CHAPTER ONE
He Walks Between the Raindrops
When he had been trapped in the endless revision that was the lead up to the W.O.M.B.A.T examinations, Harry had been unable to prevent himself from daydreaming about the coming summer.
He was hopeful that it would be better than the one that had preceded it, although that was a low bar, and was determined to make the most of the ten weeks he had before their Auror training began in September.
However, he wasn't expecting it to be all sunshine and ice-cream, as he needed to continue regular training just to maintain his current level, and he was due to begin O.W.L studies when the new academic year began so he needed to study ahead in all his subjects for that as well.
Still, despite all that he was certain most of his days would be spent lounging around Brightstone House in front of the Odeon, wandering around Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley with his friends and going somewhere exotic with his family.
He managed to get around doing all of those things, just not in the ways that he had expected.
The first surprise came in the form of his new training regimen. It was similar to what it was last year, but Nicolas increased the physical and magical exercises enough that Harry was finishing much later than he normally would have, as his body took time to adjust to the increased strain.
The one thing that he still wasn't sure about was Nicolas' new attitude towards his training. He had no idea where it had come from, but he was much stricter with him now than he was last summer, and he'd been so since their return from Memphis back in March. No matter how quickly he completed his uphill sprints, or how long he swam, or how agile he became at dodging incoming spells, his master never seemed completely satisfied with his performance.
Honestly, it was rather disheartening.
When Harry was done pushing his body to its limits, he would then return to his Mana strengthening exercises, but as his reserves had expanded significantly over the last year, Nicolas had added a twist to the old exercise in order to keep Harry on his toes.
He was to run through their section of Brighstone Forest, chasing after an animated, humanoid target and hit it with a spell before chasing after the next that would shimmer into visibility as soon as its predecessor was taken down. The first was the slowest, the second slighter faster and so on until the sixth would move at a speed which Harry could not even chase.
"How many are there?" He asked, gasping for breath as he lay flat on his back on the leaf and twig strewn ground.
"I made nine for you." Nicolas said, the tinge of familiar disappointment clear in his voice. "I expected you to be able to keep up with at least that many."
Harry would have glared at him, but he didn't want to risk getting sweat in his eyes by opening them, and he was too tired to wipe himself down. "Why is this necessary?"
"It's to increase your speed, dexterity, Mana Reserves, aim-"
"No," Harry cut him off, "I meant why is the sudden increase in training necessary?"
"I have told you previously," Nicolas sighed. "There is something I wish to teach you before your new Squad Captain takes up most of your training hours. Something that only I can teach you."
"Oh?" That peaked Harry's interest enough that he opened his eyes after wiping the back of his hand across his brow. "What is it?"
Nicolas grinned. "If you want to know, you'll have to do better than this."
Harry closed his eyes again, much too depleted to rise to the challenge. "Fine. Don't tell me." He sighed. "But that still doesn't explain why we can't learn this later. I mean, even if Cadet training takes up all my free time outside of class, we can still work on whatever this is next summer."
"No." Nicolas sounded firm. "We're running out of time."
Harry nodded slowly. "The window to save my parents closes when I turn eighteen." He paused, before voicing the theory he had been ruminating on for a while. "I think killing Voldemort might be the key to freeing them."
His eyes were still closed, but he could feel Nicolas start against the tree he had been leaning against. "What?"
Harry tried to explain his thought process. "You know, the Law of Equal Exchange. They made their sacrifices in order to stop him, so-"
"That's not how that works." Nicolas sighed.
"But you don't know for sure." Harry reminded him. "No one does, because no one else is thought to have done what my parents did in the way they did it."
"I don't think you're as exhausted as you claim to be." Nicolas muttered. "Your brain is working too hard."
Harry ignored him. "I'm not afraid of doing it, you know. Killing him I mean." He spoke without hesitation, as he had been considering this for a long time. "When Voldemort first told me that there was a prophecy about the two of us, I was scared, even though I didn't want to admit it. All I could wonder was how the hell a kid was supposed to kill the most powerful Dark Sage in history?"
"And now?" Nicolas asked softly.
"I've been through a lot since then. Maybe too much, but every time I was backed into a corner, I managed to work my way out of it. Sometimes without any outside help at all." He thought of Kitty Lawless, the Basilisk and the Dementors. "Every single one of those obstacles made me stronger, so I wouldn't go back and change any of it even if I could."
"I've heard of people looking at the silver linings, but this is just…" Nicolas trailed off.
Harry opened his eyes. "Are you pitying me?" He didn't wait for a response. "Adversity has made me stronger than I could have been, so the way I see it hardship is just a necessary steppingstone on my way to becoming Magister."
"Since when did you want to become Magister?" Nicolas sounded surprised but pleased with him for the first time in ages.
Harry shrugged, hiding his smile. "Doesn't everyone want to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world?" He didn't want to admit that his vague goal had only solidified when he'd first read his mother's letter and learned she had once shared his dream.
"Yes, but few are willing to work for it."
Harry sat up and looked him in the eyes. "That thing you want to teach me, am I ready to learn it right now?"
Nicolas' lips twitched. "I thought you were tired." When Harry said nothing, he sighed and explained, "There are two incredibly difficult techniques you must learn before then."
Harry rose to his feet as steadily as he could. "Teach me."
This time Nicolas was unable to hide his smile. "You're suddenly motivated."
Harry shrugged as he was unable to explain it, even to himself, but something about voicing his end goal out loud for the first time had revitalised him. "I have absolutely no intention of losing to Voldemort or anyone else, ever again."
Nicolas snorted. "You're reducing an entire war to a battle of egos."
"I never said I wanted to be good." Harry smiled mischievously. "Just great."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Life at Brightstone House had changed since the previous summer.
Without any input from Harry, Nicolas had invited his godparents, Maia Black and Remus Lupin, to come and live with them. Harry had been pleased by this, as he had been put in an uncomfortable position when Maia had asked if he wanted to live with her, and he wasn't sure how to tell her that he didn't want to leave the only real home he'd ever had.
