Happy Easter everyone! Here's the next Chapter I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think!
One week later…
"Faster," Greg Talon snapped, blocking Harry's right fist and throwing it back at him while crouching and trying to sweep Harry's legs out from under the Gryffindor.
Harry grunted and jumped over his mentor's legs, lashing out with his foot; Harry's foot connected with the man's head and sent him crashing to the ground.
Sweat soaking through his tank top Harry remained tense and watched Greg shake his head lightly before jumping back to his feet.
"Excellent, Harry." The man smiled dusting his robes off.
Harry relaxed when he realized Greg wasn't going to attack again. Breathing heavily he bent at the waist and placed his hands on his knees, trying to calm his racing heart.
"You need to remember that this duel you have coming up with Voldemort involve more then just magical strength. Throwing in some physical aspects wouldn't hurt."
Harry nodded but didn't reply. He and Greg had been sparring non-stop for nearly two hours and the Gryffindor was exhausted.
"Here," a gentle voice whispered from next to him.
Standing up Harry took the water bottle from Jessica and drained it quickly before smiling. "Thanks."
"Hey, where's mine." Greg teased watching the interaction between the partners with a knowing smile.
"In the cooler, I'm sure you can manage getting it yourself," Jessica replied smirking at the man before striding back to Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Draco to continue teaching them Tae Kwon Do.
Harry chuckled and tossed his bottle to the side. Wiping his hands across his face Harry rubbed them dry on his shorts before pulling out his wand.
Greg laughed and pulled his own wand from the holster on his arm, "I suppose that means you're ready to train with magic now."
Harry chuckled and nodded once. Now that he had gotten his second wind, Harry was looking forward to training some more. Knowing he was going to need all the practice he could get.
"Are you sure? When is the attack going to take place?" Albus Dumbledore questioned gazing intently at the Mystic Knights seated across from him.
Harry nodded once, "The dream was like the one I had the summer before last year. The Death Eaters are going to attack on the twentieth of June." Harry said solemnly. Draco had learned the night before at the Death Eater meeting when the fateful night would take place and Harry and Jessica had decided to tell the Headmaster about the attack the next day.
Sighing and dropping his head to stare intently at his desk. Dumbledore silently contemplated the dilemma. After several moments he looked back up, his eyes showing his advanced years.
"What do you propose we do?" he questioned gently.
"Send the students away," Jessica suggested softly, "and gather all the teachers and parents you can find to help you fight them. Try and keep it quiet though we don't need Voldemort to know we're onto him."
Dumbledore nodded, "And what will you two be doing?" he questioned sharply noticing Harry never mentioned that.
"I will be going after Voldemort. Jessica will come with me to take care of any Death Eaters hanging around him."
"Harry…" Dumbledore frowned, "I can't allow you to do that."
"With all due respect sir," Harry replied, "I'm not asking for your permission. This is my destiny and I'm ready to face it. Voldemort and I will have our final battle and the prophecy will be fulfilled, one way or another."
Dumbledore glared at Harry, "You're far too young Harry, leave Voldemort to me…"
"I may be young sir, but I am not powerless. You know as well as I do that this is my fight and I'm not going to walk away from it. I will be going and you will remain at Hogwarts to help in the fight that will take place the same night. This isn't open for discussion; we just wanted to inform you of what's going on. Now if you'll excuse us, Jessica and I should be getting back to our common room."
Dumbledore, realizing he wouldn't be able to talk him out of it, silently watched Harry lead Jessica out of his office.
After several minutes of following Harry as he stormed through the castle, Jessica finally grabbed his arm bringing the irate boy to a sudden halt. Gently tugging on his arm she led him through a door and into an empty classroom, knowing it was late in the night and no one would disturb them.
"Are you ok?" she questioned gently pushing him into a chair and crouching in front of him.
"Yah, I guess he just kind of rubbed me the wrong way you know. Who does he think he is telling me what I can or can't do?"
"He's just worried about you, Harry. It's his way of trying to take care of you…" Jessica explained.
"More like control me," Harry muttered calming slightly when Jessica took his hand and squeezed gently. "He can't tell me what to do anymore; I'm not the easily intimidated eleven year old I used to be. I'm a man and can make my own decisions, I don't… I'll always respect him, but, I don't need him to tell me what to do anymore."
"I know," Jessica whispered. "Just try to remember he's only trying to help before going off on him again, ok?"
Harry nodded, "Ya, sorry."
Jessica grinned slyly, "Although it was amusing if you think about it." She added trying to cheer up her friend.
Laughing, Harry reached forward and grabbed his friend, pulling her into a tight hug, his mood unmistakably lightened.
