you can help us conduct a study on our magic."
"Oh, I'd be delighted! This Technomancy seems very interesting. I wonder, do you think your housemates would want to join in the study, Mr. MacGrath?"
"I'm sure they would. We are the House of Knowledge and Wisdom, after all. I feel the Great Hall is too small to hold all of us and the equipment we need to use for our magic."
"I've got a solution," said Isabel over the intercoms in the Gibraltar. "I brought some extra laptops with us. I'll sync them up with a camera to broadcast and record the training, the Ravenclaws can observe through those."
"Nice idea, Izzy!"
"However," said Flitwick. "I'm afraid you'll need to use somewhere else to practice." He gestured to the fractured stone under the dropped slab. "I'm afraid the old stonework of the castle can't handle damage like that, even if repaired."
"Right, sorry, Professor."
"It's no problem."
"Harry," said Cindy over the intercom. "Didn't you and Sasha managed to recreate your birth mother's capsule spells?"
"Yeah, we did. What about them?"
"Didn't she have a building you used as an example?"
"Oh, her bunker!"
"Bunker," asked Hermione.
"My birth mother was inspired by watching Dragon Ball Z to recreate the capsules from the show. She managed to replicate it using touch activated shrinking and expansion runes and put them on a cabin she inherited from her deceased grandfather. She reinforced it with strengthening runes so that it could withstand constant size adjustments and if one of her magical experiments was too… volatile."
"Volatile," asked Neville.
"It's a fancy way of saying explosive," said Isabel. "Do you have it?"
"Uh," said Harry. "No. Sasha has it. Said she was looking for any other runes my birth mother might have placed in it. That was a year ago, but still…"
"Tomorrow, Charge to the company and get it from her, please."
"Yeah, sure. Not like I had anything better to do on a Saturday."
"Alright. Oh, and pick up a few things I left at the… OW!" The group heard her shout after hearing a light thud.
"He's not your errand boy," said Cindy. "For now, I think it's time you children take a break. You need to put the Great Hall back in order before dinner."
"Yes, ma'am," said Harry.
"Filius, can you help them?"
"Of course."
"Hey, Harry," said Daphne in place of Cindy.
"Daphne," asked the First Technomancer.
"Can you take me to meet that woman you spoke about? Lucy Kuo?"
"You want me to take you to New Marais?"
"Yeah. You got some training in, I should too."
"Alright. Tomorrow, I'll show you my home and take you to see Lucy."
"Thanks!"
"Can I go too," asked Tracey.
"Of course," said Harry with a smile at the camera.
"And she's blushing," said Daphne. "You sure have a way with women, MacGrath."
"You can thank Mom for that."
"Harry," said Holly. "I think you're getting on a call on your other phone."
"Dammit. Why now?"
"Language," said Hermione, Padma and Cindy.
"Stop with the tag team!"
"No," said Padma with a grin. Harry groaned and turned to the Technomancers.
"Alright. We're done for today, it seems. Tomorrow, when I get back, I'll be going over physical training."
"Meaning," asked Millicent.
"Exercise," said Padma with a groan. The Pure Bloods blanched slightly as Su Li shrugged.
"Not a problem," she said.
"You weren't raised to rely on only magic," said Harry. He grinned viciously at the Pure Bloods. "They on the other hand…"
"We're going to hate you after this, aren't we," asked Blaise.
"You mean more than now," asked Draco.
"You'll thank me when it's over," said Harry. "For now, let's get this place back in order."
"Yes," said Pansy. "Oh fearless leader!"
"Don't patronize me. Let's get to work." With that, the Technomancers got to work putting the table back together as Filius fixed the cracked stone.
(Somewhere in America)
A man sat in a chair, smoking a cigarette as he watched a feed from one of the hacked cameras in Hogwarts. Next to him, a girl the age of 11 watched with him. "MacGrath seems to be an excellent teacher," said the girl.
"Yes he does," said the man. "But it remains to be seen if he will be a good leader. We need to test him."
"How do you suggest we do that?"
"I have a few plans in place. But those are for later use. For now, let's let them learn. We'll test him soon."
"Of course, sir." The girl saluted and left the room as he took a drag from his cigarette.
"Kessler better be right about you, Mr. MacGrath. Otherwise, we're all doomed."