Harry Potter and the Knights of the Roundtable
Author's Note 9-22-03:
I would like to apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. My current area of residence was hit hard by hurricane Isabella, resulting in a loss of power and phones for four days. There will be another delay in posting the next chapter as well. I am currently running two stories and have neglected the other for a little while and need to update it.
Chapter 7
When Harry and the rest of the Knights approached the statue of the Centaur near the DADA classroom, they found Dumbledore already waiting for them.
"Hello Harry." Dumbledore said. "I take it Harry has explained the situation to you all?" The Knights nodded. "Good. Harry, I believe that this is the entrance to the chamber. I am not sure how to open it." Harry examined the statue. After a few minutes he was ready to give up when Hermione's eyes went wide.
"Harry! Look at his hands!" she exclaimed. Only then did Harry notice that the statues hands were cupped, as though it getting ready to hold something. "I think you need to put something there."
"But what?" Ron asked.
"It would have to be something that only the heir of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw would possess." Dumbledore said. Harry thought for a few minutes, and then snapped his fingers.
"I've got it." He said, drawing a dagger from his belt. "I'm a direct descendant of the three. A small part of them is in me. In my blood." He took the dagger and cut his finger and let a few drops of blood land in the statue's hand. After a few seconds, a white glow surrounded the statue.
"Welcome heir of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. It has been foretold that you would one day come here. Only you and those you willingly designated shall be able to enter this chamber. From this point forward you will not need to present a blood sample. Simple place your hand in the statue and say the words Phoenix Light. The same is true for those you designate." The voice said. Then the light faded to reveal a doorway.
"Well, let's see what this place looks like." Harry said, leading the group into the entrance. Once inside they found a large, spiraling staircase that looked like it went down at least four levels. One by one they descended the staircase, until they reached the bottom and found themselves in a small chamber. On the one side of the chamber were two giant doors, adorned with the symbols of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.
Harry cautiously approached the doors. When he was about five feet from them, they began to open inward, revealing a large chamber. The group stepped in and reacted with awe.
They were standing in a large hallway. On the right side of the hallway were four chambers. At the end of the hall were two larger chambers. On the left side of the hall as a chamber approximately the size of the Chamber of Secrets. By Harry's estimation, the whole complex was definitely more than three times bigger than the Chamber of Secrets.
"Professor, this is definitely bigger than what you told me." Harry said.
"Indeed, Harry. I think it may be large enough to provide all of your Knights needs, including quarters." Dumbledore replied.
The group spent the rest of the morning reconfiguring the chamber to meet the needs of the Knights. The largest chamber became the training auditorium. A spell similar to the one placed on the Room of Requirements was used so that Harry could change the room to fit the particular training needs on a day-to-day basis. The first large chamber on the right side of the main hallway became the Knights Common Room. The room was decorated exactly like the Great Hall of Camelot, and for gatherings of the entire Knights a large roundtable could be placed there. The two large chambers at the end of the hall were further subdivided into living quarters for the Knights. It was decided that two Knights would share each room. Each room had is own bathroom, complete with shower and tub. The three smaller chambers on the right of the hallway became a library, a potions lab and the armory.
"Good work everyone." Harry said. "Take the rest of the day off to move you stuff down here and decorate your rooms. We'll start training tomorrow."
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"Harry, I was wondering," Hermione began. She and Harry were huddled in a corner of the Common Room by a fireplace. Her head was resting on Harry's shoulder and he had his arm around her.
"What were you wondering?" he asked.
"Well, I was wondering if we could go see my parents." She answered. "I haven't seen them in a few months, and I want to introduce them to you."
"I'd love to. But your parents have met me before, Hermione." He said. Hermione giggled.
"Yeah, they met Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and my best friend, not Harry Potter, my boyfriend." She replied. Harry smiled at her.
"Yeah, you're right as always." He said, leaning down to kiss her. A few moments later they broke apart. "We'd better go tonight. We're not going to have much time for much of anything after tomorrow."
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"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Melinda Granger asked in surprise. Hermione and Harry had just apparated onto the Granger's front porch and walked into the house. Melinda walked over to Hermione and hugged her. Then she noticed Harry. "Harry! It's good to see you again. We were so worried." Harry grinned.
