Harry Potter, Heir of Gryffindor
The Ides of March
In early March it was decided that Ron and Neville would begin conducting seminars on the first and third Saturdays of each month to teach the aurors, hit-wizards, security personnel and members of the Order of the Phoenix about everything they had learned about Death Eater tactics. They were hesitant at first because always before it had been either Harry or Remus doing the lecturing but when they promised to attend, as a show of moral support, they agreed. The only hard part, once they had gotten their instructors to agree, was figuring out how they were going to get the word out to the people who needed this information in a timely manner so that those who were on duty those nights could make arrangements to attend. It was finally decided that they would spread the word via word-of-mouth and even then only through secure channels.
The next problem lay in the format of the presentations. Since they already knew that everyone learned differently it was decided that they would do large, multimedia presentations. It was decided that, upon entering the Room of Requirement, the participants would be presented with a manual detailing the information that would be covered during the seminars. Ron would then begin the seminars by lecturing on the Death Eaters' standard attack formations and the most effective defensive maneuvers that would work against each of these formations. Neville would then follow with descriptions and listings of the Death Eaters' favorite spells and fighting techniques and the most effective shielding charms and countermeasures that could be used against each. These lectures would then be followed by life-size, three-dimensional footage of Death Eaters in action.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the presentations was going to be the visual portions of the programs because it would mean externalizing the memories stored in Harry's crystal ball. After a great deal of debate it was decided that Harry and Albus would combine forces to create a special room, within the Room of Requirement. The room would be would be a circular auditorium capable of comfortably seating at least five hundred people. It would have a sunken stage that would double as a pensieve projector. Harry would place the memories Ron and Neville needed in a separate crystal ball that would be programmed to interact with the room's playback features and Ron and Neville would operate it from a specially designed control platform that would let them select which scenes they wanted to show, adjust the volume on the battles being played out, pause a particular scene so that they could discuss what was happening in greater detail, run through a scene in slow motion so that the participants could study the scenes in greater detail and rewind the action so that they could answer any questions that might arise about a particular action, spell or formation.
In short, Ron and Neville were becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructors for the magical world's equivalent of the muggle military. They would be teaching military tactics and strategy to aurors, hit-wizards and security personnel from around the world and, even though they were a bit apprehensive at first, they were warming to the idea and looking forward to their first presentation, which would take place on the third Saturday of the month.
The early morning dueling classes were still going on except that they had been opened to everyone from fourth year up which meant that Harry, Neville, Remus, Tonks, Alastor and Kingsley each had close to one hundred students. Each of them also had one teaching assistant. Harry and Ginny and Neville and Luna were, of course, teamed together. Ron was teamed with Remus while Hermione was teamed with Tonks and Cho and Colin were teamed with Alastor and Kingsley.
None of the classes were divided along house lines. Indeed, every attempt was made to make sure that all four houses were equally represented in each of the classes. This worked out so well that by the end of the second week of March it was not uncommon to see a seventh-year Slytherin helping a fourth-year Gryffindor or a sixth-year Huffelpuff helping a fifth-year Ravenclaw.
The school was truly coming together to fight the common foe and it showed. The house tables were no longer the exclusive territory of any one house. Meals were shared, more often than not, with dueling partners, which had been specifically paired to help tear down as many house boundaries as possible. Indeed, by the third week of March the only boundaries that remained were the sleeping arrangements. Severus, of course, had to maintain his image (for safety's sake) but he didn't object too strongly unless one of his students tried to bring a 'foreigner' into the Slytherin Common Room.
The laboratory classes were going well as well. Most of the members of the D.A. were able to hold their own against at least three opponents for fifteen minutes or more and Neville had advanced to being able to disarm six opponents in an hour and a half. It usually took him close to half an hour to disarm his first opponent but after that they tended to go down fairly quickly. Neville's most worthy opponents (baring Harry, as they never went against each other unless it was as an exercise for Harry) were usually Ron, Hermione, Ginny or Luna. Neville was never tested against more than one of them at a time because he just wasn't up to those standards yet.
