AN: Chapter 4 is here. Please read and review

I changed the name of the chapter. Read below to find out why. Please note that when I write "great war" it is in reference to the Indigo-Hoenn war mentioned in the first chapter. The albion war, or dark war will refer to Voldemort's war.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The past two weeks had been pretty enjoyable for Harry. It was a dramatic change of pace compared to his life before at the Dursleys. The Dursleys had pretty much stopped bothering him and let him alone most of the time. On his second day back Aunt Petunia had timidly knocked on his door and enquired in a low voice, if he would help out with any of the chores. They had settled on Harry doing the gardening twice a week, dusting the living room thrice a week and doing the dishes every night. Aunt Petunia had also asked that she would be grateful if Harry helped out with the dinner. Harry who had to do pretty much all the work for the Dursleys before, which included cooking, dusting, cleaning, gardening, laundry, dishes was surprised at how reasonable his aunt was being. This had also left with something Harry had never had with the Dursleys before, "free time".

He enjoyed doing the gardening, and it never took more than an hour.

The dusting, now that it was only the living room, took around 40 minutes. This meant that Harry had almost the entire morning and all of afternoons free. Sure, his evenings were still taken up by helping Aunt Petunia cook dinner and clean the dishes afterwards, but this was not something Harry minded. He liked cooking, and it was even better, now that he was given a reasonable amount of food to eat, not just the leftovers. He never had his meals with the Dursleys on the dining room table though, Aunt Petunia would either drop off his meals outside his door, or Harry would make a plate and bring it up to his room to eat.

Even Dudley was being surprisingly quiet, there were no calls of scar-head, or Potty potter, it almost seemed like Dudley was scared of him. Harry was fine with it.

After finishing his chores by 10 in the morning Harry and Nero would go back to their secret spot in the park to play and train. Mr. Ollivander had stated that, whatever Harry was doing was "right". So, Harry and Nero continued doing more of the same. They would run up and down the park, doing suicide sprints, to increase their stamina, Harry would continue with physical training and Nero would practice his attacks, namely, ember, headbutt, smog on a tree and the nearby rattatas. By the end of first week, using the nifty "jaw-strengthening" string they had purchased from Diagon Alley, Nero's jaws were strong enough to learn bite, Harry was mighty pleased with that, it was Neros first dark type attack.

After training Harry would come back home by around 1:00pm or 2:00pm, take a shower, have some lunch and then relax in his room. Another thing Harry was surprised by, was how he enjoyed the HootHoots company. He was sceptical at first about how useful the HootHoot would be, but on reading a free pamphlet, that came with the HootHoot he realized that mail hoothoot were more useful than he had realized. Even though technology had penetrated among most of the population, there were still remote areas were telephone and internet signals did not reach, either due to the thick forest canopy, or the remoteness of the area, or because of the shenanigans of some local electric type. Mail hoothoot were fast, reliable and could carry a surprisingly large heavy load, they were the lifeline for the trainers on the road, either delivering goods and supplies, or carrying an injured pokémon to the nearest pokémon centre or guiding lost trainers back to civilization. Harry had looked up at HootHoot with a new found sense of respect. He promised himself that he would never underestimate a pokémon again.

Harry had had some great ideas over the past the past the couple of years. But he had also had some pretty bad ones.

One of his bad ideas was to see if Nero could make his smog attack flammable, so it inflicts a burn, not unlike a will-o-wisp. Turns out he couldn't. Ember when shot through smog either did nothing, or it blew up spectacularly. The first time it happened, a good area of the park was singed and Harry had burnt of the entire sleeve of his right arm. Thank god, it was just the T-short that got burnt. Since there was no way to control when or why the smog blew up, it was an unsuccessful experiment. But then again, EXPLOSIONS!

Another of his bad ideas was the decision to train HootHoot, even though the phamphlet clearly stated that mail Hoothoot did not battle, did not like to battle, did not know any battle moves, nor did they have the temperament for battle. Harry was confident it was hogwash, Afterall, Hoothoot were pokémon and pokémon loved to battle.