Still, he had been rather tense at the idea while he had been back at school, as Nicolas and Maia were virtual strangers with each other. Fortunately, when the Healers of Lady Lestari's Hospital had released her with a clean bill of health at the end of June, Harry and Remus had been surprised to find that the two got on like a house on fire, with all the possibility of destruction that phrase included.
They were both quick with their words and prone to saying outlandish things, and they shared the same self-amused quality that could be terribly annoying sometimes. As the only reasonable adult in the house, Remus often found himself as the butt of the joke, but whenever he hid himself away in the library it was Harry who was often forced to act as the grown-up.
Still, Harry could never become truly angry with them, as he had noticed the same deep, aching sadness came over their features when they thought no one was looking.
He could forgive a little childishness if it spared them from that.
Physical changes had also been made to Brightstone House as well. Unseen to the eye, there was a tunnel that now connected the kitchen to a second basement, deep underground for Remus and Maia's monthly adventures. From how it had been described to him, it was similar to the room that the Hidebehind had inhabited back at Hogwarts, an artificial forest for his godparents to run around in their canine forms.
It hadn't been explicitly said, but Harry had been forbidden from seeing it with his own eyes. He suspected because Remus did not want Harry to equate him with a creature that needed to be contained in such a way.
The other change that had been made to the house was the addition of a garage for Maia. Harry had voiced his disbelief when she had first told him about her flying motorbike, and she had promised to show him once things had settled down. Unfortunately, once things did settle down, she discovered that her old motorbike had been destroyed with the rest of her belongings after her imprisonment.
Maia had fallen into a dark mood at that, and Harry had been at a loss on how to resolve it. Fortunately, Remus knew her much better than he did.
"You didn't have to, you know." Maia tried to sound serious about that, but she was unable to hide her joy as she examined her new bike.
"I think we both know I did." Remus shrugged. Maia shot him a look over her shoulder, a familiar one that reproached any semblance of guilt from her old friend. She was happy to leave things in the past, but Remus seemed unable to stop beating himself up for believing the worst of her.
Maia turned back to running her hands along the bike euphorically. "I'm glad you did though. She's beautiful." Harry knew little of motorbikes, but even he had to agree. It was a sleek thing, gun metal grey with a dark brown leather seat and an engine that sounded like a smooth purr. Maia looked at Harry with a wide smile. "Do you want to help make it fly?"
Harry couldn't agree fast enough.
It was long, steady work that was made no less difficult by how chopped up their schedule was. When Harry had first agreed, he had assumed that Maia would be doing the majority of the work, but she was determined to teach him all about the inner workings of the machine and what magical adjustments they would be making to it.
Harry was always happy to learn something interesting, but he felt bad that he was only able to work with her for an hour or two in the evenings after he had healed himself from all the training he had done during the day.
"Don't worry about it." Maia told him when he voiced these concerns out loud. "I would be bored out of my mind doing this myself, and I enjoy your company."
"Likewise." Harry smiled. It was the truth. In the middle of taking apart the bike and showing him how to etch different Runic Complexes to the individual pieces, Maia would talk about anything and everything. He suspected that she enjoyed having other people around to voice her thoughts to after a decade spent in isolation, and her Mind Healer had told Remus that surrounding her in the company of trusted others was the key to her moving forward.
Which only made Harry feel worse for leaving her to her own devices for most of the day while he was training. Still, even though the sound of her voice made concentrating on the painstaking task of enchanting every part of the bike more difficult, he wouldn't silence her for anything in the world.
Even if the topic at hand was terribly embarrassing for him.
"Any plans for tomorrow?" Maia asked knowingly.
Harry remained stubbornly focused on the rune he was carving into a gear. "Not really. Just hanging out with my mates in Diagon."
Maia hummed. "Just your friends? No one else? No one special?"
Harry sighed. "How old are you?"
She chuckled. "I would love to give you more advice, but I'm not even sure if stories of my experiences would be any use to you."
Harry didn't know what she meant by that, as it was clear from her stories that she had been on plenty of dates of her own. "It's not a date, you know. All the Ravenclaws in my year are just hanging out together."
"And who gave you that idea?" Maia prompted. "Who convinced you that it would make things smoother to have all your friends along?"
Harry paused. "It was you, wasn't it? Damn it, I forgot."
Maia laughed. "How many people have been talking to you about this?"
"Only every adult I know." Harry sighed. "Even Hagrid told me to be respectful of her boundaries and set some of my own."
"That's good advice." Maia nodded as she took the gear from Harry in order to examine his work.
"If we were twenty and moving in together." Harry tutted. "I have no idea what he meant by boundaries."
Maia paused and looked at him. "Do you know-? Has Remus ever spoken to you-?" She looked as though she were struggling to find the correct way to phrase what she wanted to say, but Harry understood from context alone.
"He never had to." He quickly said. "We learned about the biology of it in primary school, and I've heard some things." He tried to keep it vague that most of what he knew was from salacious magazines and from tidbits gathered from older students.
"You've heard some things?" Maia repeated doubtfully. "You'll forgive me if I don't think that sufficient." Before Harry could convince her that it really was, she turned her head and bellowed, "OI! REMUS!"
"No, no, no," Harry groaned, palming his reddening face, "tell me this isn't actually happening."
"What have I told you about shouting for me like that?" Remus sighed as he stepped into the garage. Of everyone in the house, he had fallen into the laidback summer mood the hardest as he spent most of his days wearing fluffy slippers around the house and constantly had his nose buried in one of his harlequin novels. His need to make the most of the holiday before he returned to Hogwarts in September had been enough to kill the shame that he once had at reading those trashy books out in the open.
"Have you ever spoken to Harry about the wonders of puberty?" Maia asked cheerily.
In contrast to Harry's incandescent face, Remus immediately turned pale. "Well…no. But he doesn't need to hear any of that yet," he added quickly, "We still have a few years left."
"A few years?" Maia looked incredulous. "You might want to move up your timeline there, Professor Lupin. Tomorrow's the big day."
"Nothing is going to happen!" Harry protested when Remus turned to face him, utterly appalled. "There's a group of us and we're just wandering around Diagon Alley, maybe getting some ice cream, but that's it!"
Remus didn't even bother to hide his sigh of relief. "See, there's no reason to-"
"If you don't speak to him about this, I will." Maia said simply.