When it came Harry's time to duel most of the class would stand back and watch as Harry went up against his ten best. Since he was not allowed to use anything other than his wand in class he was hard pressed to disarm them all but usually managed it in just under two hours (even when they were arrayed in a circular pattern around him). When he was asked to help with some of the other classes - something he found himself doing quite regularly after Quidditch practice - he would usually find himself going up against ten or twelve of the best duelers from whichever class he was working with. He very seldom got hit with anything more serious than a mild stunner and almost always won. But that wasn't the point. The point was to get him used to fighting multiple opponents with different, and sometimes unpredictable, fighting styles.
When it came to dueling with partners, however, Harry and Neville were the team to beat. No one else, even any combination of instructors, could even come close. On the few occasions they were allowed to team up they could easily best and disarm an entire class in under an hour.
Harry and Albus dueled several more times, usually in inclement weather and/or after dark so that very few would be inclined to observe and learn of Harry's developing abilities. Harry hated keeping this secret from his friends but he did understand why it had to be done. Their last few duels had been particularly challenging because they had been held in the quidditch pitch at night, in less than ideal weather conditions, and under the influence if disillusionment and invisibility charms so that rather than seeing where the attacks were coming from they would have to sense them. If anyone had watched these duels all they would have seen were sporadic bursts of energy flying around the pitch with no visible points of origin.
To make matters worse, both Harry and the Headmaster were allowed to use everything at their disposal, save Harry's Elemental abilities. This meant that Harry had to defend himself against and attack with all forms of wanded, wandless, ethereal and spiritual magic. This included many spells whose energy signatures were invisible to the naked eye and could only be sensed on a deeper, intuitive level. As if this weren't bad enough, Albus started fighting dirty during the third of these 'invisible' duels by conjuring and transfiguring a wide variety of either invisible or transparent objects and creatures.
Most of these duels ended in a draw but occasionally one or the other of them would win. Neither of them was ever seriously hurt; but they were both, more often than not, thoroughly exhausted after three hours of some of the most intense dueling either of them had seen in a very long time. True, Harry's experiences with dueling were extremely limited; but Albus' experiences spanned more than a century and included some of the most vicious fighting the wizarding world has ever known.
Harry's metamorphmagus training was not going as well as he would have liked, however. He could change the length and color of his hair pretty much at will; he could change his eye color with a little extra effort; he could even change his skin tone and, to a limited extent, his bone structure; but he couldn't get rid of the scar. Tonks laughed at him one night when he made himself look like Ron's twin and, with a quick glamour charm to hide the scar, sent him back to the Gryffindor Common Room as a prank to see what would happen and expected a full report at breakfast the next morning.
When Harry walked into the Gryffindor Common Room a few minutes later - the suits of armor weren't fooled but everyone else was - he glanced around to make sure Ron wasn't around and, as he saw his best friend disappear up the stairs towards their room, decided to have a little fun at Ron's expense. Walking over and kneeling down beside Hermione he said, in an almost perfect imitation of Ron's voice, "Er, 'Mione, what did I just go up to my room to get?"
Fortunately Harry had taken his glasses off and shoved them in his pocket before saying anything so when Hermione looked up with what Harry could only assume was of consternation on her face she didn't know that it was Harry speaking to her and not Ron. "Oh, honestly, Ron!" she scolded. "Can't you remember anything? Come on! Let's go find your Transfiguration book together."
Hermione scolded and berated Ron all the way up to the sixth-year boys' dormitory. When they opened the door Ron was standing right in front of then with a look of surprise on his face at seeing his girlfriend standing in front of him looking thoroughly flustered. When Hermione looked up and saw Ron her mouth fell open. "Ro . . ." she started but was quickly shoved from behind and plowed into her boyfriend who dropped his Transfiguration text and caught her in his arms.
Harry quickly stepped in behind her and closed the door. Putting his glasses on and rapidly scanning the room to make sure no one else was around he looked over at Ron and said, "Hi."
Ron's mouth fell open. "Harry?" he asked.
Harry chuckled and smiled. "In your flesh," he said.
Hermione looked between the two then turned to scowl at Harry. With her hands on her hips and a very stern look on her face she said, "Harry James Potter, that was not funny!"
"Actually," Ron said, "it really was kind of funny. You should have seen the look on your face when you saw me. It was almost priceless."
Hermione spun around and glared up at Ron. "You two," she said. "You are both . . ."
