One of the things harry had learned since coming to Avalon was to enjoy the warm weather while he could because it never lasted as long as he would have liked. Little Surrey hadn't been balmy in any sense of the word but it had at least had seen nice summer days and cool but pleasant springs and falls. The type of weather where, even though he'd been forced to be out weeding his aunt's garden or washing his uncle's car, he could at least enjoy a nice breeze on his face and a warm sun on his skin. Avalon however, especially Northern Avalon where Hogwarts laid, had none of that. What could be considered 'summer' was at best an above average spring day while said springs were wet affairs where one was more likely to be able to surf in the puddles that formed on the routes than frolic in the sun. Fall was usually a dreary affair, perfect for the haunted season but not that great for those that liked to be outdoors. And the winters... they were like a wild Gyarados, rampaging one moment, mellow the next, never going where one would expect.
That was why Harry was enjoying a rare sunny fall day, thanking Arceus or whatever deity was looking down upon him that it was a Hogsmeade weekend that had been graced with such weather.
He and his friends were walking down the main street, their variety of red coats (in different shades and cuts from Ron's rough and worn coat to Luna's elegant long-tailed Kalosian-made jacket to Harry's own hooded Johtoian-style garment) snapping in the stiff but rather pleasant breeze. They had just gotten done looking through the small bookstore (translation: they had gotten done 20 minutes ago and then spent the rest of their time dragging Hermione out as she whined that the books were lonely and wanted to go home with her) and had snagged some wonderfully greasy, fattening, not-safe-for-consumption-but-damn-it-they-taste-so-good burgers and were marchining for a small wooded picnic area just outside of the village. Harry had learned of it last year thanks to Cedric, who had shown him and the other champions his '"favorite spot in all of Avalon" and all of them were looking forward to relaxing for an hour or two before heading back into town to do some final bit of shopping.
The only negative to the entire venture was that they were trailed by a chaperone. Due to all the attention Voldemort had been sending Harry's way it had been decided that it would be unwise to just let Harry wander about. He had a feeling if Dumbledore had his way Harry would have remained at Hogwarts but enough of the staff had put their foot down and said it wouldn't be fair to him to be the school's prisoner and he needed some time to be a kid. As such the staff had decided to take turns watching him and his friends while Dobby had to be out and within touching distance to teleport Harry away should an attack happen. He hadn't like that last part as it meant his friends were left behind but between Hermione's psychic types it was decided that the rest of The Pride would be able to get away should things go tits up.
He chaperone that day was Prof. Slate, who at least remained close enough to keep watch on them but not so close that Harry and his friends couldn't talk privately. At the moment though he was next to Harry, though that was mostly because he'd attempted to woo Mrs. O'Malley and her husband hadn't liked that and thus it had been up to the Pride to drag him away.
'The sight of Mrs. O'Malley popping out her dentures so she could better make kissy-faces at Prof. Slate will replace the Wailord in my nightmares,' Harry thought when he remembered just how flattered the 90 year old woman had been by Brock begging her to educate him in the matters of love.
"Your Leafeon has a lovely coat, Harry," the Battle Instructor stated as they turned off Main Street and moved towards the picnic area.
"Thank you!" Leafeon declared, ignoring the startled looks from the shopkeeps that he could talk.
"Why are you okay with him blabbing?" Ron asked, before jerking a thumb at Hedwig who was gliding behind them. "Or her? I mean, I'm around them all the time and it startles me. Psychic types I get but actual talking…"
"I'm used to talking Pokémon," Prof. Slate said. His brow furrowed. "Granted, normally they are calling me a twerp..."
"I can do that if it would make you feel better," Leafeon said with a laugh.
"I'm good," Prof. Slate said as they finally got out of the village and went through some trees towards the little-used picnic area. "Feels good to stretch my legs... I'm not used to sitting at a desk for hours on end."
"You used to walk around?" Hermione asked.
Prof. Slate grinned wistfully. "When I was around your age I used to travel with friends around the different regions. Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, we even did Johto right after the war. Prof. Oak tried to convince Ash not to go, that it wasn't safe, but he just laughed and said there were so many new Pokémon he wanted to meet and it didn't matter what had happened he was going to see them all."
"Your friend must have loved Pokémon," Ginny pointed out. "A Kantoian in Johto right after the war?"