Remus stiffened and gestured to Harry. "Come on. We have no choice now." Harry didn't even voice a protest this time, as learning what he needed to know from Remus seemed less painful due to their mutual embarrassment and Maia wouldn't be able to resist bringing up whatever awkward questions he had up at a later date, maybe even when his friends were around.
He needed to know for sure. "You won't tell anyone what we talk about, right?" He asked as Remus closed and placed a Muffling Charm on the sitting room door. "Not even Maia?"
"I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy." Remus assured. They both took their seats and sat around awkwardly for a minute before he sighed and asked, "Ready?"
Harry nodded slowly, like a man sentenced to his execution. "Let's just get this over with."
Remus smiled briefly. "Okay, first thing you need to know: Don't ever say those words to a partner." His discomfort seemed to evaporate at that, and he started explaining things that Harry had always been curious about and other things he had never even considered before, but while it was enlightening, that conversation would always remain the most uncomfortable twenty minutes of his life.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The next day, it was a much-harrowed Harry that Flooed into The Leaky Cauldron.
His eyes traced over the tavern, his gaze flitting across and between the numerous patrons who were eating and drinking either before or after doing their shopping on a bright July afternoon. Spotting a bored Michael sitting at a table by himself near the back entrance, he made his way over to him.
"Hey, how are you?" Harry asked, slumping into a chair.
"I reckon we could get fire whiskey served to us in here." Michael said in lieu of an actual greeting.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How have you been over the last couple of weeks?" Harry said in a poor imitation of Michael's voice.
Michael grinned. "I'm sorry mate. How've you been?"
"Exhausted. Nicolas has been training me to near death-"
"Yeah, yeah, that's great." Michael's eyes went back to the bar where the barkeep was wiping down the counter with an already filthy rag. "That barman looks shady enough to serve us actual drinks."
"No, he won't." Harry said succulently.
"And why not?" Michael asked indignantly. "I can pay him well enough with what Amelia forks over to me and Susan every week."
"Because you look even younger than you really are."
"I'll be fourteen in a couple of months!"
"You look hardly ten." Harry exaggerated.
Michael let out a huff of frustrated air. "Whatever. You can sip on a butterbeer while I knock back a shot of fire whiskey or maybe even a lobe-blaster-"
"Someone's been hanging around the Quidditch team far too much." Came a familiar voice. Harry and Michael turned to find that Terry and Anthony had already arrived with their mother, Joan in tow. It was her who had spoken, and she reached forward in order to pinch Michael's cheek. "You be careful, Michael. The barkeep is an old friend of mine so I'll know if you request anything that you shouldn't."
Michael gave her an embarrassed smile. "I'll just fetch us a round of butterbeers, shall I?" He got up and quickly made his way to the bar.
Joan watched him go with a fond smile before turning to Harry and her sons. "I need to go now if I'm going to make my reservation. Behave boys." She walked out of the tavern through the back entrance then with a departing wave.
"Aww, dropped off by mummy for your playdate. Isn't that sweet?" Harry said mockingly, even though he had secretly enjoyed how she had included him in her warning to behave.
"Piss off." Anthony said as he took his seat across from Harry. "She had a lunch date with some friends and left the Citadel the same time as us."
"A likely story." Harry grinned at Anthony's grumble. "You and Joan seemed to have gotten close." He told Michael when he returned levitating four mugs of butterbeer.
Terry glared at Harry over his drink. "I don't think I like what you're implying."
Harry raised his hands. "I'm not implying anything, just that Joan doesn't seem to hate Michael for existing like most people seem to."
"Thanks, Harry." Michael muttered as he took his seat again. "You know how to make a guy feel all warm inside."
Anthony spoke then, saving Harry from digging himself any deeper. "Even though she's never had a Cadet Squad of her own, Mum is really good at training students." He sounded rather proud.
"So, it's all going well then?" He asked. "You guys have been vague in your letters, and we never seem to catch each other on the communication mirrors." He knew that Joan had begun to train both her sons personally when she discovered that they planned on enlisting in the Auror Corps in September and had all but demanded that Harry and Michael join them.
"It's actually going brilliantly." Terry said happily, the mistaken comment about his mother forgotten. "I've never been able to get the Basic Seven down before, but now I can do them all really easily."
"No need to brag." Michael muttered. When Harry glanced at him, he elaborated. "Shield Charms can be a little tricky."
Harry nodded. "I know. Not knowing which one to use for different attacks still gets me sometimes too."
Michael stared at him. "There's more than one kind?"
Before Harry could decide if he was joking or not, Anthony asked, "Are you sure you don't want to join us? It'll be good if we could get the whole team together before summer's over."
Harry shrugged. "I'll come over when you get around to team exercises. Before then, it'll make more sense if I just stick to what I'm doing now." While he would have loved to train with his friends, Nicolas' eccentric style of teaching took a while to get used to, and with all respect to Joan, he didn't think she could offer him what the Immortal Alchemist could.
Anthony shrugged and leaned back in his seat. "That's fine. It's nice to get a day off though."
"Yeah, this was a great idea." Michael agreed. Harry was surprised by that, as he had asked his friends to be here for the group date as a personal favour, and he was even more surprised by what Michael said next. "Harry, now that you're with Lisa, do you think you could get me in with Padma?"
Harry blinked. "What?"
Michael hastened to explain. "Well, she's Lisa's best friend and I'm your best friend-"
"No, I'm Harry's best friend." Terry interrupted him. He turned to Harry then. "Will you set Anthony up with Isobel for me, your best friend?" He directed these last three words at Michael.
"What?!" Anthony choked, having been in the middle of a sip.
"Get in line!" Michael hissed. "I asked first."
Terry ignored him and addressed his brother. "She's the only girl you won't break your back kissing." That was true, as Anthony and Isobel were the two tallest people in their year.
"Who said anything about kissing?" Anthony looked more embarrassed than Harry had ever seen him.
"You've got a point about that." Harry agreed with Terry's assessment and ignored Anthony's betrayed look. "But no requests for yourself?" He asked, still wondering where this sudden interest had come from. Before today, he and his friends had only spoken about girls in the vaguest of senses and now they were squabbling over them as though it weren't embarrassing in the least.