So, one fine morning, in his second week, Harry took both Nero and Hoothoot out to his secret spot in the park. Pointing at tree, Harry shouted, "Hoothoot use tackle", Hoothoot gave him a very unimpressed look and turned her head away. "Fine, Hoothoot use peck." Apart from a rather drab "Hoot" nothing happened. Harry spent the next hour calling out various flying and normal type moves, ranging from peck to sky-attack, tackle to hyber-beam, hoping Hoothoot would use something. At one-point Hoothoot did perk up, but then flew to a more distant branch and sat down again. Nero was rolling on the floor laughing at his trainers plight. "The traitor" Harry though.

Finally, he decided that maybe Hoothoot needed some incentive to battle. So, he turned to Nero and said "Nero, use ember on Hoothoot"

Nero looked at his trainer as if he was crazy, he wanted no part of this tom-foolery, over the past week Nero and Hoothoot had developed a rather cordial relationship. Secretly Nero though that Hoothoot was quite scary, her glare with her large eyes made Nero shudder.

"Come on, Nero, she needs to learn to battle, what if she was delivering a letter and got attacked by a rouge salamence, she would need to fight."

Nero gave Harry a very bland look. Nero though that, it was a rather unlikely scenario but he couldn't take his trainers pathetic begging anymore, so he puffed a rather weak ember in Hoothoots direction, the embers struck the branch that Hoothoot was sitting on. She turned head, and gave Nero a rather impressive glare with her large angry eyes. Nero shrunk back in fear.

Fine Harry declared, "I will do it myself", gathering a small branch, Harry shouted "Wood-Hammer" and sprinted towards Hoothoot, as he was about to bring the branch down on her, she flew up did a graceful loop de loop and landed a rather impressive tackle on Harry's chest, she then jumped on his head and pecked on it quite a few times. Hoothoot then flew back to the same branch as before, sitting with the same serene expression as if nothing had happened. Harry bruised and scratched had learnt his lesson, mail Hoothoot did not battle. However, Hoothoot knew both tackle and peck, so take that phamphlet, Harry though with a grin and a fist pump. That night Harry named Hoothoot "Hilda", she was awesome and deserved her own name.

Harry did not spend all of his newly acquired free time at the Dursleys, relaxing or coming up with hair-brained schemes. In the afternoons after training and after dinner at night, Harry would peruse through the text books he purchased. He had left his school textbooks alone, thinking he would read a few chapters from them, in the second half of the month, so that he would retain the information and not enter Hogwarts with his head completely blank.

He started with the 2 books on pokémon energy. While one book was entirely useless talking about fairies and magic spells and whatnot, the other was too complicated. It talked about entropy and closed systems and laws of thermodynamics, which flew straight over Harrys head. He kept those two books aside for now. Maybe he could spend some time with Ollivander the next time he was in Diagon Alley and learn more of this energy stuff.

The Evolution book was interesting. It was written by Professor Elm but it was hardly informative. It talked about general stuff like, don't force a pokémon to evolve, a pokémon will evolve when it is ready. The later chapters were a lot more complicated talking about biological changes and such, so Harry put that aside too.

"Importance of Blood" and "Dangers of dark type" were basically garbage. The "blood book" had such utter nonsense that even an 11-year-old could smell the bullshit. It talked about pokémon serving masters and how familial blood determined one's ability to tame pokémon, how muggleborn were stealing pokémon from good citizens of Albion,

How the hell did this Nott fellow come to this conclusion anyway? Pokémon outnumbered humans at least 50000 to 1, maybe even more, much-much more, Harry didn't really have exact figures, but even he knew that there were so many more pokémon in the world that people. But the book did bring up some interesting thoughts in Harrys monf. There really was a divide between trainers with trainer blood and trainers whose parents were non trainers, or the so called muggleborns. Even Hagrid who seemed like a chill bloke and said that he didn't have any problems with muggleborns, looked down upon muggles unknowingly, calling them muggles, calling East Albion, muggleland, saying things like "keeping the nosy muggles out", casually threating the Dursleys with pokémon violence, Even though Harry was grateful about the last part.

