Chapter 17 Ring of Crooks
Nirvelli held out his hand and an orb of water started to appear within it.
"I thought you said you can't make water appear out of thin air?" Harry questioned.
"There are always water molecules floating in the air. I just draw it to my hand." He continued bringing water molecules to his palm until he had a tennis ball size of water in his hand. He then proceeded to throw it into Harry's face. The man chuckled as Harry spluttered indignantly. "Now you have the power of Electricity. Electricity is produced by the human body. Though harder to manipulate because the human body has a natural defense to protect their electricity from being manipulated, it is still doable by the more powerful elementals though. It is the same thing with the water in the human body and the air that flows through the circulation system."
"I didn't know humans have electricity flowing through there body"
"That is because you do not learn science. The human brain alone has enough electricity to light a 20 watt bulb." the water Elemental explained. "Close your eyes. Imagine a volt of electricity flowing through your body. The tingling feeling as it flows from your toes to the tips of your fingers. The jolt of pain and energy." He pulled out a big battery, a lot smaller then a car battery but still big and placed it between them. He also pulled out a pair of jumper cables, attaching the red and black to the appropriate charges. "Attach these to your middle fingers Harry." The Native American commanded.
"Is this going to hurt?" Harry asked curiously.
"During the first couple of times but once you can master the element you shall feel no more pain by the power of electricity." Harry nodded his head before attaching the red clip and then the black to his fingers.
A surge of immense pain coursed through his fingers, causing him to shout out. "It takes about 48 volts to puncture the dry skin resistance of the human body and get current flowing in the conductive juices inside. This one doesn't hold much over it. So it is pretty damn strong. A little bit more and you'd probably be electrocuted" Nirvelli explained.
Harry couldn't talk. The pain was to much. Loud whimpers escaped from his lips. "Focus Harry" the man spoke loudly into his ear. "Focus on the power that surges through your body. Embrace it."
Harry was to busy trying to deal with the pain in order to embrace it. The clips were taking off his fingers and a vial was shoved into his hand. With shaky hands he lifted the vial and opened his trembling lips just enough to let the liquid slide from the vial into his mouth.
"Why didn't you embrace the power flowing through you?" Nirvelli asked.
"Kind of hard to concentrate when you are almost getting electrocuted!" Harry snapped. "Do you know how much that bloody hurt? Couldn't you of giving me like a bloody nine volt or something!"
"Mr. Lupin expressed his urgency in how quickly you pick this up. He said that you must learn the art of being an elemental quickly. Therefor I have to make you learn this as quickly as I possibly can. What is pain compared to skipping over a month of easing you into the pain?" the man asked.
He did raise a fairly good point one that, in his current situation, Harry could not argue with.
"Now this time I want you to embrace the power that runs through you. Accept the pain, the power and the energy"
The jumper cables were clipped back upon his middle fingers. Again the immense pain coursed through his body. He tried to focus on the power that surged through him. Because of his closeness with the element he was able to see the volts flow through him.
He tried pushed himself to ignore the pain yet he still couldn't do it. After almost an hour of this Harry was about to call it quits. For what was probably the fifteenth time that day he pushed himself to ignore the pain, this time succeeding. He embraced the power that flowed through him. The pure unadulterate power. The power of electricity was astounding.
It helped the body function, could save a life(defibrillator) and take one a way. Muggles relied heavily upon it and the strongest of wizards wielded it, like Zeus who was thought to be a god by muggles long ago.
It was one of the causes of Fire, the most destructive element. The elements of Earth and Water could ground the power(1) making him effectively weak against them.
The pain started to edge away, replaced with a feeling of being re-energized. The power electricity held filled his veins and for a second he felt invincible.
The clips were taken off his fingers again. "That is very well young warrior. Next time we meet we will have to make sure you can do that in a second instead of an hour. You are dismissed."
"Yes sir" Harry raised himself to his feet and pulled his shirt over his head. His body still ached from the first bunch of times he had those cables attached to him and couldn't manage to embrace the element. There was still two hours before Strategy and Simulation was to start giving him plenty of time to eat, change and finish a potion essay.