It was only now that he started to realise that rudimentary duelling training wasn't all that he had missed while they had been working together this last fortnight.
Terry made a face at the mere suggestion. "I'd rather not."
Harry was silently relieved. If he went out with Amanda he would fear for the timid girl's safety, and if he went out with the excitable Su he would fear for the safety of others.
Before the others could make any more demands of him, the girls arrived all at once. Harry's eyes immediately went to Lisa, noticing how pretty she looked in just jeans and a black Siren Call t-shirt. His mind then forcibly recalled the more disturbing details of Remus' painfully long talk, and even though it included things he guaranteed would be taught in Healing Class throughout OWL level, Harry still felt disturbed by it all.
Despite this, he still felt the familiar fluttering sensation in his belly when Lisa smiled upon seeing him.
"Hey, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." Lisa all but ignored the others as she greeted Harry with a quick hug. "Thanks for suggesting this." She said lowly so only he could hear. "There's no way my parents would have let me go out with a boy on my own."
Harry was never going to doubt Maia again. "No problem." He turned to the others. "Want to get lunch or-?"
"We can eat any old time." Su waved him off. "Let's go out and buy stuff!"
Despite Su's loud proclamation, none of them actually purchased anything. In fact, they treated Diagon Alley as though it were a museum, and the shops were the exhibits. One of their stops was in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies, as they all had to stare at the latest model, the Firebolt, which even a Quidditch hater like Terry had to admit was a work of art.
Even after they collectively managed to drag a drooling Michael away from the state-of-the-art broomstick, they continued their aimless wandering up and down the Alley. It was a good thing that the Dementors were recalled from populated areas after the lack of results over the last year, as it would have put a damper over their sunny afternoon.
Harry almost jumped out of his skin when Lisa broke his train of thought by taking his hand. Somehow, they had managed to find themselves at the back of the group, so she was the only one to notice his ridiculous reaction. "Static shock." He lied feebly. He quickly interwove her fingers with his so she wouldn't focus on his weak excuse.
While he was glad to have listened to Maia about having a group outing instead of the one-on-one date like Lisa had first suggested, he wished he hadn't spoken to her about it at all. Both she and Remus had gotten into his head, the latter unknowingly and the former for her own amusement.
Realising that he must have been acting strangely from an outside perspective, he gave a still concerned looking Lisa his best smile and asked, "Want to actually go buy something?" He gestured towards Flourish and Blotts.
"You brought me in here to buy that?" Her voice was low, but the amusement in her words was still audible.
Harry smiled guiltily as he hefted the latest instalment of The Adventures of Captain Armstrong. "I know it's bad after what Advocate Armstrong tried to pull, but these books are just too good."
"They're juvenile." Lisa tutted as she walked away, leaving Harry to follow behind. "Villains, damsels in distress and silly one-liners. It's all so unrealistic."
Harry grinned. "Sounds like my life to be honest."
Lisa glanced back at him over her shoulder. "Oh? And who's your damsel?"
Harry paused as they came to a stop in front of racks of glossy magazines. "There's no right answer for that, is there?" Lisa snorted as she picked up the latest issue of Witch Weekly, the cover of which was emblazoned in a bold headline: Bejewelled Heroines Threaten Breakup Over Fleeing Sunlight Scandal! "Now that's juvenile."
Lisa smirked. "But without outstanding journalism like this, how will I know who stole whose Vampire lover?" They made their way over to the counter to pay.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "The headline doesn't say anything about stealing a Vampire lover." It was Harry's turn to smirk. "Have you been following the story?" He knew that the Vampire boyband, Fleeing Sunlight, were immensely popular with the girls at Hogwarts, but he still found the idea of Lisa being a fan of theirs rather funny.
"Only for the Heroines," Lisa said firmly, ruining his fun, "I've got tickets for their concert in Hogsmeade next month. It'll be a waste of money if they refuse to perform because of all the drama." She reached for her Gringotts key, but Harry beat her to it.
"I've got it." Maia had said that a boy paying for everything was old fashioned, but Remus had insisted on it and Harry trusted him more. At least when it came to not deliberately humiliating him.
"Thanks, but you're going to have to buy me ice-cream too if you want to come even close to paying me back for your ticket." Lisa told him as they left the bookshop.
Harry turned to her in surprise. "You bought one for me as well?"
"Of course." She said this as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, but he could clearly see her cheeks pinken as she kept her gaze determinedly ahead. "You don't want me to go alone, do you?"
"I really want to go." Harry said bluntly. He had wanted to see Bejewelled Heroines live for a while now, but he was too embarrassed to admit to being a fan of theirs, and Terry would never have been able to keep his mouth shut about it if he had taken him along. It was only now that he realised going with a girl was the perfect excuse.
Lisa turned her head so fast to look at him that she whipped him with her hair. "Really? That's great! I promise they're really good. I can lend you all their albums if you like?"
"Oh, that's all right." Harry blustered. "I bought an album of theirs back in first year when I was still figuring out what I like, so I've already heard some of their stuff."
"Brilliant! I've got two more tickets, but I've already promised one to Su." Harry was momentarily relieved that it wasn't Padma, as he could only handle her waspishness in small doses. "Why not have Michael take the last?" She said this far too casually for Harry not to comment on it.
"Why Michael? Why not Anthony?" He didn't bother asking for Terry, even though he was a Heroines fan, as he and Lisa had always rubbed each other the wrong way.
Lisa began to look around her, as though hoping a reasonable answer would suddenly materialise from thin air, before sighing. "Su is interested in him."
Harry blinked. "Oh. Okay then." He paused before asking, "Have they ever actually spoken? Like, alone?"
Lisa rolled her eyes. "No, but that's what the concert is for. To see if they could get along without anyone else around."
Harry was confused. "But wouldn't we be around?"
Lisa smiled coyly. "No."
He felt his ears burn and found himself repeating himself rather dumbly. "Oh. Okay then." He was saved from his embarrassment from his overly eloquent response when they spotted the others about to head into the ice cream parlour and hurried to catch up to them.