"Thanks Mrs. Granger. It's good to be back." He said. Just then Hermione's father, John Granger entered the room.
"Hermione! Harry!" he exclaimed, then noticed their uniforms. "What are you two wearing?" Hermione had to remind herself that her parents didn't receive the Daily Prophet and hadn't received a letter from her since the day before Harry's return.
"It has to do with what happened to Harry at the beginning of the summer." Hermione answered. She and Harry then related the story. Melinda and John gasped in surprise.
"That's incredible!" John said. "And Hermione, you're one of the new Knights?"
"Yes. Though I'll only be starting my training tomorrow." Hermione replied. "But there is another reason we're here."
"Yes dear?" Melinda asked.
"Uh, well, the truth is Mr. & Mrs. Granger, that Hermione and I wanted to tell you that we…are dating now." Harry said, slightly nervous. Melinda squealed in delight and hugged her daughter. John broke out into a huge grin.
"It's about time!" he said. "For the past six year's we've had to listen to Hermione go on and on about you, Harry. And anybody with eyes could see that there was something between you two."
"So everybody keeps telling us." Hermione said. The couple spent the next hour talking to Hermione's parents. Finally Harry stood up.
"We'd better get going. We have an early day tomorrow." He said. They said goodbye to her parents.
"Take good care of her Harry." John said. Harry smiled and shook his hand.
"I intend to."
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When they returned to the Knight's new complex, Harry immediately called all of the Knights together.
"This is the schedule for your training." Harry said, handing out several pieces of parchment. "We'll meet here in the Common Room tomorrow morning." The Knights looked over the parchment. Harry had not been kidding when he had told them their training would be intensive. The schedule was as follows.
5:30am – Wake-up
6:00am – 7:30am – Physical Conditioning
7:30am-8:00am – Showers
8:00am-9:00am – Breakfast in the Great Hall
9:00am-10:30am – Muggle Combat (including First Aid)
10:30am – 12:00pm – Strategy and Tactics
12:00pm – 1:00pm – Lunch in the Great Hall
1:00pm – 2:30pm – Magical Combat (including First Aid)
2:30pm – 4:00pm – Potions
4:00pm-5:30pm – Combat Flying
5:30pm-6:00pm – Showers
6:00pm-7:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – 8:00pm – Study Period
8:00pm – 9:30pm – Free Time
9:30 – Bedtime
Ron whistled in amazement after he read the schedule. "Geez, Harry, you weren't kidding!" Harry looked at the group seriously.
"I told you this was going to be difficult and require a lot of work." Harry said. "But by the time the next seven weeks are up, you will be more than adequately trained to be Knights. Then you will assist me in training the rest. By the time everyone is trained up, this will be the most efficient fighting force in the world."
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"I hate Harry." Hermione said as she tried to catch her breath. It had been two weeks since the start of the group's training and Harry was working them relentlessly. As Harry had promised and the schedule had alluded, the training was indeed intense. The day started with an hour and a half of physical conditioning, which the Knights had nicknamed the "Torture Circuit" for its grueling routine. By the time they were finished each morning, every Knight felt like their bodies had been run through a series of medieval torture devices.
"It hurts now, but give it a few more days and you'll get used to it." Harry had told them after the first day. "And the first time you are in combat, you'll thank God for it."
Their Muggle combat and Magical combat classes were just as grueling. They had begun to learn to use muggle weapons, such as swords, knives, and staffs, as well as hand-to-hand fighting techniques. Magical combat was a little easier, as each of them had extensive DADA training and some field experience prior to this.
"Yeah," Ron said breathlessly. "I think Harry enjoys torturing us."
"Will the two of you quit whining?" Draco said as he joined them on the way to the living quarters. "Its not like he didn't warn us." Ron and Hermione remained silent. The truth was, he had warned them how difficult it would be. And both knew that the training had to be this difficult if they were to survive major combat with Voldemort's forces. When they reached the living quarters, Ron entered the room he shared with Harry, Draco the room he shared with Neville, and Hermione the room she shared with Ginny.
Ginny was already stripping her workout outfit off in preparation for her shower. She grinned at Hermione as she walked in.