When he entered the common room ten minutes later he saw that Ron was playing a game of chess with an older boy, not that, that was any surprise. Hermione was sitting in an armchair next to Ron, her feet curled underneath her and her nose buried within a book, no surprise there either. Dean was laid out in front of the fire, his sketch pad in front of him and the eraser of a pencil pressed against his closed lips, a look of thought upon his dark face. A red-faced Neville was clutching his side from laughing to hard and an equally red faced Seamus, who was the one who most likely made the joke, looked about ready to fall of the couch, he was laughing so hard as well. Parvarti and Lavender were on a couch opposite of Seamus and Neville whispering to each other as they pointed to a magazine in between them.
Harry could tell and he knew that Dumbledore and many others could tell too that the Class of 1998 from Hogwarts would be the most powerful group of students Hogwarts has ever produced. Sure the Class of 1979, his parent's class, was pretty powerful but it stilled paled in comparison to Harry's year. 'Mars must of been shining bright that year' Harry thought chuckling to himself.
As he fully stepped into the common room most of the attention seemed to be focused on him. It was usually like that. If he was not being discreet enough he would always grab everyone's attention unwillingly just by walking into rooms.
"We got Strategy and Simulation soon Harry" Hermione said noticing the slight twitch in his left eye but deciding not to say anything.
"Almost two hours from now Hermione" Harry replied as he walked to the boy staircase.
"Do you have any idea on what the class will be like?" Hermione shouted to him. Harry grabbed his potions essay from his night stand and walked back down to the common room.
"No clue. Maybe we'll play chess the whole year" he answered offhandedly as he took a seat at one of the tables near the fire.
"The teacher wouldn't do that!" Hermione gasped out horrified. "Would they?"
"Not likely Hermione." Harry answered. "Besides its Stimulation as well. Probably put us in some "real life" situations to get our ways out of"
With that said he started to finish his potion essay. He already had one and a half feet of parchment, needing only a half of foot more.
"Hermione what would happen if I added Norwegian Ridgeback instead of Welsh Green dragon liver in the Pain Killer Potion?" Harry asked her.
"Honestly Harry! Don't you read?" Hermione explained to him the difference giving Harry the half a foot he needed to complete the essay.
"Thanks Hermione" Harry said after she finished explaining to him the consequences of doing such a thing. He rolled up his parchment as Hermione glared at him. It was a well known fact that Hermione hated giving people answers for their homework. She was a firm believer in people having to figure things out for themselves or they will never learn. "Love to stay and chat but I think I would like to get dressed and have some lunch before class begins"
Hearing the words lunch Ron looked up from his game. "You going down to lunch Harry?"
"In five minutes" Harry answered.
"I'll go down with you then" Ron said.
"Again? You already had lunch forty minutes ago!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Well when one is still growing they need the nutrients and proteins of food to help their body develop" Ron explained it to Hermione in a tone of voice reminiscent of someone talking to a child.
"I know that!" she huffed.
"Could of fooled me" Ron said smirking. Harry shook his head before going upstairs and changing into a pair of thin trousers, a dark green t-shirt, a black robe and a pair of combat boots. Dean and Seamus were the only sixth years not in the class, it isn't like they didn't want to be in the class, they did. It was just that only fifteen people from each house could be picked and they weren't lucky enough to be included into that. Four seventh years weren't accepted either.
When he walked back down the stairs and towards the portrait hole he heard Ron say "I would love to stay and chat Hermione but the food is a calling ya know!" He bounded after Harry.
Thirty minutes later sixty students found themselves in an big room occupied by large circular table and sixty one stiff wooden chairs. The teacher was an old Auror, who had as much battle scars as Moody, named Joseph Curris.
"I've fought in both Dark Wars this century" the man growled out. "I was twenty one when what muggles called World War II broke out. And although most witches and wizards are still active until the day they die I was unlucky enough to be hit by a curse that caused the effects of arthritis, a muggle illness that is an inflammation of the joints, a year before the last war ended. I figured myself useless when I heard news the You-Know-Who is back but Dumbledore offered me this position and I have accepted"
The man walked slowly around the table looking at them all. "Many parents don't think their children are going to need the type of education that this school is supplying this year. Well they are all ignorant idiots" The man stopped at the only empty chair and sat in it. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters don't care what age you are at or who you are. Hell the Dark Lord went after a baby to kill! So I say what is wrong with making teenagers able to defend themselves?