"We were some of the very first people from our region to travel through Johto after the war. Looking back though Team Rocket gave us more problems than any of the Sons. I don't even remember a single one of them messing with us."
"The Sons don't hurt kids," Harry said simply. "Jack would have personally eliminated anyone foolish enough to do so in his region." He didn't even try to deny that Johto belonged to Jack, whether his teacher wanted to admit that or not.
Prof. Slate nodded at that as they finally arrived at the picnic area. Harry set his bag on the table before wiggling his fingers, using the pre-designated twitches and movements to shift which Pokeball he would call out. "Alright Vegeta, come on out!" His palm opened and the Pokeball shot out, the large dragon appeared with his arms folded over his chest and an annoyed look on his face. "Guard us while we're eating and then we'll get you a big lunch," Harry told him, pointing at Dobby who had levitated a massive box filled with food for everyone's Pokémon; the fighting type finally nodding once he was pleased with the selection and stomping off.
His friends began to release their Pokémon too after that. Another thing they'd come up with to keep themselves protected was to sent out a few Pokémon to stand guard, alert to any danger. Harry had debated who to send out but in the end for him the Kommo-O was the only choice. Ludwig would be too concerned with serving him, Togekiss was too happy and giddy to be a good guard, Leafeon and Hedwig were built for speed, Firebolt and Orion would fight if only one was selected, Dobby had to stay close, and he didn't know if he was worthy enough to command The Beast yet. That left his newest Pokémon who luckily loved to fight.
The gang couldn't send out a ton of Pokémon, as it would make retreating hard, but each could send out one or two. Luna selected Whomper and Luna Jr., the latter glaring at everyone before leapng into the trees to spy on them all from above while the former saluted Luna and joined his 'brother trees' in standing watch. Neville selected Flora, who had become utterly HUGE ever since evolving into a Venasaur. The grass type quickly thrust several vines into the ground, communicating with Whomper's new tree friends to have them act as detection devices. Ron had his Beartric and his Emboar, the two fist bumping each other before moving to the opposite end of the clearing. Ginny had gone through the hardest selection, as all her Pokémon were built for speed and stealth rather than power, but finally she went with her Infernape, who bowed to her before apparently deciding to practice his meditative stances. The last was Hermione, who had her Delphox out... and Celebi.
"You don't seem that shocked to see her," Hermione said, running her fingers along Celebi's head. When she'd sent Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Tonks, and Whomper back into the past the mythical Pokémon had burned out her time travel ability, just as Hermione had predicted, and was slowly building back up her strength. According to Hermione could now send just Hermione back but she rarely used the power out of fear of hurting her dear partner. Better to let her get back to full strength and better still not to abuse time travel, as Hermione had admitted that the events of that aborted timeline had shown her how precious Celebi's power was.
"Also well used to that." Brock smiled as Celebi turned to look at him and let out a delighted coo, flying over to him before pressing her head against his. After a moment Brock let out a chuckle. "Yes… Sammy is fine." Celebi, delighted by that response, returned to Hermione, who looked at their professor in confusion, though Slate made no move to explain. "Well, enjoy your greasy burgers. I'm going to make lunch over there so you can have some privacy. Might also make some donuts too, if you want dessert." With that he walked off, summoning an elegant Ninetales before setting up his cooking supplies well out of earshot.
"How he is going to make donuts with a camp cooker?" Neville asked.
"Who cares, we get donuts!" Ron practically cheered.
After that the chattered went down to the idle conversations teenagers had when they didn't really have anything to say but didn't want to leave the air filled with nothing more than silence. Food was passed out, seats were taken, and the group known as The Pride filled their bellies with some of the worst-yet-delicious food young people could get their hands on. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later, once everything had been consumed and Harry for one was basking in the glow of post-fast food binge bliss that the conversation finally turned back to matters of interest and importance. Of the war that was brewing and their part in it… despite everyone trying to keep them out of it.
"So I'm guessing you haven't had that much luck with recruiting for…" Neville paused, lips pursed in thought, "do I call it the Order of Moltres or are we keeping that name under wraps for now?"
