Chapter 27

Hermione

After the formal discussion, we all broke off into groups, mingled and enjoyed each other's company. Ron, Harry, Percy and Annabeth hung around with Snape, Lupin and Sirius, mostly using Harry and Ron to demonstrate the various things the Americans had taught us. I joined them for a bit, but Molly soon gathered up Ginny and myself to discuss our relationships, just girl to girl, or rather mother to daughter, with father nearby.

Molly, and to a lesser extent Arthur, wanted to know how it was that in the less than a fortnight since we left Grimmauld we had become the girlfriends of Harry and Ron. They were quite happy about it, but seemed confused, and maybe a little concerned.

"Well you see, um, Hazel, the American leader? She can be quite persuasive and she..."

"She instructed Ronald and Harry to ask us to the formal. Well, that was like a leak in a dam and all the feelings they had stored up for us over the years have come rushing out. So Hazel. She's the one to blame." Ginny smiled.

"Well we think you are both just adorable couples and frankly wondered why it was taking so long for you four to sort things out." Mrs Weasley said, then asked me, "but what of you and Harry?"

"Oh, I love Harry, he's... well, he's like a brother to me,"

"A little brother" Ginny giggled.

"But there has never been, you know, any spark. He's always been quietly about Ginny" I said as I smiled at them all, "and I think Ginny has been not so quietly about him. He's a great guy though. You can trust him with your daughter."

"Oh we've no doubt about that. Harry is first rate, well, we would have no doubt if these were normal times. They aren't. I must say I'm concerned that all of you are in greater danger because..." Arthur said, until Ginny interrupted.

"We are in greater danger, but you always told me to do what's right and let everything sort itself out. Well, standing by Harry is the right thing to do. That has nothing to do with our relationship. Besides, we haven't even been on a date!"

Mr and Mrs Weasley looked at each other, shrugged and seemed satisfied, or at least resided. We continued small talk, which now focused on what we knew of the Americans.

"Well they are very friendly, but weird too, almost like muggles. They don't really fit in with witches as we know them. They don't care about things like the House Cup, or the Quidditch Cup, or who the head boy and prefects are. They understand and seem to fit in with the muggle world. The girls are very much into fashion, like you would expect, the boys are more laid back. They seem to have little interests outside what they call "the quest", they are lackadaisical towards quidditch even. They seem, well, very mature in a way." I said.

"Like responsible and grown?"

"No, more like jaded. Like they've faced death a lot and nothing really scares them anymore. The other day Percy apparated full speed into the protective spells over the castle, oh and his full speed is stupid fast, and we all thought he was dead for sure, but they just went to work on what was left of him, well Annabeth was understandably hysterical, but the blood and gore didn't bother them. We're all about to throw up, but to them it was just another problem to solve, like they had seen it all before. Same way at the train, we're about to vomit from all the gore from the fight, it was impossible to tell where one pile of blood and guts ended and the next began, the smell of blood and gore was just atrocious, and their main concern is hiding Skippy. That's Reyna's Pegasus. Or Reyna is Skippy's human, it gets confusing...But when they fight... oh my god mother, they, well they just destroy their opponents as quickly as possible. They never hesitate and are absolutely fearless. Watching them take out the death eaters at the train was like watching an organized pack of wolves taking on rabbits that were practically jumping into their paws. You know how they always describe great wizarding battles as being long drawn out affairs lasting hours?" Ginny asked.

"Sometimes they are." Arthur answered.

"Well, not with the Americans. They don't trade tit for tat. If you slap one with a glove, three of them would respond with cricket bats. Its over in seconds. They all look so calm, I mean look at them, Nico over there looks like he is asleep, but if a death eater apparated in right now all of them would hit him with swords, or spells, or both before he could aim his wand. Oh and his title, 'Prince of ghosts and Lord of death', whatever he said? I think that might be real. When they fight its like they are all thinking the same thing, they attack as a group, and defend the same way. Its organized chaos. Like at the train, some of them protected us without them even talking about it, while the rest attacked. Some went airborne against the dementors, and the rest just knew to attack the death eaters as they landed. It was the most one sided fight you ever saw, then instead of stopping to congratulate each other or consider why we had been attacked or the consequences of it, they moved everyone under the protective spells of the castle. And then..."

"And then it was like it never happened. They were back to being a group of American students on holiday, but a group that had just killed a bunch of criminals and stolen a horse." I said.