Harry did not spend much time with these thoughts, muggle or no muggle, it was not like Harry was going to spend time in East Albion or West Albion for that matter, once he graduated Hogwarts. He wanted to travel and see the world with his pokémon. Go to distant lands such as Unova, Kalos, Galar, Alola. All of this though did not stop the "Importance of Blood by Caddeus Nott" from being absolute nonsense.

The other book "Dangers of Dark Types by Neo King" was equally stupid. It unequivocally stated in the very first page that Dark types were basically traitors to their trainers, they were impossible to train and on the first chance they would get they would murder the trainer and run away. As if Harry scoffed! and glanced down to Nero who was wrestling on the floor with Dudleys old teddy bear. Harry flipped through some more pages hoping to find any useful information about training dark types. But the book was more of the same, darks-types were murders, traitors, monsters, unreliable, untrainable. At one point the book also stated that all dark-type trainers were psychotic and mentally unbalanced. Harry would have loved to see this King fellow to say this in front of Karen.

All in all, both the books were complete trash not to mention expensive. Harry had gotten a good estimation of the purchasing power of the galleon from his small shopping trip in the Alley. The shopping trip had cost him 90 galleons. 25 for the clothes, 36 for the trunkbackpack, 2 for the potion ingredients, 5 for all 10 of the Hogwarts textbooks, 12 for the extra books he purchased, 10 for Hilda plus the perch plus bags of pokechow plus the Hoothoot treats plus the toys and 2 for the lunch. The main costs were the clothes and the trunk.

The clothes were of really high quality and he had purchased so many 6 pairs of shirts and slacks, 6 robes, shoes, socks, underwear, wintercoat, gloves, hard hat. The clothes were unconventional compared to regular jeans and t-shirts but they were super comfortable and very durable. Capable of surviving low level pokémon attacks, weather proof and had extra seams for resizing for when he outgrew them. He could easily see the clothes lasting at least 2 years, if not more.

The trunk and backpack were the most expensive items he purchased and they were beyond awesome. The trunk had so much space that he doubted he would ever fill it. The small trainer backpack could fit a single person sleeping bag and tent, tons of food, loads of berries, 25 TM's, and even more knickknacks. And this was a small size! A large size could probably fit a house! In Harrys opinion these were worthy investments and Harry did not see him needing more luggage for years to come.

The rest of the stuff was super cheap. The lunch, where both Hagrid and he and consumed a tremendous amount of food cost barely 2 galleons, the potion ingredients another 2, though he was not sure what they were. All of his Hogwarts textbooks cost only 5 galleons and the rest of the books 12. From this, Harry could conclude that things that required crafting such as the clothes or the luggage were more expensive compared to the things that could be easily mass produced like books, pokechow or toys.

This bought up the point of contention for him, the blood book was 4 galleons. FOUR!. It cost almost as much all his Hogwarts textbooks combined, and on top of that it was pure garbage. Harry regretted buying the book based on the cost alone.

History of Albion was interesting. It went in detail about the great war, but did not mention the Hook clan. No wonder they were pissed off at the Britons. The book had a list of families that settled in West Albion after the war, the Potters were among them, apparently, they were from some place called Rota in Kanto. There were a lot of other families mentioned such as the Longbottoms from MossGreen Village, the Bones from Cremini Town, the Blacks from Euctreak City and the Greengrasses from Goldenrod Town. There was even a Notts from Violet town in Johto. He wondered if the Nott who wrote the blood book and the Notts from Violet town were related.

Dark Lord and Wars was an interesting book. Apparently every so often a trainer would try to take over the world with the help of his Pokémon. They were more often than not referred to as dark lords and their followers as dark trainers. The most recent ones were Voldemort and Grindelwald. Potters were always in the thick of it and they all seemed to be fire pokémon trainers. His grand uncle Charlus Potter and his Arcanine were involved in the fight against Grindelwald. Cassius Potter and his Typhlosion in the 1600's, Cedrella Potter and her Ninetales a century before that, Aurelius Potter and his Torkoal a few decades before that, all of them fought against some dark lord or a criminal organisation over the centuries. Harry was proud of his lineage and was surprised that Potters trained fire-type Pokémon. Maybe it really was fate that Harry and Nero met.

