The Way of the Warrior

By: Cubster

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Movie King Arthur. That credit goes elsewhere

Tristan watched closely as Harry worked through the fundamentals of the footwork needed for his sword style. Tristan had to admit that even though the first day was did not go well at all for the sword, Harry's determination won out in the end.

Harry's reaction time with the sword was still slow but he was moving quicker and he wasn't as tense as he was just four days ago. Today Tristan would work with Harry's defense more, it would be a while until he would even think of moving into offensive maneuvers, he would stick with defending and countering before they moved on to all out frontal assault.

Tristan decided that he gave Harry enough time to loosen up; Tristan grabbed the wooden sword that lied against the wooden fence beside him and walked over to Harry. "Defend yourself as well as possible."
Tristan gave Harry no time before he took a step forward while swing his sword down at Harry's shoulder. Harry stepped to his left quickly and held out his sword in front of him. Tristan twirled his sword once before swinging horizontally under Harry's sword, Tristan struck Harry in the hip and Harry took his left hand off the hilt of his sword and grabbed his hip.

Tristan knocked Harry's sword away before hitting Harry on top of the head. "What did I tell you about holding your sword out in front of you? You're moving too slow, do what I taught you and stay relaxed."

Harry rubbed his head before holding his sword in both of his hands again. He began to take small yet fluid steps to his right holding his sword loosely. Tristan took a step to his left before taking a quick step forward his sword sticking out to his right. Harry blocked the strike but Tristan quickly turned and struck Harry in the back.

"You're doing better, ignore the pain, you're not going to be untouched in battle, you have to learn to fight through it."

Harry faced Tristan again and this time waited for Tristan to move before he made his own. Tristan knew what Harry was doing and inwardly smiled, "He's learning," Tristan thought as he brought his sword upwards in an arc. Harry parried the attack before swinging his sword upwards diagonally. Tristan somehow managed to bring his sword back up and stop the blow from landing.

Tristan then raised his left leg and hooking it around Harry's left knee and kicking it, Harry fell backwards and landed hard onto his back. Tristan pointed his sword at his throat, "When fighting with a sword, you are allowed to use more than just a sword."

Harry grunted and stood back up "You are doing well Harry, still many flaws but it had only been four days. You're learning quickly though, we're done for now. I have to talk to you about your magic."

Tristan walked over to the fence and sat on top of it; Harry followed and sat beside him. "You need to increase your magical power Harry; I can defeat Death Eaters on the battle field with a sword alone since I've been fighting one for the last fifteen years. That's why I survived that battle; you on the other hand will be going into battle with out the knowledge and skill of the sword that I know. You have the talent but you will not have the ability to battle the Death Eater's with only your sword and bow.

So I am telling you now to talk to Dumbledore on what you should learn concerning your magic during your holiday and when you have school."

Harry mulled over it for a moment and finally nodded his head, "I will speak with Dumbledore about it right now. I will work on my magic every night after dinner with Katie; we've already finished our summer work anyway."

Tristan smiled and hopped off the fence, "Now that I told you, I have to go see a man about a horse."

Harry walked up the castle corridor towards Dumbledore's office, his head was swarming with thoughts and questions that needed to be answered. He hoped that Dumbledore would answer him today, and if he didn't, he would wait for another day until he did.

"Lemon Drop" he said to the stone gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. The Gargoyle moved and he slowly walked up the stairs. He knocked on the door to the office and he heard Dumbledore's voice telling him to enter.

"Ah Harry, what a pleasant surprise." Dumbledore said but didn't actually look surprised to see him.

"Hello Professor, I need to ask you something,"

Dumbledore smiled and gestured for Harry to take a seat across from him. "Lemon Drop?" Dumbledore held up a bowl of lemon drops on his desk and handed for Harry took one.

Harry smiled and took one out of the bowl, he tried it and found they were actually good, "You're right Professor, these are good."

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled "Only you and Tristan have taken one in a very long time Harry. Lily was the only other one I can really ever recall taking one when I offered."