They all went their separate ways when they left the parlour behind them, but only after Harry made sure to pay Lisa back for the ticket with a sundae that had all the toppings she wanted on it, and she gave him a fleeting kiss before departing through the Floo Network.
Unfortunately, she did so in front of his friends, and they began to mercilessly mock him for it.
"I don't get it." Harry sighed as he took a chair at the table nearest the windows of the Leaky Cauldron. "You guys pester me about setting you up with her friends, but then you take the mickey out of me over a small peck?"
"Only because you get so worked up over it." Terry smiled. "It wouldn't be any fun otherwise."
"You didn't even set me up with Padma." Michael complained. "So I don't owe you anything."
"You're coming with me, Lisa and Su to a concert next month." He took care in avoiding the band's name in case Terry got worked up over missing out. "Apparently she's interested in you, though only Thoth knows why."
Michael looked considering. "Su? I didn't even speak to her today."
"You were too busy drooling over Padma." Anthony said as he arrived at the table with another round of butterbeers for them all. "No wait, you were drooling over the Firebolt and then Padma."
"Can you blame me?" Michael sighed wistfully, leaving the rest of them to figure out if he was talking about the broomstick or the girl.
Harry sighed. "Please don't act like this in front of Su."
"I never even said I'll go." Michael protested.
Terry snorted. "Oh? What other prospects have you got lined up?" He started laughing harder when Michael remained stubbornly silent. "Did you managed to get a date arranged for Anthony as well?"
"I don't need him to arrange things for me!" Anthony hissed.
Harry ignored him and shook his head. "No takers I'm afraid. He's going to die an old maid."
"He has a girlfriend for a couple of weeks and suddenly he knows everything." Anthony scoffed.
Harry frowned. "I don't have a girlfriend." The others all looked at him doubtfully. "What? I don't. We just hang out together, go off to be alone, hold hands…kiss sometimes…" he trailed off, considering. "Alright, I heard it as I was saying it."
Michael shook his head. "I don't know what's worse. The fact that you're the last person to know you've got a girlfriend, or that we're the idiots that were about to ask you for advice."
Anthony and Terry laughed, and Harry couldn't even find it in him to argue the point.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
One evening, when he was healed and rested from a day's hard training but not working in the garage with Maia, Nicolas asked him to meet him outside after dinner.
"What's up?" Harry asked when he walked to where his master was standing at the riverbank. "If you're trying to tell me something in secret, asking me to meet you outside in front of Remus and Maia is a bad way to do it."
Nicolas smiled at him as he sat down on the grass. "It's not a secret, it's a lesson."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "And this lesson couldn't have waited until tomorrow?"
"I thought you would be more excited to learn how to sense Mana." Nicolas asked innocently.
Harry quickly sat down. No matter how many times he had asked about this, Nicolas had never given him a straight answer. "Go ahead."
"This ability is called Mage Sight." Nicolas explained. "Think of it like a sixth sense, but instead experiencing the world around you with your physical body, you're able to perceive with the Mana you already possess."
"I don't follow."
Nicolas paused for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to explain it. "Every sorcerer in the world has a finite amount of Mana within them, correct?" He waited for Harry to nod before continuing. "Have you ever considered the possibility that you can release it from your body in its purest form? Without first being transformed into some kind of effect on the world around you?"
Harry nodded. "I've seen it done before." He explained about his first day at Hogwarts, and how Dumbledore and Akingbade had released Mana from their bodies without conscious thought.
Nicolas nodded. "Now imagine that you can push it out of your body in thin, concentrated waves. Like a radar-"
"-so you can detect what's around you." Harry finished.
"It's not nearly so useful." Nicolas chuckled. "It can't reverberate back to you from physical objects the way radar can. It only does so when it encounters another source of Mana."
"So, Mage Sight can detect sorcerers, and anything created or effected by magic." Harry frowned as Nicolas nodded. "I can see how that would be useful in a Muggle area or a place like this where there isn't much magic around, but what about places like Hogsmeade or Memphis? It'll be next to useless there."
"Not if you learn to different between different kinds of Mana and the people they come from," Nicolas reassured before quickly adding, "But you're a long way from worrying about that."
"How long away?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Last summer I would have said a few years at best, but you've really impressed me, Henry." Harry took immediate notice that he didn't precede his name with the word "little". "I asked you to build yourself a solid foundation and you've devoted yourself to it. I know you'll be capable of mastering this far quicker than I can even hope."
"Oh, well thanks." Harry was surprised by the compliment, even feeling it was a little undeserved.
Nicolas brushed past Harry's clear discomfort. "There's something you need to learn first, and you've actually been teaching it to yourself without even knowing it."
"What is it?" It would have had to have been something very subtle for Harry to not even realise that he was doing it.
"Controlling your Mana output." Nicolas said simply. "You must learn to sense your own Mana reserves; beyond the exhaustion you feel when you deplete them. That will be the first step to controlling your output."
"But why would I even want to control my output?" Harry asked. "What would the result of that be?"
"Didn't I already mention this?" Nicolas said, surprised that Harry didn't immediately recall. "You will come to learn exactly how much Mana is necessary for each particular spell, so you will be able to stop yourself from wasting what little you have unnecessarily."
"I don't like the way you keep emphasising how weak I am." Harry muttered. "Anyway, you said that I've been teaching this to myself, but I haven't."
"Really? I've noticed that despite the rapid growth in your reserves, you've managed to keep a tight rein over yourself." Nicolas pointed out. "No accidental magic, switching between different Esoteric Arts without pause, and the way you direct your Mana only through your wand when casting a spell."
Harry blinked. "I didn't realise any of that was something other people struggled with."
Nicolas hummed. "Most people don't notice their own strengths, as their weaknesses will overtake their thoughts." He smiled then. "I told you before, didn't I? Your adaptable. Now you just have to apply that here."
Harry tried to, he really did, but he was met with failure.
Following Nicolas' instructions, Harry didn't try to tap into his Mana at any organised time like the rest of his training, as his master had told him that being able to access it at a moment's notice was of paramount importance. As such, Harry made his attempts during his breaks, during meals, or even when he his body was conducting other parts of his training.