"You'll be making two equal teams of thirty that will last the whole year. You have to decide on how to do this. There are three options in this. Option number one: you stick with your houses and we combine two of the houses together to form two equal groups. Option number two: you pick the teams of thirty by yourselves or option number three: I pick the teams for you"
Everyone quickly decided on option two. They all rushed to make their teams and it was rather pathetic to see most everyone rush towards the Golden Trio for teammates. Pandemonium ensued as people argued who would be teammates with the three Gryffindors.
"Settle down!" the Auror roared. He sat their with a pondering look upon his face. "Since you can't seem to pick teams on your own," here Malfoy, who had also been accepted in the class, gave Harry a jealous and angry look, "Then you'll have to do it my way and I've just figured out a perfect way to do this" He pointed his gnarled finger at Harry "Potter you're a captain" he then pointed to a rather social burly seventh year Slytherin "You're a captain as well. You'll each take turns picking your team. Potter you can go first"
"Ron"(G) Harry immediately said.
"Adrian"(S)
"Hermione"(G)
"Nott"(S)
"Neville"(G)
"Abigail"(S)
"Terry"(R) There was a small gasp from some of the crowd. Everyone thought Harry and Cameron, the burly seventh year, would pick everyone from their house first before going after the others.
"You can't pick everyone from your house first boy" the Auror reprimanded Cameron who was just about to call out another Slytherin. "Then you'll surely get beaten, if you don't get the best from the others" The Slytherins all glowered at him for suggesting that a pure Slytherin team would lose!
"Bradley"(R) A nervous looking Ravenclaw joined the four Slytherins.
"Susan"(H)
"Chang" (R) the pretty Ravenclaw seeker glared at Harry, probably for not picking her.
"Parvarti"(G)
"Draco"(S)
"Padma"(R)
"Hayden" (G) Again everyone gasped. Hayden was a Gryffindor. But then again he was a snotty little git that had no friends or sympathizers in the Lion's den.
"Lavender"(G)
"Millicent"(S)
"Blaise"(S) a large groan could be heard over the gasp that accompanied Harry's choice.
"Mercutio"(R) a smug Ravenclaw walked forward.
"Justin"(H)
"Smith"(H) the first Hufflepuff the Slytherin picked
"Katie"(G)
"Daphne"(S)
"Melissa"(G)
"Terrence"(S)
"Blair"(G)
"Edgecombe"(R)
"Hannah"(H)
"Davies"(R)
"Wayne"(H)
"Nathaniel"(S)
"Lucas"(G)
"Paige"(S)
"Megan"(H)
"Isaac"(H)
"Savannah"(G)
"Jasmine"(R)
"Michael"(R)
"Crabbe"(S)
"Anthony"(R)
"Victoria"(S)
"Lisa"(R)
"Logan"(H)
"Caleb"(G)
"Gabriel"(H)
"Kyle"(G)
"Cassandra"(S)
"Aaron"(G)
"Jade" (S)
"Su"(R)
"Samuel"(R)
"Ernie"(H)
"Amanda"(R)
"Jason" (H)
"Ryan"(H)
"Brianna"(H)
"Nicolas"(R)
"Emily"(H)
"Destiny"(H)
(2)Overall:
G15 S15 R15 H15
G68/G77 S67/S78 R66/R79 H68/H77
629 731
GM8/GF7 SM7S/F8 RM8/RF7 HM9H/F6
M32 F28
Two Groups:
Ha14/1/6/9 C1/14/9/6
M14 F16 M18 F12
621/79 68/722 (2)
Looking at the teams Cameron Zabini cursed to himself. First of all Potter had picked his cousin, now he didn't exactly know why but he knew that Blaise was gonna get a talking too. Second of all Potter had the more powerful team. He definitely should of picked more of the sixth years and not the ones in his house. Nott and Blaise were the only ones even powerful enough to be considered inner-circle worthy Death Eaters. Malfoy had some power, but not enough to be considered a threat by most of the other sixth years.
