Title: Strings of Fate
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Being raised only by his Aunt, Harry comes to Hogwarts not only knowing about the Wizarding World, but with a kind of training no one at the school is expecting.
There was a buzz running through the assembled students as they awaited the first session of the Duelling Club that had been announced a few days earlier.
"So, who do you think will be teaching this class?" Neville asked.
"With luck, Snape or Flitwick." Harry said. "Without, the Peacock."
A disturbance ran through the crowd as the Professors entered. As the crowd parted Harry and his friends groaned as they saw Professors Lockhart and Snape entered. Lockhart took the stage, prancing like the Peacock that Harry named him, while Snape seemed to lurk behind him.
"Look at Professor Lockhart." George said in a stage whisper, soft enough to make it seem like he was trying to cover it but just loud enough to carry to the whole room.
Lockhart preened for a second.
"Is that a pimple?" Fred said in the same tone.
A horrified look crossed Lockhart's face and he swept out of the room, a few moments latter Professor Flitwick walked in.
"Professor Snape and I will be showing you the basics of the duelling." Flitwick said, as if he and Snape had planned this all along.
"Remember though, a duel is very different to a real fight." Snape said. "In a duel, there are rules and you will only face a single opponent."
"That said," Flitwick continued. "Many of the skills learnt in duelling are valuable in any kind of fight. The first thing you need to learn is defence. The quickest way to lose in a fight or a duel is to get hit by enemy spells."
This caused a stir through the students, as most thought that it would be all flashy spells and such.
"There are two ways to avoid enemy spells." Snape instructed. "The most common, but not the best, is a shielding spell. The second, and better way, is to dodge the spell."
"Dodge?" Malfoy said. "We are Wizards."
"I would just shield." Ron Weasley added, getting a glare from Malfoy.
"Exactly which Shield charm would you use, Mr Weasley?" Flitwick asked. "There are over a dozen different charms, each with their own strengths and weaknesses."
"Also there are some spells that cannot be blocked by any spell." Snape added. "And every Shield you cast the less power you have available for offensive spells. Better to simply not be there when the spell arrives."
"Now we are going to split up into pairs where you will take turns, one person casting a simple stinging hex and the other dodging." Flitwick instructed.
Harry and his group broke up into pairs, with Harry pairing up with Daphne, while Hermione paired with Neville and the Patil sisters pairing off against Susan and Hannah.
Petunia sat alone in Number 4, having just cleaned up after her dinner and was in the living room listening to the radio, which was playing one of Bach's Symphonies.
A not insignificant part of her wanted nothing more than to visit Ami Bones, be it just for companionship or for something that she could not define even to herself. She could admit to herself that she had never been 'in love' before. Vernon had been an act of rebellion and once in she could not escape, but he had not been Petunia's first and the two boys she had dated before him had both been teenaged flings.
Was that really what she was feeling? Was she 'in love' with Amelia Bones, or was it simple loneliness and the need for a friend?
Amelia was sitting in her study at Bones Manor, reading through training reports from the Academy and the fallout from Sirius Black's trial. Minister Fudge was… not happy. Black had gone to Azkaban without a trial and not only was that illegal, but it was turning into public relations nightmare for the Minister.
Putting aside the Minister's problems, which were actually working in the DMLE's favour as there was now a movement to increase funding to the DMLE and places at the Auror Academy. Turning to the training reports, she reviewed the latest performance reviews. Normally when Auror Trainees graduated they were partnered with an experienced Auror, but part of the training was also seeing how well they worked with their fellow Trainees.
In the past there had been a number of pairs of Trainees who worked so well together that they were partnered and supervised by a senior Auror. Amelia herself had been part of such a partnership, but Phillip Sullivan had died many years ago, in one of the early raids of Voldemort's first raise to power.
There were signs of two such pairings in the current batch of Trainees. One pair was Tonks and Zorah, or Indi and Tali as they liked to call each other, with Tonks' natural Metamorphic skills and way with people complementing Zorah's procedural and observational skills. In some training scenarios, which were recreations of actual crime scenes, Zorah had actually picked up small details that even the original investigators missed.
Amelia looked up from her work and glanced across the framed photos on her desk, all of them Wizarding Photos. One was of Susan and herself taken when Susan was nine, Amelia sitting with Susan in her lap reading a story together. Another was a big group shot from Christmas, which had Susan, all her friends and their families in it. The final photo was a candid shot of Petunia Evans and herself from the same party.
Her gaze lingered on the final photo for a few minutes, before turning back to her work.
Sirius and Marie were lying in bed in the hotel room Sirius had rented while he was looking for a permanent apartment after Amelia Bones a kicked him out of the safe house after his trial was over. Sure, he could have moved into his parents' old home, but it had not been properly maintained in a decade and he personally despised the place. He was looking for something in Muggle London not too far from Diagon Alley.
Marie snuggled into his chest, her breasts pressing into his side as he lay thinking. He wondered what Marie really thought about him and if either of them really were that into each other. For Sirius, at the time Marie had been the best of a small pool of options while he had been under house arrest, but he wondered if she just seen him as one who literally could not get away.
After a few minutes of consideration, he decided that it did not really matter. For now, they were familiar with each other and that was enough. No, Sirius decided, he had bigger things to worry about. Things like how he was going to face Harry and explain what he was thinking when he had gone after Peter rather than caring for Harry himself.
The trial, in particular the Defence Lawyer's closing statement, had shown him just how stupid he had been. He should have contacted the DMLE. He should have cared for Harry. He should have been there to help Petunia raise Harry. There were so many things he should have done. Now all he could hope was that he could make it up to Harry.
TBC…