"Well right now it's the Order of Psyduck considering how much of a pain it is," Harry muttered, snagging a French fry moments before Ginny could steal it and popping it into his mouth. "I can't even decide who to approach first, let alone actually make contact. I keep thinking that I know exactly who I'm going to meet with first only to change my mind right before I approach. It's worse than trying to ask a girl out!"
"How would you know what that's like?" Ginny teased. "Jasmine pretty much marked you as her own the moment she met you."
"Not going to argue against that?" Hermione asked when Harry didn't pipe up.
He shrugged. "Why argue against what is true?" He crumpled up the wrapper from his burger and tossed it towards the garbage can… only to miss, forcing him to get up and toss it away himself. He ignored his friends snickers and went right back to his seat. "Anyway, I'm still not sure who to approach first. I have a list of people I want to bring in… need to start with Hogwarts first, obviously as that is where we are at now and I can't just leave and go traveling around Avalon asking people if they want to join me in forming a clandestine alliance to overthrow Voldemort."
"I notice you haven't asked us to join yet," Neville pointed out, calling Flora over and pulling out some pruning shears so that he could groom her fronds.
Harry made a face. "You guys were always going to be a part of this! I would never-"
"You haven't asked though," Ron pointed out with a smirk.
"…you aren't going to make this easy for me, are you?"
Hermione shrugged. "I want to join but I need to know the benefits. Dental, medical…"
"I liked you better when you were just a bookworm. Cedric has ruined you." Harry let out a grumble before sighing. "Guys, would you like to join the Order of Moltres?"
Neville bobbed his head back and forth. "Maybe?"
"Maybe!?" Harry exclaimed.
"Hermione is right, what is in it for us?" Ron added.
Leafeon let out a laugh. "How can we trust you as a leader when you can't even throw something away properly?"
"You stay out of this!" Harry thundered, Hedwig joining in with the laughter.
Ginny leaned over the table and batted her eyes. "Oh no, you must do better than that. Woo us, Harry Potter."
"Excuse me?"
"Woo us. Make us want to work with you, be part of your 6-way."
Harry glowered at her. "First, please don't call it that. Second…" he pointed at the table. "You stuck your elbow in some ketchup."
"Damn it!" Ginny exclaimed, rearing back and grabbing some napkins. "This better come out…"
Hermione handed her an alcohol wipe. "Use this, it will work better-"
"ENOUGH!" Luna roared, slamming her fist against the picnic table. "Seduce me!"
"W-what?" Harry stammered.
"Seduce me! If you want me to be in your Order you must make me want it." She stood up and loomed over Harry. "Seduce me!"
Harry swallowed but glancing at his friends proved he'd get no help from any of them, meaning he had to handle Luna and her madness on his own. "Right. Right, okay." He glanced nervously at Luna and forced himself to smile. "Hey there… good lookin'. I got this Order of Moltres-OW!" Harry's head snapped back, cheek stinging where Luna had slapped him.
"I am not one of your fried chicken tramps! I am a woman! I like my secret clandestine groups mysterious… dangerous. You want to be my cloak-and-dagger leader? Earn it! Seduce me!"
"…Neville, I suddenly have a lot more respect for you," Harry whimpered.
Luna though lifted Harry's chin so he was staring at her. "You complimented Neville. That works for me. We are all in."
"We are?" Ginny asked. Luna shot her a death glare at that had Ginny cringing. "Okey dokey."
The blonde went back to normal. "Okay, so you need to select someone to be your first contact and you can't decide who so we need to help. Suggestions everyone?"
Once it was clear that… whatever had happened with Luna… was over the group actually got down to business.
Ron rubbed his chin. "Well, Dean or Seamus might be good… you could probably get the entire Gauntlet Team to join up. That would let you get some older students. The girls are really smart, so Katie and-"
Harry held up his hand. "Sorry Ron but Gryffindor is going to be last."
His red-headed friend sputtered. "Wait, why? This isn't about Cormac, is it? He's an ass, Harry, just ignore him!"
Shaking his head Harry smiled slightly. "I'm not worried about his one-man campaign, Ron." Ever since the meeting about Umbridge all the Gryffindors had taken Harry's suggestion to play her game… except Cormac, who had lived up to every negative stereotype of the brash Gryffindor and as such earned a ton of detentions and lost points. Now there was almost no chance of the House of Courage winning the House Cup (not that Harry and his Pride carried… the House Cup had lost meaning the first time Voldemort had nearly killed him) thanks to the deficit Cormac had put them in. Somehow that was also Harry's fault and Cormac had been trying to rally the House against him ever since… and failed horribly seeing as the only one that was causing problems with Cormac himself.