Harry did not like the fact that criminal trainers and their leaders were referred to as dark-lords or dark-trainers. This sort of triggered an inbuilt bias against dark-type pokémons. It wasn't as if all these so-called dark lords or dark trainers trained dark type Pokémon

Almost none of them did. Grindelwald was a Psychic type trainer, Herpo the foul was a poison type trainer, Melwyn the malicious was a ghost type trainer, Emeric the evil was a rock type trainer. Only Voldemort in recent history was a dark type trainer.

This naming bias against dark-type Pokémon really annoyed Harry.

The books also made him curious about the history of the Potter family. The two books only mentioned snippets and Harry was hoping that maybe in Hogwarts or in his vault in Gringotts, he could find a book which talked about his legacy in much more detail.

The book also talked about a group called Rockets who were active in Kanto about the same time as Voldemort was in Albion, they were defeated by a trainer called Red, but they seemed to resurfacing again in the past few years. There was also an organisation called Plasma, that was gaining momentum in Unova.

Meanwhile at Hogwarts…...

After dropping of Harry at the Dursleys, Hagrid flew back to Hogwarts on Maya. He straightaway his way to the headmaster's office. The office was on the 3rd floor and as Hagrid was approaching it, the revolving door swung open.

"Come in Hagrid", came an ancient sounding voice from inside.

Hagrid stepped into the office.

"Here Professor," Hagrid said handing over a package to Dumbledore.

"Thank you, Hagrid, you have done for me, a great favour. Tell me how was Harry."

Hagrid's eyes shone as he talked, "Harry has become a fine young man professor, intelligent and curious, well read and well mannered. But his relatives on the other hand are brutes, did you know that they never told Harry about his parents and forbid him from talking about pokémon. Poor boy grew up believing that his parents died in a car wreck. The Dursleys even had the guts to talk ill of James and Lily. The boy was overworked and underfed but has grown up to very well despite the adversities. James and Lily would be so proud of him. Lily especially, the boy had so many questions. I'll tell you Professor; he might just become a Ravenclaw. But don't you worry Professor I set the Dursleys straight. They won't be bothering him no more"

Dumbledore nodded along. He of course knew of the Dursleys hatred of Pokémon and trainers, but to not tell your nephew about his parents death, rather lie to him. He had misjudged Petunias hatred for Lily, but he knew it was necessary. He felt guilty for subjecting Harry to a life of scorn and neglect, but what was done was done. He looked forward to Harry coming to Hogwarts. He would him guide to a greater future, both for himself and Albion. Hagrid's last statement worried Dumbledore, he knew Hagrid meant well but his style of "setting the Dursleys straight" might lead to more problems in the future.

"I am sorry, my boy" Dumbledore said sighing, "But we know why it had to be done, better unhappy than unsafe."

"I know Professor, doesn't mean I have to like it." Hagrid grumbled.

"Tell me about his starter"

"I'll tell you this much Professor, he has a fiery personality," Hagrid said with a wink

Dumbledore got the hint and didn't dig much deeper. A fire type hmmm!, The Potters always did love their fire-types, maybe it was a vulpix or a torchic or a growlithe or even a charmander like his father.

Dumbledore did not want to spoil the mystery so he did not press further. He would wait till Harry would show up at Hogwarts.

"Alright my boy," Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes, "Before you go would you please inform Minerva that I intend to hold the pre-term staff meeting on Wednesday, next week".

Hagrid left with a bow.

Dumbledore grabbed a few lemon drops and popped them in his mouth. He also handed some to the Alakazam, that was so still it almost blended into the wall what do you think my friend, "Interesting times are ahead."

"Alakazam." The seemingly disinterested Alakazam replied. It also seemed that a gem placed in a crown, placed on a shelf behind Dumbledore, glowed as if in acceptance.