Harry grinned; he loved to hear about his parents no matter how small, then his faced turned blank "Dumbledore I need to talk to you about studying magic to battle."

Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair and entwined his fingers together; he stared at Harry deeply "Did Tristan talk to you about this?" Harry nodded. Dumbledore sighed "Harry, I myself do not think the best idea to try to use both magic and wield and battle at the same time. I have found a way for you to use both but in order to successfully accomplish this, you must learn the sword. On your birthday I will give you what you need in order to use both magic and your sword."

Harry said okay and was about to stand up to leave but was told to sit back down by Dumbledore. "How about I give you a little lesson in magic that you are never taught at school."

"Really?" Harry asked, he had never been taught anything from Dumbledore himself.

Dumbledore stood up and pulled out his wand. "Notice the wand movements of the Wingardium Leviosa spell Harry, the swish and flick." Dumbledore performed the spell, "Now notice the spell now."

When Dumbledore cast the spell once again, Harry noticed that he did not use the wand movement usually associate the spell, he didn't use a specific wand movement at all. "Do you see Harry, the wand movements associated with spells are not necessary. We teach the students these wand movements so they have a focus point for each spell. Most wizards and witches do not have the control of their magic to focus on a spell they want to cast without the wand movement."

Dumbledore sat back down, "The same can be said for the incantation, spells do not make magic work, and it's a witch's or wizard's power that casts a spell. Incantations are Latin words that work as a focus point. For example Harry, during the Tri-Wizard tournament you spent a lot of time looking up spells to aid you in the maze. Well when you read a spell you knew what the result would be, so when you said the incantation you were thinking more of the result not the movement or incantation. So in theory and with practice, you can learn to cast any spell you want by intent and focus only, with no movements or incantations."

When Harry sifted through all what Dumbledore had told him he couldn't help but think of all the possibilities. "That's brilliant Dumbledore, but how does that help me with using a sword and magic in a battle."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Your birthday present will explain everything, now Harry I must ask a favor of you."

Harry nodded his head, "What Professor?"

Dumbledore stood up and inspected a book shelf; he then turned back to Harry "As you know your wand is ineffective against Voldemort's. I wish for you to lend me your wand for a while so I can see if there is anything I can do about that."

Harry took his wand out of his jean pocket and looked at it. "Will I get I back?" Harry looked up at Dumbledore to see him nod.

"Of course Harry, it is rightfully yours, you bought it." Dumbledore chuckled at his little joke, if you could call it that.

Harry relented and handed his wand to Dumbledore who had walked back over to his desk with two books in his hands.

"Thank you Harry, and as for you increasing your magical knowledge, these two books should be sufficient for now. One is a book on advanced spells; the other is on Occlumency and Legilimency. The first one will help you will help you broaden your fire power so to speak. The second one will help you keep Voldemort out of your mind. Occlumency will also organize your thoughts; this will help you reach a point where you no longer need a focus point, so you can cast spells with no certain wand movement or incantation. I suggest having Katie Bell helping you this summer; Hermione Granger has also asked me if she could stay here for the rest of the summer. Her parents are in the States right now and she is having problems getting along with the youngest Weasleys at the moment. She will be here on your birthday and remain here for the rest of the summer."

Harry had a large summer, he had the tools to get on the path of broadening his magic, and Hermione was going to be here for all of August. Then he wondered why she was not getting along with Ron or Ginny. "Professor, did Hermione tell you why she was not getting along with Ron and Ginny?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "I suspect you will find out soon enough."

Harry nodded, "Have you found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

Dumbledore shrugged his shoulders, "It seems anyone that I approach is frightened of the curse that certain position has." Harry laughed before standing up and gathering the books.

"I am going to go find Katie now Professor, thank you for the lesson and the books, they will help out greatly."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded his head in welcome, "I will see you tonight at Dinner Harry."

Harry left Dumbledore's office with a bounce in his step; nothing could ruin the mood he was in. That is until he ran into a greasy, long nosed git.