"Then what's the problem?" Ron demanded.
It was Hermione who answered. "If we want this new Order to look like anything OTHER than a Gryffindor Social Club we need other Houses. All the Houses. And the best way to do that is to bring in someone from the other houses first, before Gryffindor."
Ron nodded, considering that… before paling. "Slytherins?" he asked weakly.
"I thought you didn't mind Slytherins?" Luna asked, tilting her head.
"I said they weren't half bad! That doesn't mean I want to rub elbows with them all the time at tea parties and knitting circles."
Harry and the rest of the group all shared a look.
"You have no idea what secret mysterious groups do when they meet, do you?" Ginny finally asked her brother.
"…if I say we can have Slytherins will you drop this?"
"Done," Harry said before anyone else could say anything.
Neville glanced at the others, running his fingers along Flora's head. "To be fair the Slytherins our age have gotten rather quiet ever since Pansy left."
Harry nodded in agreement to that. Eight days ago Pansy had been asked to come to Prof. Snape's office in the middle of breakfast and had never been seen in Hogwarts again. Rumors had run rampant for much of that day, with everything from she was pregnant with Draco's child (Harry did NOT need that visual in his head!) to her being caught as a drug mule (less offensive than her and Draco banging) to her being a secret witch/vampire hybrid who was a member of some group called the Heretics (Harry was pretty sure Luna had started that one). It had only been the next day during dinner that Prof. Dumbledore had announced that Pansy's father had disappeared after taking half the family fortune and as such her mother had decided to pull her from Hogwarts permanently.
No one had truly mourned her leaving. Pansy had been an alpha bitch who had made Cho Chang (before the Voldemort possession) look like a perky friendly minister's daughter. Even those that might have been her friends didn't mind that she was gone and, from the way Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis had walked about Hogwarts after the news, seen her leaving as a great weight being lifted from their shoulders. The only one to truly be upset had been Draco, who had looked ready to throw a tantrum right there at the table and afterwards had loudly declared that it was Harry's fault that Mr. Parkinson had run off. How exactly it was his fault Harry wasn't for sure but Draco was convinced Harry had ordered the man kidnapped or murdered and thus it was all his fault that Draco's little snuggle bunny (and Harry internally gagged at that) had left without even giving Draco a goodbye.
Harry had resisted the urge to point out that if he had the power to make people disappear he'd have used it first on Voldemort and then on Draco himself.
Hermione frowned, rubbing her chin while Celebi mimicked her. "And the problem is how each House would react to us selecting someone from another. We go with Slytherins and while it would send a strong message that we do mean to invite all it also could mean people assume we are going for darker desires with our goals. Ravenclaw might get the Slytherins upset they weren't first and that we are just playing it safe and the Hufflepuffs thinking we just want them for their brains. And with the Puffs both will see it as a slap in the face because people are weird about Puffs."
"Because they are puffs," Ron pointed out.
Ginny sighed. "Yeah, beginning to see your problem, Harry. I mean, not only do you have that but secrecy is key… you select the wrong person and they say no and then blab to everyone what you are doing and the Order is dead before it even gets off the ground."
Harry held his head in his hands. "You are just telling me things I already know!"
Leafeon rubbed his head against his leg. "That's what friends are for… I think."
Luna suddenly stood up. "It is obvious! We should ask Brock!"
Harry and the rest of the Pride looked at each other.
"Samson?" Ron ventured.
"Eddie?" Neville offered.
"Matthew?" Hermione asked
"Sheriff Jimmy?" Harry inquired.
"The Soul King?" Ginny wagered.
Luna frowned. "Our professor, Brock Slate. Also that is Brook, Ginny, not Brock. Nice try though."
"And why would we ask Prof. Slate?" Harry finally asked once he wrapped his head around Luna for once NOT being the one doing references.
"He made friends with a ton of famous people, like Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower and May Maple and Dawn Berlitz… he's really good at making connections so he could help." Luna turned and yelled, "Prof. Slate, we need to ask you a question!"