Hermione would have said more but at that moment Harry's trunk began to open. Harry quickly pulled his glasses off and gave Ron a quick conspiratorial wink. "I'll be right back, Luna," Ginny said as she crawled out of the seventh chamber. "I'm going to go look for my Herbology notes." When she turned around Harry and Ron were standing on either side of Hermione with identical smiles on their faces. Ron had his hand over her mouth and Harry had his arm around her back, holding her arms securely in place. "Hi, Gin," they said in unison at which point Ginny promptly fainted.
Harry turned to look at Ron and said, "Oops."
Rom looked over and, nodding his head, said, "Yeah."
Hermione, however, broke free of their grasps and rushed to Ginny's side, suddenly more concerned for her friend's welfare than in scolding two prankster wannabes.
Five minutes later, after Harry had reverted to his normal self and they had levitated Ginny into Harry's bedroom after explaining to Luna what had happened, Ginny woke up and looked at Harry who was sitting on the bed beside her. "What happened?" she asked.
Harry explained about his metamorphmagus training with Tonks and the fact that, even though he was fairly limited in his abilities by Tonks' standards, he could make himself look like another person if he wanted or had to. He explained about the joke he had played on Hermione and the irresistible temptation to prank her as well. He ended by apologizing profusely and helping her up off the bed.
Ginny fell into his arms and started giggling. "That's okay, Harry," she said. "Just don't let Mum catch you looking like Ron."
Harry looked down at her, thoroughly confused. "Why not?"
Ginny burst out laughing and said, "One set of identical twins in the family is enough. I don't think she could handle two.
The Sunday after Ron and Neville's first seminar, which was eight days before the next full moon, Winky and Dobby approached Harry and Ginny during breakfast with broad smiles on their faces and looking rather smug, proud of themselves for a job well done. Harry and Ginny looked down at their . . . children, curious as to what they had done. After almost a full minute of the house elves silently congratulating themselves but offering no explanations Harry looked sternly down at Dobby and said, "Alright, Dobby. Out with it. What have you done?"
Dobby didn't flinch, however, and held his head up high. "When you is finished," Dobby stated matter-of-factly. "We will show you when you is finished."
Harry and Ginny looked at each other nervously for a moment then, as if on cue, laid their silverware down, wiped their mouths on their napkins, tossed their napkins back down on the table and stood up. "You will show us now," Ginny said sternly.
Dobby and Winky, still smiling and looking smug led the young couple out of the kitchen, across the sitting room, through the study and into the library.
The first thing they noticed upon entering the library is that it somehow seemed larger. The entire center section of shelves had been moved and a large study table had been erected near the window, which was now clearly visible from the door. Before they could take in all of the modifications, however, Winky said, "This way!" and led them along the wall to their right.
When they reached the wall the house elves turned left and led them to the middle of that wall and stopped. With a curious glance from Harry Dobby gestured to the three-meter break in the shelves along the wall. "Here is your Come and Go Room, Harry!" he squeaked excitedly.
Harry looked up at the large vacant space and saw a large sign set into the wall. The top line said, "ROOM OF REQUIREMENT." Below that, in a much smaller, flowing script, it said "The Come and Go Room." Harry smiled down at his friends. "You did it?" he asked.
Dobby and Winky smiled and nodded their heads enthusiastically. "Yes, Harry!" Winky squeaked. "It is finished."
Harry could tell by the expectant looks on their faces that they wanted him to try it so, after asking everyone to step back, he started pacing back and forth beneath the sign, thinking about wanting an exercise room where he could practice his ballet, gymnastics and tumbling moves. On his third pass a door appeared. When he opened the door and walked in he found himself in a large gymnasium / dance studio. One end of the room was dedicated to dance, with a dance bar mounted along one wall and mirrors all around, while the other end was dedicate to gymnastics and the large center section was occupied with a full sized tumbling mat. The gymnastics equipment included a balance beam, a pommel horse, a set of parallel bars, a set of uneven parallel bars and a set of rings.
After walking in and looking around at all of the equipment Ginny looked up at Harry, curiosity evident on her face. "Tumbling and flexibility," Harry said, with a knowing smile. "I'll show you later." Then turning around and dropping to his knees he pulled Dobby and Winky into a hug and thanked them. "This is brilliant, guys! I don't know how I will ever be able to than you enough!"
"There is no reason to thank us, Harry," Dobby said excitedly. "But there is more!"