The seventh years were not as powerful as the sixth years, even he could admit that. Not to forget that the exploits of the Infamous Golden Trio were legendary. The Brains, the Power and the Eyes. The brains was Granger because she was a know-it-all who knew a hell of a lot. The Power was Potter because he was damn powerful. And finally the Eyes, Weasley, called so because he was the one who knew Strategy and Tactics.
They all sat back down at the table the teacher sitting between the two halves on one point where they met and the two captains sitting next to each other where the two halves met again. "Your first task shall be a rather easy one if I do say so myself." the man tapped the table twice with his wand and the castle of Hogwarts appeared. "In three weeks time both teams will start at two opposite areas of the castle. The object is to stun the members of the other team. The first team to lose all its members loses. The rules are simple. All spells that have been learned before the OWL's are useable, however a Stupefy is the only one that is not allowed to be reversed therefor making it the one you will need to hit your opponents with if you want to eliminate them. A spell will be cast upon your wands that only permit those spells from being used. Everyone will be wearing a standard black robe given to them before the mission is to start. Other clothes required are pants a shirt and foot wear, gloves are optional. All clothes will be check for any other charms upon them. As soon as you leave this room you will be unable to talk or think about this until you are back in this classroom. That gives you all equally nine and a half hours as well as any remaining time today to come up with a strategy. No equipment such as certain maps" here a glance was thrown at Harry "invisibility cloaks or any other object besides wands and clothing shall be allowed. Are there any questions?" He pointed to Su.
"Sir what about the fact that some of us know the school better then others?" Su Li asked.
"I'm sure certain people know certain parts of the castle better then others." The ex-Auror replied. The Auror pointed to Hannah.
"Where will the students and staff be?" she asked.
"The remaining students will be on a field trip to the Welsh Dragon Reserve" the man responded. "While most of the teachers will be watching the happenings" Harry raised his hand and the Professor called on him.
"What if this takes longer then the time set by the staff?" he questioned.
"Then the team with the most people awake wins" Curris answered. Nott raised his hand.
"And the common rooms?"
"They will be sealed shut Any more questions? No? Then get planning." The large table broke up into two smaller round tables and magically Harry's team found themselves around one of the smaller tables and away from the other group. A miniature image of Hogwarts appeared in the middle 'That had to of been a complicated set of spells' Harry thought silently to himself.
Looking around the table he saw that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Sighing he started "Well we have three hours to plan today so let us just get the basics of are idea and spruce it up the next two meetings. Any ideas?"
They all sat pondering for a while before Ron spoke up. "I say we split up into groups. Ward the areas we go by and catch them by surprise"
"Groups would have to be evenly matched. Plus not everyone can do wards. We also can't forget the fact that some wards take a while to cast" Harry pointed out.
"Don't forget the fact that they might be thinking the same thing. So we'd have to continuously check for wards. Besides the few wards we did learn before OWL's would be rather useless" Hermione added.
"We did learn that twenty minute trip one which could be pretty useful if we combine it with that alarm one." Susan blushed when everyone looked at her. People would not of expected that out of a Hufflepuff. A Ravenclaw of course, a Slytherin most likely, a Gryffindor on the off shot but a Hufflepuff?
"Well we should definitely ward off the Great Hall doors, the main staircase to the dungeons, the corridor to the kitchens and all of the dungeon secret passage ways we can think of. That group is mostly Slytherin so they'll most likely want to stick with turf they know" Ron stated. "Any insight on what your house mates might do?" he looked at Blaise.
"Well first of all they will most likely try to use a potion." Blaise started. "One to enhance smell or sound so they can detect us better. They are more likely to stick to the dungeons, but they also know you will think of that so they'll try to lure you into traps or areas you might not be familiar with and then ambush you"
"Just like them slimy things too. Ambushing and potions. What a coward thing to do" Aaron, the new seventh year Gryffindor in the old D.A., sneered.
"It may not be honorable" Padma interrupted "but it is smart. Rules don't say anything against potions from what I can tell"
"So if you see any lone or pair of Slytherins walking the dungeons out in the open, do not go rushing off after them" Harry gave a pointed stare at all the Gryffindors. Several of them shifted nervously under his stare.