The professor hurried over with a covered platter, Luna waving off her friends' sputtered questions. "Hey guys, already done? Hope you saved room for my famous jelly donuts!" He uncovered the platter to reveal a bunch of mounds covered in white coconut with stripes of black pastry running along the bottom. "They are as good as they look."
"…are those rice-" Hermione began before Ron slapped his hand over her mouth.
"Nice. She meant nice." He then hissed, "If you cost me donuts I will never forgive you." Hermione nodded quickly and Ron removed his hand before reaching over and snagging several of the odd donuts.
"Prof. Slate," Luna said sweetly as she selected a donut, "if you were forming a super secret group that would all you total domination of the world how would you go about recruiting minions?"
Harry fought the urge to smack his head while Prof. Slate just blinked.
"I assume there is more to this than what she said," the battle instructor finally said.
Neville thankfully jumped in. "You know that all of us are close, right?"
"The Pride, from what I hear," Slate stated.
"Well, we want to expand our horizons... make more connections with people. The world isn't just the six of us. Between all of us there four current or future gyms represented... five if you count Hermione and her boyfriend Cedric"
Hermione began to talk next. "We realized that we need to make more friends, have more people we can talk to and call upon for help. We don't know everything, after all. But the problem is... we kind of have a reputation."
"We haven't exactly let a ton of people in," Harry said. "I mean, I have the other champions, and there is Cedric... but other than them the last person any of us made friends with from a different House was Luna and she's a Gryffindor now."
"I have been assimilated. Resistance is futile," Luna stated.
"I actually got that one," Ginny whispered.
"The point," Harry said, "is that I... all of us... want to get to know more people in Hogwarts better but we're not sure how to approach them. Get them to hear us out. Add in the Gryffindor/Slytherin Feud..." He trialed off weakly.
Prof. Slate though seemed to understand completely, rubbing his chin. "Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem." He reached down and rubbed his Ninetale's head. "My friends Ash and Misty aren't exactly the most people-friendly people in the world. Well, now they are MUCH better but when I first met them? Misty could get abrasive real fast and Ash... he was rather..." he searched for the right word, "focused on Pokémon and battling and winning badges. It could get intense. We tended to run into misunderstandings all the time. Heck, we had enemies that wanted to utterly destroy us. But time and again... we won them over. Quickly too! Ash might come off as a bit of a ditz and far too consumed with Pokémon but when people got to know the real him they grew to love him. They were... are... very loyal to him. Heck, I haven't seen him in over 18 months but if he called needing my held right now I'd drop everything to get to him.
"Now, how did he get over that hurdle? He offered help. You can try and convince someone til you are blue in the face that you two should be friends but doesn't mean they will actually listen. But offer them help in some way? Assistance? That gives you an in." He held up his hand. "I know that can sound real bad... like you're bribing someone to get to know you and you'll hold things over their head unless they pay off their debt, but that isn't what I'm getting at. Ash just wanted to help people, we all did, and that real quickly made enemies into allies."
Harry took that all in, his mind racing. 'But what can I do that can help other people? Hermione could do study group, maybe, but that could just be with her, not the rest of us, and I don't want to put everything on her. It needs to be more than that, something all of us...' his thoughts trailed off as he thought about all he and his friends had done during the summer. Their lessons and studies and apprenticeships and training. Learning from the best in the world. Things people would kill to learn...
"Prof. Slate," Harry finally said, a small smile forming on his lips, "would you be interested in being the facility sponsor for a battle club?"
~MC~MC~MC~
Author's Notes: Short chapter but back off, it had a ton of winks and nods to the anime and I got to see Detective Pikachu which was utterly amazing.
This chapter was a nice pallet cleanser after the darker chapters we had before. Just a chance for the teens to be teens, for some fun jokes, so on and so forth.
And because it was a short chapter I leave you with this insane Omake:
And now the story of a group of students who want to try and save Hogwarts and the one student who had no choice but to lead them.
It's Harry Potter and the Arrested Development.
Created by Mr. Chaos
This is Prof. Dumbledore. He is talking to Harry, who is looking for some answers.
"Professor Dumbledore, do you know how Voldemort survived?" Harry asked as he walked with the old headmaster.