Hugging him back she waited a few minutes before pulling back and smiling at him, "I don't know about you but I'm ready for bed." Rising from her crouching position Jessica held out her hand, waiting to pull him up and be on their way when he took it.
Taking her hand and standing Harry agreed and they continued on their way to Gryffindor tower, their hands remaining entwined the whole way.
"What are we doing in here?" Draco questioned following Harry and Jessica deeper into the Forbidden forest, trying to ignore the grumbling Ron behind him. "We already trained this morning, are we going to do it again?"
Harry chuckled at the barely concealed excitement in the Slytherins voice. Since Harry had first asked the boy to join them in the mornings he had noticed how hard Draco was trying to keep up and the fun he had while doing it. And to his, and everyone else's great surprise, the boy had excelled in the muggle art of defense and offense; Tae Kwon Doe.
He chuckled again when he thought back to that first morning…
Harry grinned as a bleary eyed Draco Malfoy stumbled towards him and his friends, rubbing his hands roughly over his face.
"Morning, Sunshine!" Harry teased laughing when the only answer he got was a glare and rude hand gesture. "Now Draco, there's no need for that," he said mock angrily.
Throwing another gesture Harry's way, Draco had trouble keeping the amused grin off his face.
"Alright you lot, lets get this over with." The Slytherin mumbled good naturedly.
Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Jessica, Harry and Draco silently made their way through the forest to the clearing Harry and Jessica had been using for training. Each using the silence to wake up a little more and gather their wits about them.
"Ok," Harry said when they had arrived. "We'll be doing this in groups. Jessica will teach the non magical self defense; Tae Kwon Do. While I teach the magic portion of our training. Draco, Ginny you guys are with Jessica for today. Hermione, you and Ron will enjoy my company today." Harry threw his friends an amused grin.
"Hold on, I don't need to learn some muggle thing," Draco snapped, "I came to learn more spells and…"
"Just give it a chance," Harry interrupted gently, "if you can't use magic for whatever reason this 'muggle thing' can really come in handy."
Rolling his eyes Draco muttered a 'fine,' before stomping over to Ginny and Jessica and plopping himself onto the grass next to the red head.
"Alright," Jessica started, "Today we'll start out with the basics of Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do consists of both offensive and defensive movements. When on the defensive you mostly stick to using your forearms like a weapon to block in various directions, protecting your lower, middle and upper body. When on the offensive you mainly just use your hands and feet as weapons to incapacitate your opponent."
Harry glanced across the clearing and smiled. Draco's interest had obviously been peaked. Although the Slytherin was trying to hide it Harry could tell the boy was interested in what Jessica was saying. Chuckling gently he turned to Hermione and Ron ready to get his lesson on the way.
End Flashback…
"Sorry, but no," Jessica smiled back at him hopping over a particularly large tree trunk, "We're holding a meeting with the animals in the Forbidden forest, trying to get some back up for when the Death Eaters storm the castle."
Blinking in surprise Draco tilted his head in question, "Well… why am I here?"
"We thought you would find it interesting," Harry answered throwing the Slytherin a grin over his shoulder as he pushed some branches out of Jessica's way, letting the girl precede him.
Draco didn't answer, instead just narrowed his eyes suspiciously and continued to follow the pair, though he still wasn't completely satisfied with the answer.
Ron frowned in confusion, "What about me then, why am I here?"
Both Harry and Jessica stopped suddenly and turned to face Ron, "You'll see," they answered together eerily, before spinning back around and continuing the trek deeper into the forest.
Harry shot Jessica an amused grin and barely contained his snicker, as he heard Ron sputtering behind them and a glance over his shoulder showed the boy paling slightly. Finally letting himself laugh out loud Harry turned around again to smile goofily at his red-headed friend. "Relax Ron; we were just trying to freak you out. It obviously worked too; you should have seen your face." His laughter was quickly joined by Jessica and Draco. Ron shot them all a weak glare before smiling lightly then laughing with them.
"We're here," Jessica said a few minutes later, leading the way into a clearing that was even larger then the one they used for training. "Looks like we're the first ones here too," she added glancing around the empty meadow.
'Don't be so sure,' Argent, the leader of the Unicorn's said trotting majestically into the clearing followed closely by two more Unicorns'. "We were merely waiting for you to arrive before showing ourselves. Purely a safety precaution, you see." The elderly male Unicorn explained gently.
Harry and Jessica nodded in understanding. Draco and Ron who had only heard neighing had no idea what was being said, so decided it was best to stay quiet for now.
'Yes, young one,' Moondance said coming up behind the Hogwarts students, 'you and your friends, are in fact the last to arrive to this meeting you have scheduled.'