Hogwarts, 1 week later

The staff meeting was held in a large room. There was a circular table with multiple chairs. The headmaster was seated on a slightly raised chair on one side. Around on him all the teachers were seated. To this immediate right was the deputy headmistress Minerva McGonagall, followed by Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, Severus Snape, Aurora Sinistra, Charity Burbage, Bathsheba Babbling, Septima Vector, Grubby Plank, Rolanda and Hooch and finally rounding the circle to Dumbledores left was Rubeus Hagrid.

"So ladies and gentleman, how goes the preparation for the upcoming semester.?" Dumbledore began the meeting "We will start with Minerva."

"As far as the preparations for my class go, they are done. I have sent out all the letters to the incoming students, From Albion we have an almost 100% acceptance rate. Outside of Albion, however our popularity had decreased, we have a barely 30% acceptance rate, most of whom are kids of Britons who have settled on the continent. The other students prefer to go to the local academies. The most concerning fact, Albus, is that we have only 43 students attending this year out of which only 10 were muggleborns. The number has been steadily following for the past two decades." Minerva stated

"It is not a matter of worry." Dumbledore waved her concerns off

"It is absolutely a matter of concern, Albus!" Minerva irately stated standing up. "We used to have 100's of students attending, we were popular in all the three regions, my graduating class had over 400 students." Minerva ranted

"But it was to be expected Minerva, the dark war, affected our population, a lot of people died and a lot of them fled Albion, for the continent. Our reputation still hasn't recovered since then, and that also accounts, for the increased rejection from Kanto, Johto and Hoenn." Pomona Sprout interjected.

Flitwick continued, "Excellent academies have also sprung apart from Hogwarts. Our very own Samuel Oak and Maki Birch are responsible for the ones in Kanto and Hoenn." Flitwick added with a smile as if he was proud of his students achievements.

"They always were industrious students." Minerva nodded with a sigh

"But don't worry Minerva, the numbers will soon pickup, I believe we have over 70 students on the roster next year from Albion alone, You-know-who's defeat did start a kind of a baby boom" Sprout said.

"Reaching out to prospective muggle-born students has been becoming increasingly difficult in the past decade, due to the ministries inclusive policies. But we have something in the works in the Ministry which will make the task a little easier. But don't worry my friends Hogwarts will always endure" Dumbledore said, finally bringing this matter to a close

Hogwarts used to have an open-door policy regarding muggle-born admissions, but the pureblood mania of the past couple of decades had made recruitment difficult. Earlier it used to be that almost all primary schools in East Albion had an "Intro to Pokémon" class. A representative from Hogwarts or the ministry would go there and conduct a seminar and inform students about various Pokémon related opportunities, not just Pokémon battling and vaguely inform students about Hogwarts academy and its exclusive and high-ranking nature. Interested students were then given an application form and all them would later get a Hogwarts letter.

In the past 20 or so years though, the budget for the East-Albion outreach department was drastically cut and the seminars were discontinued in order to maintain Hogwarts's "secrecy". The muggle-born students had to answer an increasingly difficult and technical test before they would be considered for a Hogwarts letter. This was done is an attempt to secure "only the best" for Hogwarts. The test was also only administered in a limited number of school due to budget restraint. All of this resulted in a very few muggle-borns meeting the Hogwarts requirement.

Bathsheba Babbling who had been quiet until know perked up, "Speaking of You-Know-Who, is it true that Harry Potter is coming to Hogwarts this year."

This started a round of murmurs among other Professors, while one Severus Snape sneered.

Hagrid boisterously stated, "Of course, went and fetched him myself. A bright and fit lad he is. Looks just like James with Lily's eyes."

"Oh, what's his starter" Septima Vector sitting next to Babbling excitedly asked.

Septima Vector and Bathsheba Babbling were two of the youngest members of the staff at 21 and 22 respectively and still had a bit of hero worship for Harry Potter

"The brat isn't even here and we are already falling over him." Snape acerbically added.

"Enough, Septima, Bathsheba control yourself. Harry Potter is just a young boy, just like any other student and we will not gossip over him. And Severus control yourself, your rivalry with James aside, I expect you to behave professionally around him." Minerva McGonagall strictly stated.