"They protected you?"

"Yes, we were drawing our wands and Piper said 'no'. There is something in her voice sometimes, well, you just have to do what she says. Then two got in front of us, with their wands and swords out, and two behind us, and moved us towards the castle. By the time we realized we were being shielded, maybe a second or two, the fight was over."

"They took out four dementors and four death eaters in two seconds?" Molly was incredulous.

"Six. Six death eaters. Well the last one maybe took two seconds more. But yeah that's about it." Ginny answered.

"Of them, who would you say is the best?" Molly asked.

"Its really hard to say, they are all, well the worst of them is better than anyone I've seen. But they all say Percy is. He's the one you were arguing with that beat Professor Snape. And, well you saw it. What did you think?"

"He might not survive wand against wand." Arthur said.

"All the more reason to not fight that way." Annabeth replied as she came over to join us."Are you familiar with Sun Tzu, the Chinese general that wrote 'The Art of War'?" she asked.

"No, that sort of book doesn't come up in the Lockhart reading list." Ginny giggled, to the disdain of her mother and father.

"Well he wrote what is considered the original treatise on warfare. In it, he describes what we now call asymmetrical warfare, or hitting your enemy in an off balance way. Let me explain it this way. Lets say Gryffindor and Ravenclaw decided to have a chess tournament. Hermione has a ranking of the seven best players for Gryffindor, and the same list for Ravenclaw. She has to assign, based on skill level the Ravenclaw opponent that each must play. How would you assign them?'

"Well I guess I would assign Ron, I know he's our best, to play their best, and our second best to play theirs and so on." I said.

"Would each of you agree that is a sound plan?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes, sure. That way you are bound to win some and...

"And with luck you will win more than you lose and take the tournament prize, right?"

"Exactly." I answered.

"Plus, its the fair way to do it, right?"

"Well, yes, it would be the fair thing to do." I answered.

"Well with that plan, assuming the houses are about equal in skill, you should win three, lose three, and the other decides the tournament, right?"

"Yes, unless you get lucky and win more than three, but yes." Molly said.

"Do you remember what I said about fair fights in basic blade class?"

"Yes." Ginny answered, "Never get into one."

"Exactly. So if I were planning it, applying the principles of asymmetrical warfare, I could just about guarantee you would win six of the seven games. And 'fair' has no place in combat, especially when you or one of your allies can get hurt or killed." Annabeth said.

"Oh? And how would you do that?" Arthur asked, clearly intrigued by the statement.

"Well you say Ron is the best?"

"Yes. By far."

"Then I would have him play their number two player, for an almost guaranteed win. I would have your number two play their number three, and so on. I would put your worst player of the seven against their best. If he or she wins, great, if not, it won't matter as I would have already, in all likelihood, won the other six. That is asymmetrical warfare at its simplest. There is nothing 'fair' about it. As applied to swords and wands, a wand can beat a sword, a sword can beat a wand, but it is unlikely that a wand, no matter who welds it, can beat a wand, a shield and a sword. A single wand is not match for a coordinated attack by several adequate spell casters working together, and a group of wands acting as individuals in a mob is no match for a group o wands, swords, spears and arrows acting in a coordinated manner. That, in a nutshell, is what we teach. The general concept is easy to grasp, but the details can take weeks or months to learn, and then you must practice so you can act in concert with your allies without thinking about it. It may not be fair, but it keeps kids alive and healthy. And that should be our first goal, right?"

"Well of course, but you must understand, uh, Annabeth?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"Yes?"

"Well you must understand Annabeth that as a parent, well, I'm particularly protective of the children and no matter how much training they have, wars are for the grown ups to fight, not boys and girls fourteen and fifteen years old. I know you started earlier, I just can't understand child rearing in America," she said, causing Annabeth to giggle, "but so long as they are my children I, well myself and Arthur, will be the ones protecting them because they will be too young. That's just how a mother feels."

"I understand, but you know Voldemort is coming. You know he doesn't care how old the kids are. You know this, right? You know he aims to kill anyone that won't pledge loyalty to him. Even if the kids never carry a blade our tactics and strategies work. Don't deny them tools that could save them. Like Percy said, Hecate didn't send us by accident. We're not teaching anyone to go find a fight, we're teaching them what to do when a fight finds them." Annabeth smiled, and I think Molly began to trust her a bit.