Snape turned the corner into the corridor Harry was walking in and they knocked into each other. Harry's books fell out of his hands, before he could bend down to retrieve them, Snape had already taken them both. "Watch where you are going Potter." Snape hissed at Harry as he looked at the titles on the books. "You think you can learn Occlumency and Legilimency? You were deplorable last year if I do say so myself."

"Well Snape, if you would have taught me instead of attacking my mind then maybe I could have progressed." Harry growled back, Snape scowled him for a moment.

"You're a waste of time and effort Potter, do us all a favor and go to your parents so you can fill hell with your arrogance instead of here."

Harry knew he couldn't do a thing; he did not have his wand and nothing to defend himself with. "If that's what you want Snape, but I am going to make sure you and your master go there first."

Harry knew he should not have said that when Snape turned into an angry red and pulled out his wand to curse Harry. "I am going to put you down a notch Potter; a couple nights in St. Mungos should do it frendo scrin…" Before Snape could finish the curse, an arrow flew bye Harry's head right into Snape's left shoulder.

The force of the arrow knocked Snape backwards and onto his back in. Snape yelled in agony as he tried to pull the arrow out of his shoulder. "Don't try to pull it out, it's barbed." Harry turned around to see Tristan at the other end of the Hallway, his bow in hand and an arrow knocked ready to fire again if Snape tried anything. "Dumbledore will hear of this, that curse would have crushed Harry's chest."

Harry bent down and picked up his books, he would leave Snape where he was. He walked down the corridor to Tristan. "I can't believe Snape would actually curse me. And how do you know what that curse was, you don't know any magic."

Tristan smirked at Harry, "I am a Knight who served the Roman Empire for fifteen years, I was bound to learn that language eventually."

Harry laughed, "I guess you got a point there, so why were you up here?" In the back round Harry could still hear Snape screaming but he did not care.

"You were not with Katie, and the only other place you would be without her is with Dumbledore. It is time for training and I have something to show you." Tristan turned on his heel and Harry followed.

"Shouldn't we go tell Dumbledore about Snape?" Harry asked as they walked through the castle corridors.

"I would not worry about it; Dumbledore always knows what happens in this school from what the teachers have told me, Snape can't get out of this one."

When they got to their makeshift archery range Harry was about to pick up his bow that was beside the target Tristan told him to keep following him. "I want to show you something first."

So they continued to walk until they reached a little wooden building, "Professor McGonagall to make this for me when I told her what I needed it for." Tristan pushed open the door and Harry then saw that it was a stable, and once he got inside he noticed two horses in the stalls.

"I thought you were joking when you said you had to see a man about a horse." Harry said as he walked up to the Horses. "They are both Arabian, they are very loyal, very courageous, and these two are very fast." Tristan told him.

They were both a solid black and had, had a short dished face, and a tapered muzzle, their eyes were low. Harry could see fire and eagerness in their eyes, "They are a proud," Tristan told him, "They won't disappoint us."
"Can I learn to ride him today?"

"Yes."

Tristan showed Harry all about tacking the horse and preparing it to ride. Harry picked up on this quicker than anything else Tristan taught him the last several days, even the bow. "Put your left foot in the stirrup, grab their mane, and lift yourself up. Do not worry about hurting the horse; they do not feel their hair being pulled."

Harry did as he was told and hoisted himself up and then put his other foot in the stirrup on the other side. Tristan got on his own horse and told Harry lightly kick the horse in the ribs to get him moving and to back him up pull the reigns back ward and kick again.

Tristan began to walk his horse out of the stall and Harry slowly followed. Tristan felt great, he loved to be in the saddle and the feel of the wind when riding. Both horses were tamed and that was good or Harry would have been thrown off the horse the minute he got on. Tristan turned his horse around and saw that Harry was already trotting the horse.

"Well done Harry, your horse has already bonded to you; you should give him a name."

"Arrow," Harry leaned forward and patted Arrow on the side of the neck affectionately.

"Good name, they are fast so it is fitting."

"What about yours Tristan?" Harry asked as he brought Arrow closer to them.

"Isolde," He said rubbing Isolde's mane, "You like that name?" Isolde neighed and nodded her head.