They discussed the areas they should travel around and the areas they should ward using the mini hologram version of the school. However before they could come down with a solid plan the bell had rang and dinner would be starting in fifteen minutes. Harry was still thinking on whether or not they should ward the kitchens as he neared the doorway. As soon as he walked passed it all thoughts left his mind on the project. All he knew was that they picked teams and they were working on something.
Harry's stomach growled in annoyance. This was suppose to be his time of eating! However the African hunter was suppose to be coming now and Harry was required to meet the man. From what Remus wrote in his letter this guy was the best one in the tribe the werewolf contacted. Supposedly this man took down a chimaera once without magic.
Dumbledore was a is side, a lemon drop in his mouth, just like when Nirvelli arrived. The old man was humming happily to himself as he placed his bag of lemon drops back into his pocket.
"He'll be walking through the gates when he comes" Dumbledore sang quietly to himself. "He'll be walking through the gates when he comes"
However it seems Dumbledore was wrong because the African man was running through the gates. "Doombledore! At tick! At tick! At the village. Ten men and ten Verins!" the mans deep voice yelled.
"What about an attic at Hogsmeade?" Harry asked confused.
"I think he means attack" Dumbledore answered before moving swiftly into the castle. "Stay here Harry!"
Harry watched him go and snorted to himself. Did he really think Harry would not go? He started to run in the direction of Hogsmeade. 'Though it could of been a trap by the Death Eaters. Shit' he stopped in his tracks as that thought passed through his mind. 'No use. I'm to Gryffindor to not go'
Harry continued running to the gates of Hogwarts. The African wizard was standing several meters in front of the gate, his breathing irregular but by no standards heavy.
'He must have high endurance' Harry thought.
By the time Harry ran by the man he was breathing regular again and decided to follow Harry. "You're headmaster said you should stay back" the man said as they ran. It sounded like he knew English pretty well having a slight accent that Harry could not place.
"Yeah but I can stall the Death Eaters before the Order comes, which who knows when that will be" Harry replied.
Reaching the village with his wand drawn Harry was suspecting to see hundreds of Death Eaters and Dementors. Imagine his surprise when all he saw was ten Death Eaters and ten weird type creatures that looked like a cross between a very flexible vampire and some animal.
When standing it look like a vampire would, except for three things. Instead of pale skin there was short, light grey fur and instead of two sharp canines there were just a bunch of razor sharp teeth. The last thing was there toes were longer and the big toe was off to the side making it look like a mutated hand.
Their legs were able to bend backwards over there back and they could walk on their hands, feet and, in the case of running, on all fours. Their short sharp nails and thumb-like-big-toes made it easy for them to climb things. Not to forget the lean muscle that Harry could see flex under the taught skin. Seeing them in action Harry could see that they ran fast and jumped high.
"What are those things?" he asked wide eyed.
"Verins. Weak demons who walk this Earth" the hunter replied.
"I didn't know such things existed in the world!" Harry exclaimed.
"Contrary to muggle belief this world is actually two times larger then it appears in their maps. A quarter of that is the Wizarding world and the rest of it is known as the Grimoire Realm. A place where Elves, Verins and many other magical creatures live. It is a pure magical world that separated itself from ours in the times of Ancient Civilizations, when humans started to learn the art of war and we started conquering each other. Fearing for their lives and their races some of the beings and creatures created their own place to hide from the blood thirsty humans." Harry nodded his head. He would have to look into that later. "So since I have more experience with creatures and you with Death Eaters I say we stick to what we know. And if one of us happens to finish before helps arrive we aid the other"
"Deal" Harry said, not particularly wanted to go near those creatures so soon. They both split up, Harry cautiously approaching two Death Eater who were leaning up against a wall sending green jets of light at people who were running around.
"Sometimes I wished they actually noticed me before it is too late" he sighed to himself. He raised his wand. "Vertige! Volare Indietro! Stupefy! Stupefy! Expello! Flamen! " The lights collided with the two wizards before they even realized someone was by them. Sometimes the Death Eaters were too arrogant and stupid.
The first spell hit one of the Death Eaters making it too dizzy for him to do anything. The second one was just pushed into the wall forcibly. The stunners knocked them both out before they could retaliate and the two banishers threw them down the street. Dumbledore had arrived with thirty Order members. The old man shot Harry a disapproving look but Harry ignored the old man. Honestly it was a time of war and Harry was its key player! Did he expect him to sit in his dorms sucking on a lemon drop while people died?