"Can I ask you something, I asked the girls, but I'd like your opinion. Of all the Americans, who is the most powerful?"

"Uh, how, how do you mean?"

"Well, who is the best in a fight?"

"Oh! I thought you meant power like... well never mind that, the answer is Percy followed closely by Frank, Jason, and myself. Nico is right up there too, but even he will tell you he telegraphs his footwork. Reyna is solid, I mean I wouldn't want to make her angry, but her strength is in unit level fighting, although she is incredibly accomplished as an individual."

"I see. So, Percy leads your group in instructing as well as fighting?"

"Oh no! No! I mean, his counsel is always valued, but no." Annabeth leaned towards us conspiratorily, looked around to make sure no one else could hear, and whispered "No, I taught Percy. Well, I was one of his instructors, his main one really. He can't teach, he can't really tell you how he does what he does. He's just the best at it."

"How old are you Annabeth?" Molly asked.

"Oh, I thought you weren't supposed to ask a girl her age." She grinned.

"You're right, that was rude of me" Molly began to answer before Annabeth interrupted saying "Eighteen, and don't worry about it, I was just messing with you."

"You got me!" Molly smiled, then added "You carry yourself, well, you seem older somehow, you look eighteen, but I suspect you are wise beyond your years."

"I guess I get that from my mother, she's the same way."

"Well I'm going to rely on your wisdom, should I be concerned about Ron and Ginny having, uh, significant others at their age?"

"Mother!" Ginny nearly shouted, which saved me from doing the same.

"Of course. You're a mother. You will worry about all your kids until you draw your last breath. That is part of your duty, your burden and your joy. But, your kids have found two of the finest, most wonderful people to connect with that I have ever met. I would not be overly concerned."

"I just don't want them to connect too young." Molly said, stressing the word "connect" so as to create innuendo to Ginny and my everlasting shame.

"Oh. Well, I can't help you there! The girls know my feelings on that subject."

"Please mother, I know you want to ask but please don't. Please! I love you and I don't want Annabeth to kill you. Please don't!" Ginny pleaded with tears in her eyes while I shook my head and whispered "No!" repeatedly to let Mrs Weasley know not to go there.

"What? Why would she... What are your feelings Annabeth?" Molly asked.

"Oh, they are making a joke, never mind them. A few days ago some of the girls, and the guys, thought it would be funny to speculate about Percy and my, uh, personal life. I made it clear, in no uncertain terms, what the extent of that life was and exactly whose business it was, and that it certainly wasn't theirs. The sword in the tree over there is a reminder of that for them" Annabeth said pointing at the sword that was still embedded in the oak. "I guess what works for us might be difficult for others, but it just takes self control. We're not animals Ginny, Hermione. We can control our urges. Well, most of us can. Anyway, since you are apt to find out, yes, Percy and I sleep together, we have, out of necessity at first, on and off since we were twelve. Anymore I don't think I could sleep without him there, but as far as a sex life, that's it. It would be foolish to have one at our age. So we've talked, a lot, and kissed, a whole lot, and we decided to wait. Most everyone who knows us, including our parents, probably assume we have been going at it like rabbits on meth for some time, but the fact is we have decided to wait. I would suggest to Ginny and Hermione they should too. None of us are physically grown yet and we all have college ahead, as well as exciting lives to lead with or without men. In my case, I know it is with Percy. We've been through too much, over come too much, including two magical wars and parents that hate each other and we bonded permanently years ago, but an eighteen year old having a sex life just isn't wise. We are intimate in all kinds of ways, just not sexually. Does that answer your question?"

"Uh. That, uh, I admit that is not the answer I expected. You are indeed wise beyond your years. Thank you for your honesty, and you're quite right it is no one's business except yours. But I feel I can trust you looking out for my girls and I look forward to working with you, if that makes sense." Molly said.

"You can, and I look forward to it as well. We're all sisters at some level or another. I will help them, and protect them, anyway I can."

I was about to hurl, so it was good that we had to break up the meeting to prepare for the Sunday feast. I just hoped I could keep it down after Annabeth and Molly's chat. The adults, with the exception of Lupin and Sirius left, and Hazel gathered the rest of us to remind us that we were adding the new crew tonight after dinner, and that after that instead of practice we would be trying on dresses so the guys would just have to find something to do.