"When bring your horse to a run, stand up on the stirrups a little, it is more comfortable for you and keeps more weight of the horse's back."

Harry nodded and they both brought their horses to a trot before getting them to go faster and they were soon riding their horses as hard as they could. They spent the rest of the afternoon riding getting used to their horses. Tristan was happy that he could once again ride, and Harry was happy just to spend time with Tristan and to learn something new.

During dinner Harry noticed that Snape wasn't there, he knew magic could have healed him from the arrow wound in no time. He asked Dumbledore about it, "I am sad to say that Snape had decided that he did not want to deal with any of this anymore and left. Don't ask me where he never told where he was going."

Harry nodded inwardly smiling that he did not have to deal with the greasy git this year. He then turned to Katie to talk about the possibilities of not having Snape at school. "Now we will win the house cup without a contest, he takes more points from us than the staff combined."

Katie nodded her head agreeing, "And someone may actually pass potions besides Hermione this year," she said jokingly. They both laughed and their conversation soon turned to Quidditch.

"You will probably be the captain this year Katie since you're the oldest of the group." Katie shook her head in disagreement.

"No, it will probably be you, you joined the team the same year I did and you still have two years left and can build a more stable team."

"That is if I am allowed to play Quidditch again, Umbridge banned me, or don't you remember?" Katie's good mood seemed to dim slightly but Professor McGonagall fixed that quickly.

"Don't you worry about that Mr. Potter, you're ban is gone and you can have your position back this year. However, if Ginny does not want to give it up you will have to challenge her for the position." Harry nodded not too worried, he was sure Ginny would let him have the position again and try out for another one.

The friendly atmosphere soon ended when the double doors banged open and two aurors, Minister Fudge, and another wizard who had on bright red robes with a silver badge on that had an ornate 'O' on it. "Dumbledore what is this I hear about a Muggle living in the magical world?"

Fudge narrowed his eyes at the occupants of the table, especially Dumbledore, Harry, and Tristan. Dumbledore stood up and walked over to Fudge, "Let us talk in my office Minister." Dumbledore turned to face the table "Harry, Tristan please come with me, this involves both of you."

Fudge was about to protest but Dumbledore gave him a look that quickly stopped him. "Go on Fudge we'll be right behind you. I need to speak with these two before we join you." Dumbledore dismissed Fudge and turned back to Harry and Tristan.

"Tristan, since you are a muggle they will try to obliviate you."

"Can't we do something Professor?" Harry asked as he looked up at Tristan worriedly.

Dumbledore shook his head "I am not sure Harry, the only way I think we could legally keep Tristan here is if he were related to a witch or wizard. We know that is quite impossible since all of Tristan's family would have died fifteen hundred years ago."

Harry looked angry at not being capable of doing anything. Then it dawned on him, he knew what he would do, he just hoped Tristan would not be angry at him.

Dumbledore told them that if they the Obliviator tried to obliviate Tristan that they were to get out immediately and that he would hold them off. They both nodded and all three walked up to Dumbledore's office expecting the worst.

When they walked into the office they noticed that Fudge had the audacity to sit in Dumbledore's chair. Dumbledore did not say anything about it but sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Harry saw that the Aurors were standing on either side of Fudge and the Obliviator was sitting in a chair beside Dumbledore's. Harry and Tristan stood by the doorway just incase they had to flee.

"Can I ask who told you about Tristan Minister Fudge?" Dumbledore asked as he got comfortable in his chair.

"Severus Snape, I knew that man had potential and it seems someone here rubbed him the wrong way because he seemed very happy to tell me about this muggle."

Dumbledore looked sad for a moment before looking back up to Fudge who started speaking again.

"Dumbledore you know that it is against the law to show any muggle the magical world. You have broken the Statute of Secrecy. This results in a fine and the muggle to be Obliviated this is effective immediately." Dumbledore was about to speak but it was Fudge's turn to silence him, "You cannot weasel your way out of this Dumbledore, you know that the only muggle's allowed to know about us are the Prime Minister of England and relatives of a witch or wizard."