Septima and Vector nodded embarrassingly while Snape just sneered.

Again no one found out about Harry Potters starter.

"Let's continue the meeting, Filius?" Dumbledore added with a smile

"My preparations for the upcoming year are done. Please thank your friend, Prof. Akhibara for me, Albus, with new typings and regional variants being discovered all the time, it becomes difficult keeping track of the changes. He hooked me up with access to a state-of-the-art satellite system and a Porygon-Z which makes it easier for me keep track of these things."

"I will, Filius, Pomona?"

"My class preparations are also done. I am still waiting on the delivery on some of the soil samples and saplings, but they will be ready by the time I have to teach about it. However, with Hoenn restricting Berry trade, I am having problems in securing some types of berries." Sprout said

Hagrid replied before Albus could say anything, "I can help with that Professor, I know the Berry Master of Johto, he will be more than happy to acquire whatever you need."

"Very well, Pomona please coordinate with Hagrid and come to me if you need any more help." Dumbledore.

"Severus, How about you."

"Its fine…."

Seeing as that was all Snape had to say Dumbledore moved on

"All right, Aurora?"

"I am having some difficulty procuring some of the newer maps and starcharts. With new areas being discovered, new routes being developed and old routes being discarded, it is important that I keep upto date, to provide accurate navigational data to students."

"Hmmm..." Albus nodded, it was a serious problem. Providing accurate geographical information was very important to the students. It could result in the difference between life and death for travelling trainers.

"If Filius is fine with sharing his Porygon-Z, I can talk to Akhibara to add you to the satellite system as well. That will alleviate your information problem. I will also talk to the observatory in Alola to see if they can keep sending updated star charts your way. Alola may be far, but since the observatory in Mossdeeep, that was damaged by Solrock and Lunatone swarms, is still being repaired, it is our only reliable option. We may also go to Sinnoh, but I feel more comfortable in Alola."

Every one nodded at that Sinnoh comment. Sinnoh was known for being arrogant and asking them for help, tested the patience of even a saint.

Filius also agreed, "You are welcome to borrow Porygon-Z anytime you want, Aurora."

"Bathsheba?" Albus continued

"I am good. Most of own personal research is also coming along fine. It would also be great Professor if you could ask your friends at the Blackthorn clan to part with some of the Dragon type TM's. I have written to them several times, but they don't even deem me important enough for a reply." Babbling grumbled

"I will try, but don't expect too much, Blackthorns are known for being reclusive and generally unhelpful, whenever it comes to dragons." Albus replied

Babbling unhappily nodded

"But if you need to research dragon-type moves, you can try asking Koza, I believe he will be amiable to your request. I believe even Maya can use some dragon type moves, Hagrid can make the introductions."

"Aye, she can, Dragon claw and dragon breath, but I don't think she will be as approachable as Koza." Hagrid agreed with Dumbledore

Bathsheba nodded happily at that. Koza, as Professor Dumbledores dragonite was called, was always on the school grounds, so he would be easy to approach.

"Septima?"

"All good professor, I am working on some more scenarios and simulations, and if they prove useful, I will add them to my class." Septima Vector replied.

"Rolanda, what about you."

"I have acquired a new batch of ground ride pokémon, so atleast the racers are set, but Albus I have to talk to you about the Hogwarts Pidgeot Flock. They need to retire Albus, they are old Albus, they deserve retirement. Not only that, they are also getting moodier in their old age. I am scared that there will an accident and a student will get severely injured. Other than that, the quidditch field and the racing tracks are doing fine. Hagrids ground and grass pokémon make tending the fields a breeze." Hooch stated

Hagrid shyly smiled at that.

Albus sighed, the pidgeot problem was an ongoing matter of debate between the staff, but good fliers were expensive and Hogwarts had more than 40 Pidgeot. They used to have so many more but over the years the numbers dwindled either to a lack of need or the pidgeots passing on. The current flock hadn't been replaced since Albus had been the headmaster. Sure, pokémon lived long lives, large pokémon like Pidgeot would often live north of 60 years, but these Pidgeot deserved their rest. They had done their duties as excellent fliers for years and now deserved to retire in peace. But it didn't change the fact that ride pokémon are expensive and replacing the current flock would cost a pretty penny, money that Hogwarts simply didn't have.