He looked to his left and saw a Verin grab the robes of an Order member with its foot and throw them into a wall. 'That looked particularly painful' he thought with a wince. The other Order member, who was assigned to take down the beast, was casting spells as quickly as she could but the beast was to quick to get hit. He ran forward to help but got hit with by blue jet of light from behind. He fell to the floor as his left arm became dislocated from its socket. Rolling over he narrowly missed getting hit by a green jet of light, as he banished the Death Eater through the glass window of the Three Broomsticks and listened as people inside screamed.
He got back up and started to stumble over to the Order member. The creature started to run towards the frightened witched as she backed up casting spell after spell. It jumped up, pushed off a wall and tackled her too the ground. Harry ran forward until he was positive he was close enough for his spell to hit the beast. "Expello!"
Everything seemed to slow down as the spell flew at the beast. The verin opened its mouth and thrust its head down, ripping apart the woman's neck before his spell collided with the thing and sending it flying into a tree.
Blood gushed forth from the wound and Harry could see the cartilage of the larynx. He fell to his knees and emptied the contents he ate for breakfast that morning upon the ground. Pushing himself to his feet, the Boy-Who-Lived shakily made his way to wear the creature lay breathing heavily, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
He pointed his wand at it "Laisser Tomber" the creature rose ten feet in the air before it fell to the ground. A high pitch shriek was admitted from its mouth as it landed.
The creature pushed itself on all fours to get up but Harry swiftly kicked it in its chest causing it to roll in the air and fall on its back. He pointed his wand at the things neck and whispered "Abscido." A small red disc hit the things neck in its neck. Five seconds later its head rolled to the side and stopped at Harry's feet. No blood flowed from the wound because the spell produced a small disk of metal so hot it cauterized the wound as well as causing it. It was a minor dark art spell he had learned while at the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. And though he was afraid to use those type of spells in public his darker side was only focused on making the beast pay, not rational thought.
He walked back over to the dead witch and scooped her up into his arms and walked over to where everyone else was gathered. He saw that wounded witches and wizards were being placed on stretchers and floated to Hogwarts.
"Harry!" Tonks started to rush towards him but stopped when she saw the body he carried in his arms.
"A verin. It got to her. I...I tried to help but I was, I was to late" Harry stuttered, tears prickling his eyes.
Kingsley stepped forward and took the woman from Harry. Tonks put a comforting hand on his shoulder and talked soothingly to him as she walked him back to the castle.
(1) Water is actually a poor conductor of electricity unless an ionic compound is mixed with it...or was it a covalent compound?
(2)...(2)- This is just a small chart for those who like to know the numbers of everything. G-Gryffindor, S-Slytherin, H-Hufflepuff, R-Ravenclaw, F-Female, M-Male, 6-Sixth Years, 7-Seventh Years. Ha-Harry, C-Cameron. Ha-#/#/#/# and C-#/#/#/# means Harry-Gryffindors/Slytherins/Ravenclaws/Hufflepuffs and the same for C except instead of Harry the C stands for Cameron.
I thought I added this into the last chapter but looking over it I have seen that it is not there, unless I am just totally stupid and looked over it ten times.
The World of Humans are divided into two sections. Magical and Non-Magical. The Non-Magical is divided into Muggles and Squibs. The Magical one is divided into Witches/Wizards, Sorcerers. Warlocks and Mages. And those four are divided up into three sub categories High, Moderate and Low. Voldemort was at first a Moderate Mage before all his rituals placed him in a category above that of a High Mage one not created yet. Dumbledore is a Moderate Mage. James Potter was a Low Mage, Sirius Black is a Moderate Warlock. Remus Lupin is a Moderate Sorcerer, Lily Evans and Severus Snape were/are both High Sorcerers.
I would just like to say that the past couple of fights have not been in any way shape or form a battle. They are just small raids and skirmishes, if you would like to call them that. Hopefully battles will start taking place soon and I have to say that the casualties will be big and many characters will die just like is suppose to happen in war.