The only time he didn't make an attempt was when he was in bed, ready to drift off but falling into the recesses of his mind in order to organise his days thoughts.
"Occlumency is an absolute necessity for mastering your Mana output as it teaches you to have a deeper understanding of yourself outside of your body." Nicolas had informed him. "But while your mind and Mana bleed into each other, they are two different things, and it is best to keep them as separate as you can."
Harry knew that emotion was necessary for spell casting, and that Occlumency was the separation of the mind from emotion, so he didn't question Nicolas on this at all. Getting the two jumbled up seemed like a terrible idea.
However, this meant that even after three weeks he had made no progress whatsoever.
It was almost enough to put a damper on their sudden trip to the Australian Outback.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It all came as a reward for his W.O.M.B.A.T results. That was what they told him anyway.
Maia hadn't kept how little stock she put in grades a secret, and it all seemed rather meaningless to Nicolas who had been raised in a time before formalised education, so it was left to Remus to do the heavy lifting of making sure Harry was aware that he had done something good when he opened the envelope that contained his results to find thirteen outstanding grades staring back at him.
In fact, he was so pleased that he went and purchased two tickets for both Harry and Nicolas to go and see a day's worth of matches at the Duelling World Cup. He didn't say anything, but Harry knew that he was only missing it due to Maia's appointment with her Mind Healer.
Harry kept his mouth shut about it, as he knew that Maia was self-conscious about it, but he thought Remus was silly for going along with it by purchasing the tickets that must have cost a small fortune at the last minute, especially if he was not going.
Harry wasn't all that worried about his godmother as, thanks to his spying, he now knew that her bi-weekly check-ups were just routine. He knew he should feel bad about invading her privacy like that, but he felt a lot better than he would have been if left in the dark.
That was how he left Brightstone House when he and Nicolas departed for Australia one evening, as the Portkey yanked them from the pleasantly warm summer night in a forest, to a dry, sunny plain that stretched out as far as the eye could see.
"Are we lost?" Harry asked, his heavy eyes searching for any sign of civilisation.
"No." Nicolas smiled. "Look more closely."
Harry did so and like a mirage, the flat plain before him shimmered and a whole new world came into view.
The town was built around a clear blue lake that was so large he could only make out part of it, and the buildings were all low and spaced out by trees and massive gardens, taking advantage of the expansive lands around them. Like Memphis, Hogsmeade and even Platform Nine and Three Quarters, there were bridges made of glass and golden arches that bridged the gap over the lake.
However, there were a few structures that stood out and, due to their imposing size, they had to be situated on the outskirts of the town. The local Citadel was larger than the outpost in Hogsmeade but only because the Dark Beasts that lurked in the Outback were so much worse than the ones in rural Scotland. The local Wizarding school, Backe's Academy, was built on the far side of the lake, miles away from the town, so despite its massive size Harry could only see the smallest part of it.
What really caught his attention was the third and nearest colossal structure, which was a stadium that could have fit four of Hogwarts' Quidditch stadiums within it. Logically, Harry knew that it had been constructed recently and temporarily for the Duelling World Cup, but it looked to him as though it had been standing there forever.
This, he knew, was the only Australian Wizarding town: Backe Waters, named for the Durmstrang Headmaster who, as the story went, was executed by the First Magister while his sons were exiled to Australia and built a homestead for themselves. Eventually, that one farm grew into what it was now, the home of thousands of witches and wizards.
Harry always enjoyed exploring new places, especially places that were rich with history as this town was, but he hadn't listened to Nicolas' warnings about the time difference, and he was already feeling sleepy.
"Here." Nicolas handed him a vial of Wide-Eye Potion. "I knew you wouldn't listen and go to sleep when I told you to."
"Thanks." Harry chugged down the potion as quickly as he could, knowing that it took a few minutes to kick in. "I'm stuck in my sleeping patterns."
"Don't I know it." Nicolas snorted as he led the way into town. "You can fall asleep anywhere, can't you?"
Harry shrugged. One of the benefits of having grown up in a cupboard, he thought but didn't dare to say out loud. He had no idea how any of his guardians would react to such news, and he was afraid that he would be let down if any of them over or under reacted, so it was better to just keep it to himself. "Do we have time to explore?"
"Not as much as I would like." Nicolas muttered, glancing at his watch. "The town is overrun with tourists and the day's duels will begin in an hour."
He had a point. While Remus had been able to scrounge up two tickets to see the world's Top 64 duellists whittle themselves down to the Top 32, he had been unable to get them any lodging in either Backe Waters or Wizarding establishment in any Australian city.
Harry had to stop Nicolas from bringing up Muggle hotels as an idea, as he knew Remus would not trust them to behave themselves there and he didn't want to get into their brief stay in New York.
Backe Waters was normally home to little less than ten thousand witches and wizards, but Harry could already see from this distance that at least twice that number was walking around town, congesting the streets and flying over buildings on brooms and carpets. If they wanted to make it to the stadium and their seats on time, they needed to head there right away.
They paused only twice on their way there, the first time when they stopped for ice cream and the second when Harry was somehow swept into an elderly tourist group that apparently hadn't come for the Duelling World Cup, but to see the sights.
Nicolas rescued him before Harry could figure out how to excuse himself from making polite small talk with someone's grandmother.
Finally, after having their tickets checked, they made it into the stadium.
"Would you look at this?" Harry was unable to remain calm about this, running forward to examine the duelling pit.
Their tickets were for the very bottom, right next to the duels themselves, where all that would be separating them from the action was a railing and the protective Barrier. The stadium's seats were little more than halfway full and neither of the first duellists had arrived, but Harry suddenly felt overwhelmed with excitement.
"Remind me to do something nice for Remus when we get back." Nicolas said as he took his seat and tugged the back of Harry's t-shirt to make him stop from leaning over the railing and sit down. "These seats are excellent."
"He won't accept." Harry informed him, not tearing his eyes away from the still empty arena. "You opened your home to him, so he probably feels he owes you a gift or something. He's very polite like that."
"And none of it rubbed off on you, did it?" Nicolas asked, eyebrow raised.