The white-haired man's eyes twinkled as he shook his head. "Oh, I'm afraid I don't know, my boy."
Actually he did. He knew that Voldemort had made Horcruxes but he had decided not to say a word… for reasons.
"But I swear to you Harry, I will never lie to you."
He would.
Later on Harry chatted with his friends Ron, Hermione, and for some reason Seamus Finnigan was there
(Mr. F!)
Ron snorted as he walked out of the potion's dungeon. "Greasy bat. I beat he never had a friend in the world."
He did have a friend: Harry's mother, whose death haunted him. He also didn't say a word for… reasons.
"Yeah!" Harry said with a laugh. "Nothing like my da! He was the greatest guy in the world."
Well…
(20 years earlier…)
"Stop hitting yourself!" James Potter proclaimed as he used his magic to some firstie punch himself in the stomach. "Ah, this is great."
Lily though wasn't amused. "James Potter, stop that trick at once!"
"Magic, Lily, it's called magic! A trick is something a whore does for money!"
Back at the dorm Harry and Ron talk more about the past.
"I just wish there one someone still around who was friends with my dad!" Harry complained, ignoring the banner Neville's gran had enchanted to hang over their beds that read "Neville, You're Breaking My Heart!".
"Squeak Squeak," Scabbers said (translation: maybe… there is.)
(Cloying music plays)
Down in the Great Hall Fred and George basked in a prank they had just pulled.
Fred clapped his brother on the back. "That went well!"
It hadn't. The release of the giant dung beetles alone caused 2.5 million galleons in damage and would result in much needed therapy.
"Why!?" Argus sobbed
Meanwhile, in the Room of Requirement Harry spent time with the woman he loved.
"I love you Ginny," Harry whispered as he cupped her face in his hands.
Meanwhile…
Most of the Harry Potter fanbased frowned. "…her?"
Back in the Room of Requirement Harry and Ginny got closer and Ginny showed why she deserved to be Harry's true love.
Ginny pulled off her shirt.
"I want to go slow," Harry whispered.
"We will."
(Cut to a shot of a man diving for home plate)
In her office Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Snape debated teaching methods
McGonagall stared at Snape (who was painted blue thanks to a potions mishap). "I never favor any one student over another! I care for all my Gryffindors equally."
Two Hours Earlier:
McGonagall sipped on her Rum and Pumpkin juice. "I don't care for Ron."
Harry then decided to visit his friend Sirius who was a prisoner in his childhood home
"I just want to live with you!" Harry complained.
"Soon, Harry, I promise," Sirius said, patting Harry's hand.
"NO TOUCHING!" Tonks yelled, Sirius and Harry holding up their hands to show they weren't touching.
At the Ministry of Magic Harry finally confronted the man he had been told had killed his parents.
"So you have come to face me, have you Potter?" Voldemort taunted.
"I'm not afraid of you," Harry stated, gripping his wand.
"Oh, but I think you are!" Voldemort declared. "You are a chicken, I can tell!" With that Voldemort held up his hand to h9is forehead and began to wave it. "Cha-chicha-chicha!"
"What… what are you doing?" Harry asked.
"This is you, being a chicken!" the Dark Lord said snidely.
"...that isn't what a chicken sounds like."
Luicus Malfoy huffed. "It is more like this! Coo-cacoo-cacoo!" He began to hop up and down while wagging his shoulders.
Bellatrix cackled, sliding her hands together. "No no, it's like this! Ca-caca! Ca-caca!"
"Have… have any of you ever seen a chicken before?" Harry asked before turning and seeing everyone else, including his friends, were trying and failing to act like chickens. "I've made a huge mistake."
On the next Harry Potter.
Peter loses a hand.
"I'm a monster!" Peter screamed waving the prostatic claw about.
Mr. Chaos gets sued by Ron Howard
"Which one is the fan fic writer that stole my bit?" Mr. Howard said before sighing.
But then he caught a lucky break
"I think it is the guy who writes Robb Returns," his assistant said.
"Great, sue the pants off him!" Ron declared
(Cut to a shot of a man diving for home plate)
And Lucius Malfoy contemplates his life
Lucius sat in a chair, staring out blankly into the distance as 'Hello Darkness My Old Friend' played on the wireless.