"More?" Harry asked, standing up and looking down at the two very smug looking house elves.
Winky smiled and nodded her head vigorously. "Follow us please."
After leaving Harry's Room of Requirement the two house elves led their master and mistress along the way towards the massive Wizarding Window that now occupied most of the north wall of the library. As they walked along the window Harry glanced across at the door as they passed by the open area and study table and his jaw just about hit the floor. Several meters beyond the massive table stood a small conversation pit; and several meters beyond that stood a couch and two chairs - all decorated in the traditional Gryffindor colors - positioned around an enormous fireplace. Above the fireplace hung the Potter Family Crest. To the left up this hung a huge color photograph of Hogwarts that Harry could only guess must have been taken from somewhere down near the gates before the start of term last September. The grass was still green; the sky was, for the most part, blue with a few puffy white clouds drifting lazily past; and Hagrid could be seen working in his garden while Fang sniffed around the base of a nearby tree. The equally large portrait that hung to the right of the fireplace was the blown up version of the picture Dobby had taken of them in their animagus forms. Harry couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head at Dobby's enthusiasm.
When they reached the west end of the library they turned and walked along that wall until they reached a doorway that was positioned directly across from the Room of Requirement. The sign above this door read "Dobby and Winky."
Opening the door Dobby led them into a short hallway with two doors on either side. The first one on the right had a sign on it that read "Armory." Opening this door Dobby led them into a large room filled with all kinds of weapons. There were swords, sabers, rapiers and daggers, many of which had to be at least three hundred years old. There was a collection wands from the past, each of which had a complete description of its history of who, in Harry's family, it had belonged to and what it had primarily been used for. The listings also had the name of each wand's maker, its core properties, the kind of wood it was made of and its length. There was also a large section dedicate to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes which contained generous supplies of all of their practical jokes and weapons of war.
After touring the armory they went across the hall and entered the "Wardrobe Room." Apparently, once Winky had gotten used to the idea of wearing clothes and accepted the fact that Harry and Ginny wanted them to be comfortable, she had taken up sewing as a hobby. There were racks upon racks of dress robes for both Harry and Ginny as well as a large assortment of elegant evening gowns all of which were tailored to fit Ginny and spelled to grow with her as she grew older. Needless to say, Harry and Ginny were stunned. Ginny very nearly danced around the room looking at the wide variety of clothes she never would have dreamed could be at her disposal a year ago. Harry, however, was a little put out because until recently he had never really had any use for more than a few changes of clothing; but he relented when Winky showed him her and Dobby's wardrobes which matched his and Ginny's.
After leaving the wardrobe room Harry and Ginny were given tours of "Dobby's Dark Room," "Winky's Sewing Room" and the rest of the house elves' living quarters, which Harry and Ginny were both pleased to see were both spacious and comfortable. The next stop on their tour of the 'new' library was the owlry. As they approached the door just below and to the right of the 'family' portrait Dobby said, "Once we learned of your animagus forms we made a few minor changes in our plans for the owlry. We hope you won't mind."
"Dobby," Ginny said in amazement, "this is so amazing, what you've done, that I can't see how we could object to a few changes in your plans for the owlry."
Winky smirked at Dobby as she opened the door and said, "We hope you like it."
This time both Harry's and Ginny's mouths fell open as they stepped through the door and entered what could only be described as an enormous open-air . . . park. It had a wide variety of trees, many of which were ideal for climbing; a small pond, perfect for an otter to play in; a small stream with several small water falls and natural water slides that Hermione would thoroughly enjoy; plenty of open space and grassland for Neville; and a small forest that Ron, Harry and Ginny could use to practice their stalking skills in.
"How big is it?" Harry asked in amazement.
"We is making it two kilometers by three kilometers, Harry," Dobby said.
"And half a kilometer high so Hedwig, Henry and Miss Luna can get plenty of exercise," Winky added.
"We is thinking about adding a garden and an orchard or two so we can grow our own fruits and vegetables," Dobby finished for them.
Recognizing that Dobby and Winky needed something to keep themselves occupied when they weren't helping the Hogwarts house elves or helping out around the trunk Harry and Ginny knelt down and pulled their friends/children into hugs. "I think that's brilliant!" Harry said.