"I'm only polite when it can get me somewhere." Harry gave him a smirk before turning back to the arena. "It wouldn't have worked on you, so I never bothered."
"Lovely." Nicolas snorted. "I suppose you would make a good Magister then. Being able to fake politeness is a necessity for politics."
Soon, the remaining seats were filled and Automatons that were serving snacks began making their way up and down the stairs to attend to the already rowdy spectators. Despite having eaten dinner not even two hours ago and ice cream much recently than that, the Wide-Eye Potion already had him feeling peckish and he got himself a pineapple soda and a Nogtail hot dog while Nicolas asked for grapes and settled for popcorn instead.
"Eating grapes while people proceed to kill each other for my entertainment makes me feel like a Roman Emperor." He explained to Harry as though this was reasonable thought to have.
The witch that was sitting on Nicolas' other side gave him a wary look before making her husband swap seats with her.
Harry had come to the Duelling World Cup knowing he would see the world's greatest fighters put all they had on the line for a chance at victory and had prepared his expectations accordingly. Despite this, the level of speed, skill and power on display throughout the first thirty-one duels left him astonished.
He had felt triumphant after his ascension into Hogwarts' twenty-four Sentinels, but today changed his perspective and forced him to acknowledge just how small he was in comparison to these giants. He felt exhausted by the end of the thirty first duel, as his mind was overworked from trying to study all he could from the magic that was on display before him.
However, it was the last duel that revitalised him, even before a single spell was cast.
The stadium was so large that most of the spectators could not clearly see the duellists, only the impressive spells they cast, so a dozen massive Odeons had been posted on the railings of various levels around the arena, so every spectator could have a close look at the competitors and see what the millions of viewers at home were privy to.
MASON CALVET vs EKON ADEBAYO
The names and moving images of both duellists were flashed onto the screens, and underneath that was all the information that the competition organisers deemed relevant, such as age, nationalities, qualifications and professions.
Harry eyes read through the information once, and then he blinked in confusion and read it again. Adebayo's profession read student and his qualifications ended at O. . "Ekon Adebayo." Harry quickly turned to Nicolas, ignoring the sudden uptick of noise from the crowd that was clearly surprised at the same information that he had just read. "He's a student at Uagadou? He's sixteen?"
Nicolas hummed. "It would seem so." There was something in his voice that told Harry he wasn't surprised by this at all. However, before he could even begin to question him on the matter, the crowd hushed as the referee began to retreat from the arena after going through the regulations with the duellists.
Harry's eyes went back to Ekon, taking note of his tall, lean frame, close cropped hair and the aloof air that was tangible even from this distance. There was something in the prideful way he carried himself that made him look too old to be a mere N.E.W.T student.
There was silence when the two reached their respective corners, Mason the French Ingenieur to Harry's left, and Ekon the Nigerian N.E.W.T student to the right. What surprised him was their respective expressions; Mason seemed nervous, and his forehead had a gleam to it that indicated sweat, while Ekon's shoulders were relaxed, and his face was calm and collected.
The referee brought his wand down and there was a flash of golden light.
"BEGIN!"
Mason fired an attack the moment the referee gave the signal. A shower of blades was launched from his wand at an incredibly high speed and made its way across the arena in the blink of an eye. Despite this, Ekon didn't so much as flinch, and with a careless flick of his wand the knives were transfigured into red flower petals which blew in every direction due to an artificial breeze.
Ekon's unimpressed expression was clearly visible on the Odeons posted around the arena.
Mason was obviously aggravated by this and cast a thin cloud of mist to obscure his position and actions. This forced Harry to realise how annoying his go to move must be for spectators now that he was outside of the duelling pit.
However, instead of using the mist as cover for his next move, Mason merely vanished the mist a few moments later. Harry couldn't understand why, until he noticed that the Ingenieur was encased in a thin bubble and the packed earth was now pockmarked with holes.
Corrosive, Harry realised, the mist was corrosive.
Like the other onlookers, Harry began to scan the arena for any sign of Ekon, half expecting to see his half-melted form lying flat on the ground, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Mason had seemed pleased at first, but when there was no sign of his quarry his earlier agitation returned in full force. He twirled his wand in what must have been a revealing spell, and while the results weren't obvious to the crowd, Mason spun on the spot in order to face the now visible Ekon.
Unfortunately, this meant that he missed the sudden noises of shock from the audience.
The flower petals that had been strewn into every corner of the arena had been melted away by the corrosive mist, each revealing the killer bee that had been lurking within.
Transfiguring a sentient organic being within non-sentient organic matter, Harry was watching this all through wide eyes, I didn't even know that was a thing. "Seriously, who the hell is this guy?" He asked out loud, only to be shushed by the witch sitting on his other side.
Mason had tried to attack Ekon the moment he laid eyes on him, but his spell went wild when the first bee stung him. Harry couldn't hear him, but he could clearly see the man cry out in both shock and pain that only got worse when he was stung again and again and again.
Finally, before the entire swarm managed to sink their stingers into him, he vanished them all and just managed to disillusion himself before Ekon's Stunning Spell could land on him. Ekon grit his teeth momentarily before conjuring a colossal wave of water to sweep through the arena and reveal his opponent's position.
The Surging Spell did its job and washed over the arena, eventually revealing Marcus' position when it was suddenly parted. There, standing in the same spot that Ekon had started the duel on, was Marcus, now fully healed from the dozen deadly stings he had suffered.
But Ekon hadn't conjured the wave only to remain stationary. No, he transfigured a patch of the flowing water into ice before leaping aboard and surfing along with the wave's momentum.
That's my move, Harry thought, even though Ekon had done it with far more grace and skill than he could muster.
Mason tensed when Ekon fell out of sight again, but either his senses had sharpened after his earlier error with the flower petals or the sudden noise of the crowd gave the game away, but he jumped forward just in time to dodge Ekon's second Stunning Spell that had been launched from above.
Ekon had leapt from the crashing wave's crest, clearly wanting to press his advantage, and shot a spell at the ground in order to soften his landing, but for the first time in this duel it was Mason that had laid out a trap that was perfectly sprung.
Instead of bouncing off the ground from a Softening Charm, Ekon fell into the packed earth, and the rapidly working quicksand managed to swallow him waist deep before he even knew what was going on.