As Moondance sat next to the Unicorn's a few more creatures started to emerge from the tree line. The four friends watched as a couple Centaurs entered the clearing, followed closely by Shirerton and Kiararic. Grinning slightly Harry saw a few of the Vampire's that had opposed Voldemort to fight for the light side standing in the tree's; away from the sunlight streaming into the clearing. A few other creatures Harry did not recognize were joining the small group as well.
"I hope you aren't going to start without me," a deep voice wheezed tiredly.
Harry's mouth dropped open in stunned surprise as he watched the huge spider slowly make his way into the clearing.
After a moment of silence Ron sputtered out, "I thought you wanted nothing to do with the war? You made it clear you wouldn't oppose us, but you also wouldn't fight for us."
Aragog chuckled, "I have changed my mind. When Moondance told me about the attack I decided we could be of assistance."
"Not to mention the all you can eat Buffet," Harry said with a raised eyebrow and stern look, he knew the spider would likely want to eat the Death Eaters they catch.
"Well, that may have been a factor," the mammoth arachnid conceded.
Harry sighed and glanced at Jessica, who just shrugged and glanced back at Aragog.
"We could use the help," she pointed out quietly a few seconds later.
"Fine," Harry agreed. "Alright, to make this meeting go smoother Jessica will incant a spell she found a couple weeks ago. Basically it just turns everything you guys say into English so everyone else will be able to understand, and will enable all of you to understand English as well."
As Harry had been explaining her spell, Jessica had set up five candles surrounding a circle of rocks she had made the day before. Lighting them quickly she stepped back and raised her hand towards the circle. Quickly saying the spell she and the others watched as a large purple fire erupted inside the circle of rocks. At first it looked like the purple fire was trying to escape the confines of the circle, but the candles would flare up, driving the purple fire back to the center, keeping it under tight restraint. A light purple cloud rose out of the fire and surrounded the group gently wafting around their heads before disappearing back into the fire.
Stepping back to Harry, Jessica said, "Can everyone understand me?"
'"Yes," Argent answered, looking slightly surprised that he could understand and speak English.
Harry turned to Ron and Draco, "Did you two understand that?" After they nodded in the affirmative Harry grinned and motioned the boys to stand next to Moondance. "Then let's get this meeting started."
"As you all know," Jessica took over glancing at everyone in turn her eyes serious, "In about a week Voldemort's followers are going to attack the school. According to our source the attack will take place on the twentieth of June and will include Death Eaters, what's left of the Werewolves and Vampires, except those three of course," Jessica added waving to the three vampires hiding in the shadows listening intently. "And we have also found that Voldemort was able to recruit some of the Giants I'm afraid."
Whispers broke out among the group, the shock and anxiety clear in their voices.
"How many Giants has he got?" Ron questioned quietly. Not having heard this news before.
"As many as twenty," Harry admitted. "We know this is bad, guys. But we have to stick together if we expect to win this war. Defeating this group is going to be really hard and we're going to need a great strategy to keep this army at bay. Which is why I called you all here, Jessica and I have decided we need a…general of sorts, to lead the fight and plan strategy over here while Jessica Draco and I are off fighting Voldemort." Turning to look his best friend in the eye Harry continued, "Ron, we want you to do it."
Ron paled and stumble backwards in shock, "Are you bloody mad, I… I can't, I don't know how."
"We believe you're the best person for the job," Harry pointed out gently, "your skill with chess and your desire to do the best you can makes you the perfect man for the job. Just think of it as a big game of chess, you know the pieces and their strengths and weaknesses, now all you have to do is get them positioned the way you want them. I know you can do it Ron."
Jessica nodded in agreement, "we have nothing but Faith in you."
"They are right, Weasley, you are the best man for the job." Draco added seriously, though it looked slightly painful for him to admit it.
"Does anyone here have a problem working for Ron?" Harry asked the crowd.
The three vampires had a quick discussion in the shadows before the leader spoke up, "If you all believe he can do it, we will give him a chance."
Argent nodded, "You have our herd at your disposal, Mr. Weasley.'"
Aragog chuckled deeply, "I told you before I liked your sprit, when we are done here I shall inform my children you they are to abide by whatever you say."
More answers of approval came from the other members gathered around the clearing and Harry grinned happily at the approval Ron was receiving.
Shire and Kiara as well as the group of Centaurs were the last to voice their approval of the new leader.
Ron slowly got his bearings and lost his pale pallor, hearing the approval from so many gave him the confidence he needed to accept this difficult job.
"I'll do my best not to disappoint," he whispered seriously.
"Any ideas you have, now would be a good time to share them." Harry stated, proud of his friend.
Glancing around the clearing at the rapt attention he was receiving Ron nodded once, "Actually I do have a few I've been thinking of," He admitted with a grin.
YAY RON. Cheers!