Now that Harry Potter was coming to Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore had a plan. He just hoped that Harry was as good a flier as his father and grandfather.

"I will look into the matter, Rolanda, but I am afraid that nothing can be done this year. Maybe next year."

Rolanda Hooch grudgingly nodded.

"Now finally Prof. Plank and Hagrid"

"The Hogwarts stocks are fine. We have plenty of the pokémon both tame and wild to introduce the young ones to. I am also able firmly state that now, since Hagrid has his Masters Breeder's license, he is ready to replace me. I am finally ready to retire." Prof Grubby Plank who was perhaps the oldest Hogwarts professor stated.

Hagrid embarrassingly rubbed his head and said "But I could never take your place professor. I am not qualified enough and I am not educated enough, I have never taught before-"

Before Hagrid could finish Prof McGonagall sternly interrupted. "Yes, you can Hagrid. You are a Master Breeder now, have some confidence, and you are more than qualified. You are a credit to Hogwarts. Wilhelmina has also earned her retirement"

"Minerva is right Hagrid; you are an honour to Hogwarts." Albus Dumbledore said clapping Hagrid on the back. "Ladies and gentleman I do believe that Wilhelmina has indeed earned her retirement. There will be a party in a week to celebrate her contribution to Hogwarts, bid her a final adieu and instate Hagrid as a professor. And Now it is time to for us to part." Albus stood up clapping his hands.

Scraping of chairs could be heard, but before anyone could get up,

Severus Snape who had been quiet for the whole meeting except an "its fine" and a Potter comment, and the occasional sneering, spoke up.

"Albus I would like to know why I didn't get to teach the Pokémon Battling class. I am much more qualified than that fool Quirrell an he isn't even present today. He used to teach about contest. How does that qualify him to teach pokémon battling? "

"I believe contests do involve battling." Albus interjected.

Snape continued, "Twirling about fancifully and sending sparks in the air is not battling. Quirrell was always a fool, but after his trip from the ruins, he seems like an even bigger fool. He stutters for god's sake."

McGonagall stopped him with a raised hand. "Please don't insult our colleague Severus. But Albus I have to agree with Severus, minus the insults. Quirrell was always jittery but after his return from exploring the ruins of Pokelantis, he seems even more anxious than before. I also agree with Severus that he doesn't seem to have the right temperament for teaching Pokémon battling."

"I have faith in Quirinus Minerva, I am sure he will do of good job of teaching his assigned class, and Severus your potions class is far more important than you believe it to be. You singlehandedly save more live of trainers and pokémon than any of us." Albus said with his "all-knowing and I am always right" closed-eye smile.

Severus however was not outdone. "Mind my words Professor, there is something deeply wrong with Quirrell, something happened in those blasted ruins and I feel….."

"Enough Severus," Dumbledore said with a severe expression, serious for the first time since the meeting started. "My decision is final. If you have any more concerns, please bring them me in my office, in private."

Looking at everyone else Dumbledore said "If that is all, Ladies and gentlemen, then let us disperse."

Severus Snape left the room in a huff, his black cloak billowing behind him. Minerva looked at Albus with a look that said, "We need to talk more about this." Dumbledore nodded his head.

The other teachers slowly got up and left.

Later on, Albus Dumbledore was in his office sucking on lemon drops and thinking on the Quirrell situation. Severus had been right about Quirrell, there was something seriously wrong about him. Severus being the only dark type master currently in Albion was uniquely perceptive of these things. It was as if Quirrell had acquired a dark shadow. Dumbledore was not sure what it was but it troubled him. He hoped that Quirrell had not fallen to the dark side. He had also heard some concerning rumours coming from the ruins of Pokelantis. He would have to keep a close eye on him in the upcoming year. But only time would tell, all he could do was to encourage Quirrell to stay on the right path, the rest was up to Quirinus.