For just a moment, both duellists smiled. Mason did so triumphantly and Ekon, despite the fact that his legs had to have been injured from such a fall, did so ferociously. Despite whatever pain he must have been in, Ekon was clearly enjoying the unexpected challenge from an opponent who had been on the back foot the entire time.
Ekon waved his wand in a circular motion overhead and while the quicksand around him did not disappear, as to overpower another sorcerer's spell would take both time and power, he instead added to the spell and made it even more malleable.
But that wasn't all he did.
The quicksand immediately began to churn in a circular motion, rapidly turning into a whirlpool of muddy earth and taking Ekon along for the ride. Which was good for him, as he just managed to avoid Mason's Body-Bind Curse and give him a difficult target to hit at the same time.
Harry knew that the Vortex Charm was used typically for water and air in order to create whirlpools and tornados respectively, and that only the most powerful casters could use it on fire and earth. Ekon was surprising him more and more with each passing second.
Before Mason could even begin to think of a way to accurately hit the rotating boy, Ekon jabbed his wand at the swirling mud he was embedded in and launched an Expulsion Curse right at it. The force of it was so great that it sent him into the air, spinning vertically as he did so.
Even though his legs were obviously broken, from either the unexpected landing or the self-made and directed explosion, Ekon righted himself in mid-air quickly enough to catch Mason's spell on the tip of his wand and fling it right back at him with startling accuracy, heal both his broken legs, and soften the patch of earth that he landed in all in the space of a few seconds.
And he didn't even pause to catch his breath.
He used the momentum from the fall and the springy earth beneath his feet to launch himself forward, right at Mason.
Harry wasn't alone in his surprise, as Mason seemed caught off guard by this action too. In his hesitation, Ekon fired two spells at him. The first was a Stunning Spell which got Mason to act, countering with a Stunning Spell of his own. The two red jets of light looked set to collide, but they merely glanced off each other before continuing on their now slightly deviated routes.
Mason dived out of the way before coming up in a roll, while Ekon continued running forward and merely dipped his head to one side, allowing the Stunning Spell to whizz harmlessly by his ear. He drew his wand back and fired the second spell while Mason was still in the midst of evading the first.
Harry's eyes widened as he recognised the wand movement of a spell that had been sent at him just a month previously.
It all ended in a flash of blinding white light, and a boom of deafening thunder.
Fulminata.
With Mason only just coming out of his roll, there was no time for him to erect some kind of defence, that is if he even managed to catch the change in air pressure at all. One second the world had been turned white, and the next Mason was blown right out of his buckled boots.
Healers rushed into the arena the moment the Barrier was lowered and hurried to the unmoving Mason Calvet, but the cheering spectators paid no attention to that, only to the sixteen-year-old boy that raised his head to the sky in defiant triumph.
After the duel, Nicolas encouraged Harry to remain seated and to allow the thousands of other spectators to leave the stadium before them. He did not mind, as it allowed him to go over the duel in his mind, over and over again, but when they finally got up and made their way down to the arena itself, Harry knew that something was up.
"I want to see an old friend." Nicolas explained as they made their way to Ekon Adebayo's changing room. Before Harry could even ask how he was friends with the now Top 32 Duellist, he rapped his knuckles on the door, and it was opened almost immediately.
"I thought I caught a glimpse of you." Nicolas smiled. "How've you been, Eniola?"
Eniola Adebayo. Harry knew that name. She was a retired Auror General and Sage that specialised in Transfiguration.
"Nicolas!" The witch who had opened the door exclaimed. "You should have told me you'd be here!"
Lady Eniola was an elegant woman whose age Harry could not immediately pin down; she could say that she was anywhere from thirty to sixty and he couldn't dispute her. She was of average height and wore a flowing gown of bright turquoise with wide sleeves and a matching head wrap that emphasised her dark skin.
"So you could give me free tickets?" Nicolas asked.
"No, so I could have security refuse you entry." Her words were harsh but delivered in a friendly way, and Nicolas' answering smile let him see that they were on good terms.
Which was good, as he didn't want to be put in the middle like he had been with Lady Mei Wen.
"Who is your young friend?" Eniola asked, finally turning her gaze to Harry.
Nicolas put his hand on his shoulder. "This is my apprentice, Henry Potter." Harry was momentarily taken aback, as Nicolas had never introduced him as his apprentice before, but he still shook Eniola's hand and greeted her politely.
"I should introduce my own apprentice, I suppose." She turned her head, but the door was abruptly opened wider. "Ekon," her tone was reprimanding as he slipped past her, "This is my friend Nicolas Flamel and his apprentice-"
"I heard." Ekon interrupted and turned to regard them. He looked at Nicolas with something akin to respect, even giving him a nod, but when his eyes fell upon Harry, he snorted. "Apprentice." He scoffed, before walking off.
"Ekon!" Eniola snapped at his retreating form, but he didn't even glance back. "Pardon him. My grandson is both spoiled and full of himself." She sighed.
"You don't have to explain a thing." Nicolas assured her, and she gave him a rueful smile before dashing off after her grandson. He then turned to Harry and spoke when they were out of earshot. "No one has ever risen to the position of Magister without first becoming the Triwizard Champion."
Harry blinked. "That came out of nowhere."
"It really didn't." Nicolas gestured to the exit where the two Adebayos disappeared through. "That young man is the very best of your generation. If you want to be taken seriously as a candidate for Magister, you need to beat him first. Preferably in a competitive setting like this."
Harry stared at him. "I want to compete in the Triwizard, but only when I'm a Seventh Year."
Nicolas shrugged. "If that's what you want? Fine." He smiled challengingly at Harry then. "But the youngest person to have ever won was a Sixth Year. You could make your own legend before you even sit for your O.W.L examinations."
Harry stared at the exit Ekon had disappeared through, and the arena that he had so terrifically defeated a more experienced opponent in. It seemed to him that the higher he ascended the more he had left to learn, and there was something about the challenge of that which left him smiling.
The spark of ambition that had been ignited by seeing Eliza Hawthorn duel for the first time had now grown into a roaring inferno.