Harry stepped forward at that, "He is Minister Fudge, at least he will be. He is my soon to be my adopted father."

The whole room was silent, Dumbledore and the Obliviator turned in their seats to look at Harry. Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye and the Obliviator had a shocked one. Fudge looked angry, he could not obliviate anyone who was planning to adopt that would diminish the little popularity he had and if it was Harry Potter then it would be even worse.

He stood up in an angry huff "I expect the proper forms to be turned in tomorrow, if I do not hear of them I will be back to finish this."

Fudge, the Aurors, and the Obliviator left the room, "What are we going to do Dumbledore." Tristan asked as he took the seat Dumbledore just got up from to sit in his own behind the desk.

"Well if you do not want to lose your memories then I would suggest adopting Harry as you son."

Tristan and Harry made eye contact; they did not say a word during this silent conversation. Tristan could see the hope in Harry's eye; Harry could not see anything in Tristan's. Tristan could not see anything bad about having Harry as a son; it would be good to have a family again no matter how small.

"What do I have to do?"

Harry's eyes widened and so did his smile, "You mean it Tristan?" Tristan turned his head and nodded.

Dumbledore opened one of his drawers and pulled out a form, "I just happen to have an adoption form just for an occasion such as this, if you would sign this Tristan I will do the rest."

Dumbledore handed Tristan a quill and he signed the form in all the proper areas. "We also need to give you a last name, do you have one in mind."

"Castus"

Dumbledore smiled, "Lucius Artorius Castus, I see very well then, you will be Tristan Castus. Doesn't seem roll of the tongue but we're not here to impress anybody."

All three laughed and soon Tristan and Harry left Dumbledore alone in his office to finish up the proper paperwork to finish up the adoption. When Harry and Tristan were walking down the corridor Tristan only said on thing. "I haven't had a family in fifteen years."

Harry looked up at Tristan and smiled, "What a coincidence, neither have I." Tristan looked down at Harry and smiled.

"Then this should work out well."

Harry and Tristan went their separate ways, Tristan was going to ride Isolde around the grounds for a while and Harry was going to go spend time with Katie. When Harry entered the common room he saw that Katie was sleeping on the couch. Harry had a mischievous look in his eye as he quietly walked over to her. He knelt down beside the couch and began drumming on her stomach. She startled and fell of the couch, Harry caught her and he laughed, she pretended to glare at him before smiling.

"Hey there," he said as he tightened his grip around her.

"Hey," she responded, she wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted herself up a bit to get more comfortable in Harry's arms. "We haven't spent much time together today, how did that problem with Fudge go?"

Harry smiled "It's all taken care of, Tristan's adopting me, I am gonna have a family."

Katie gasped then hugged him tightly, "I'm so happy for you Harry."

Harry looked down at her for a moment; he slowly leant down and pressed his lips lightly against hers. She stiffened for a moment before relaxing and kissed him back, they stayed like that for over a minute before pulling a part and gasping. "Wow," Harry said breathing heavily.

"Wow is right," Katie said before pulling him down and kissing him again, this time harder and she opened her mouth a little inviting him to go further with this kiss.

He didn't need to be invited twice and deepened the kiss, this was way better than kissing Cho last year, much better.

When the pulled apart once more Harry said "I've been waiting a week to do that." Katie laughed when he said that.

"Well I've been waiting a year for you to even acknowledge that I was more than a fellow Quidditch player."

Harry looked gob smacked when she said that, he had no idea anyone felt that way about him. Except for Cho and that was just one large disaster and a mistake. "So are you my girlfriend?"

Katie laughed "Well Harry that is up to you."

"Well then I guess you are." Harry leant down to kiss her once more. For the first time in years he was truly happy and nothing could ruin it for him.

AN: A little bit of a longer chapter this time. I didn't update as fast today because I was gone until 4. Thank you for the reviews everyone has sent me you've made my day. Next chapter is going to get interesting I think, if not the next chapter it will definitely be the one after that. This will be a pretty long story and I hope you are enjoying what I have submitted so far.