After transforming into their animagus forms (Harry transformed into his lion form) and giving the house elves rides around the 'owlry's' grounds they returned to the library and stopped in front of the fireplace before returning to the main living quarters. "Er, Dobby?" Harry asked. "Not that I mind or anything but why did you put a fireplace in the library?"
Dobby looked entirely too smug for his own good. "This is not a normal fireplace, Harry," Dobby said as a grin spread across his face. "This is a special floo fireplace that can only be used for talking and, even then, can only be used to talk to Professor Dumbledore, The Order of the Phoenix Headquarters, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, The Burrow and the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors."
Harry and Ginny looked at each other and then looked back at their friends. "Brilliant!" they exclaimed in unison.
From the expectant looks on Dobby and Winky's faces they knew that they should try it out so Harry turned to Ginny and said, "Why don't you call Mum while I go fix lunch?"
Ginny nodded and said, "Okay," before walking over and taking a handful of floo powder from the jar on the mantle, kneeling down in front of the fireplace, throwing the powder into the grate and yelling, "NUMBER TWELVE GRIMMAULDE PLACE, LONDON!" A moment later, as Harry watched from behind, the remodeled kitchen of Harry's house in London - a room he had yet to see in person - came into view. "Mum?" Ginny called out. "Mum, are you there?"
Moments later, after the sound of a bowl falling to the floor and breaking was heard coming from somewhere in the room, Molly Weasley appeared in front of the fireplace, a look of fear, apprehension and concern evident on her face. "Ginny dear," she gasped. "Is everything all right? Are you all right? Are Ron, Hermione and Harry Okay?"
Ginny looked up at her mother's worried face and nodded. "Yes, Mum. Everything's fine and we are all okay. We are just testing the fireplace Dobby and Winky installed in Harry's library."
Molly pulled a chair up and sat down, fanning herself with her hands. "Oh. Thank Goodness! I was afraid something might have happened at the school."
Harry knelt down next to Ginny and stuck his head into the emerald flames. "Hi, Mum," he said.
"Oh, hello, Harry dear. What's this about a fireplace in you library? It isn't in your trunk is it?"
Harry smirked and nodded. "Yes, Mum. It's in my trunk but it can only be used for fire talking." Then turning to look at Ginny said, "Well, I'm going to go fix lunch. You two have a nice visit and I'll call you when lunch is ready."
The next weekend Harry and the others spent several hours exploring the owlry in their animagus forms. Hermione thoroughly enjoyed herself sliding down the banks and into the pond only to swim around a bit before scampering back up to do it again. Neville walked and galloped around as he watched Luna, Hedwig, Henry and Pig fly around. He had gotten used to Luna landing on his horns occasionally but was a tad put off when all four birds landed on his horns. It wasn't so much the fact that they did it as it was the fact that Pig was so light that he had a hard time keeping his head straight when both owls decided to land on one horn to stay as far away from the annoyingly chipper pest. This meant that Luna and Pig had to crowd each other at the very tip of Neville's other horn to help him keep a relatively straight head.
Ron played, as best he could, with Hermione but soon found that water was not his favorite habitat. After his first few splashes he gave it up, shook himself dry and watched from the shore. Harry, Ginny and Crookshanks spent their time exploring the forest and lounging in the trees.
While all of this was going on Remus and Tonks reclined in two lawn chairs just outside the small cottage that marked the entrance to the library, visiting and drinking pumpkin juice, while Dobby and Winky worked on their garden. Harry had secretly watched as Remus and Tonks had grown closer over the course of the year. He didn't know if anything would come of it or not because of Remus' conscience and fear of getting intimate with anyone due to his lycanthropy but he was glad that Remus had found a friend, someone he could talk to without fear of being judged.
It had been decided, after a little convincing, that Remus would use Harry's owlry for his next transformation. Harry, Ginny and Ron would join him at the start and, after the transformation was complete, Hermione and Tonks would join them. Neville and Luna were still a bit iffy about being in the presence of a werewolf during a full moon. They didn't have anything against him as a human being; they were just a bit nervous about being around him while he was in his wolf form. When Remus objected to Hermione and Tonks joining them (Hermione as herself) Ron and Harry transformed into their animagus forms (Harry in his panther form this time) and when Remus realized that they were showing him what he would have to get through if he even thought about hurting either of them he relented and agreed that they could join them.