"Took you long enough to get back here." She said. "Trying to seduce some extra credit off the teacher?" Hermione rolled her eyes. Everyone in the group had been teasing her and Harry.
"No. I was plotting ways to kill him with Ron." Hermione replied with a smirk. Ginny laughed and made her way into their bathroom. Hermione began stripping her own outfit off. A few minutes later Ginny appeared again, wearing a towel, her hair dripping wet.
"Shower's free." She said. Hermione picked up her towel and made her way into the bathroom. She started the water and after setting it at the desired temperature, she stepped in. She sighed as the hot water hit her aching muscles. She had to admit, that Harry was right. The physical conditioning was getting easier with each day, and she had no complaints with the results. Though she has always been in pretty good shape, she had noticed a definite improvement in her muscle tone.
As she thought over the events of the last two weeks, she realized that her only real complaint was the lack of free time she and Harry had together. True, they spent their free period every night together, usually in the Knight Common Room, snuggled up by the fire, lost in each other's eyes. Sometimes they would take walks around the castle, but the time always passed too quickly. She longed to be able to spend an entire day with Harry, just the two of them, no Knights, no training, just them.
Who are you kidding girl. A voice in the back of her head said. You want to spend an entire night with him as well. She blushed at this thought. Now that her and Harry had admitted their feelings for each other, their relationship had in some ways moved at light speed. There was none of the awkwardness of a new relationship, each being completely comfortable around the other. Hell, they had even begun thinking in terms of their future together. But in other ways, the relationship seemed to move agonizingly slow. Though their snogging sessions had reached volcanic temperatures, they had gone no further. Hermione sighed. On one level she knew it was the right thing, not moving too fast into the more physical aspects of a relationship, but another part of her cried out for it. Perhaps it was because they had been best friends for so long and had already developed a very deep understanding of each other. Or, more than likely, because she knew how quickly something bad could happen to take him away from her again. But Harry had made it clear that he wanted to do things right and not rush it.
"Hermione! Hurry up or we'll be late for breakfast!" Ginny called, bringing Hermione out of her thoughts.
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Fifteen minutes later, Hermione and Ginny made their way into the Great Hall. Most of the school's students, as well as the first class of Knights were already seated and eating. They made their way over to the Knights table and sat down, Hermione taking a seat between Harry and Ron, and Ginny sitting next to Jason. Harry leaned over and gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek.
"I was just about to send out a search party for you two." He said. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"How much longer until you pick some more Knights?" Jennifer asked from across the table.
"Depends. I wasn't planning on doing it until you were near the end of your training. But I'm starting to rethink that idea. First of all, you guys are making better progress than I thought. Second, I have a bad feeling Voldemort isn't going to allow me the luxury of doing this the way I want to." Harry responded. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Draco exchanged looks.
"Have you had any nightmares lately?" Ginny asked. Harry shook his head no.
"No. Not since the end of last year." He answered. "That's something else that concerns me. It seems that with Snape's information about our connection, Voldemort's been able to block it some how."
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The sound of swords clashing echoed across the training auditorium. Harry surveyed the scene in front of him. Harry's Knights were engaged in a mock combat exercise. He smiled as he watched them. They were indeed coming along much faster than he had anticipated. He had assumed they would be dedicated, but their level of concentration and determination to live up to his expectations was more intense than he had believed possible. Especially Hermione.
Harry's eyes drifted over to one side of the auditorium. Hermione was fighting three Orc mercenary projections and by the looks of things, was more than holding her own. He watched as she landed a blow across the back of one of the Orcs, causing him to shriek in pain before disappearing.
God she's even beautiful when she's fighting. Harry thought to himself. The last two weeks had been at the same time the most wonderful and frustrating of his life. Despite the rather tight training schedule, he and Hermione had somehow managed to get quite close since his first night back. He loved spending time with her. He had always thought of her as one of the most amazing people he knew, and that opinion was only increased a thousand fold. It was wonderful. But it was also frustrating. Every day it became harder and harder to hold her in his arms and kiss her without letting his more animal passions take over. Making it harder was the fact that Hermione had signaled on more than one occasion that she was willing. But Harry, being the ever-noble person he was, did not want to rush things. I don't know how many more cold showers I can take. He thought.