Back to Harry….2 weeks left for Hogwarts

Harry was lounging on his bed and wondering how his last 2 weeks had passed. Nero and Hilda were doing well. Harry had written a practice letter to Hagrid, and had heard back within 24 hours. Hilda was an excellent mail Hoothoot. Harry had glanced through all the extra books he had purchased and read a few chapters whenever something caught his attention. He had not read them cover to cover, Harry wasn't a voracious reader. He read text books for classes, studied hard and got decent grades. He even visited the library to read up on things he had questions on, but he wouldn't read technical manuals for fun. He was more of a doer than a reader.

Harry had visited Mr. Blackwood. Mr Blackwood was surprised that Harry was going to Hogwarts, that Harry Potter was "the Harry Potter" and that the secret Pokémon was a houndour and a growlithe. Harry really was a very interesting young man.

Harry was even more surprised to learn than Mr. Blackwood was a Pokémon trainer. In hindsight Harry shouldn't have been surprised. Mr Blackwood knew too much about pokémon to have just theoretical experience. He was so excited to meet Mr. Blacwood's team. Harry absolutely loved his persian and growlithe. He was amazed at the pidgeotto. Mr Blackwood even had sandslash that lived in a burrow, in his backyard. Apparently sandslash had over the years had made an rather impressive tunnel network under Surrey and often brought back interesting things for Mr. Blackwood, which he would sell for a pretty penny. Harry wished he was a ground-type Pokémon and could explore the tunnels. They sounded absolutely fascinating. Now his magneton was one Pokémon Harry was not fond of. It floated expressionless stuck to a wall and would spark threateningly whenever Harry approached.

Nero had also become fast friends with growlithe. They would wrestle in the secluded backyard often and had even learnt fire-spin and flame-charge from growlithe. Harry would drop by often so that Nero and growlithe could play.

Mr Blackwood was surprised to learn about Harry. He had heard of Hogwarts, every trainer above 30 had. Hogwarts was hugely popular in the mainland a couple of decades ago. He was even surprised that Harry was the boy-who-lived. He didn't know much about the dark war in Albion, but he had heard about the boy-who-lived, who had destroyed the dark lord as a baby. If Harry though his fame was irritating now, he would be shocked to learn that he was famous the world over. Now that Harry was going to Hogwarts, and his future was secure, Mr Blackwood thought about his own future. He had come to Albion hoping to settle down and relax, but he missed the open fields, the clear skies and the thrill of battling. He had also seen growlithe wistfully staring at the TV whenever an Arcanine was shown, he suspected even Pidgeotto wished to evolve. He had put his house on sale for a long time, but Harry Potter always held him back. Harrys eyes reminded him off his own back when he was in an orphanage in Gringy city and had no future to look forward. A few days ago, he had received a letter from the newly established branch of Oak Academy in Goldenrod city. He was offered a full-time faculty position with 10 times the pay he was making now. Goldenrod was also the most happening city in Johto and it would allow him to participate in the frequently held battle competitions. His mind was made up. He would accept the first offer for his house that would come his way and move to Johto. He would inform Harry before he was due to leave for Hogwarts. He was sure that Harry would be sad, but he had a whole new life to look forward to away from the Dursleys and the dreary streets of Little Whinging.

The two weeks for Hogwarts passed quickly. Harry had kept up his and his pokémons training. Even though Hilda refused to battle, Harry insisted that she participate in physical training. Hilda didn't mind too much. Harry had also started reading his school books.

Potions was interesting. Apparently all the sheddings of a Pokémon could be used in potions and items, and pokémon shed all the time. Harry cursed himself for nor collecting Nero's shed fur. Nero had even shed his back ridges a few times before they grew again stronger overnight.

The regular healing potions such as basic potion, super potion, hyper potion and max potion were mostly made from concentrating the juices of various berries.

Basic Potion and super potion were made from Oran Berry, Leppa Berry and Blue Mountain Flower.

The more powerful hyper potion and Max potions required Sitrus berries, butterfree wing powder and essence of chancey eggs. Since these ingredients were rarer than simple berries, the potions were a lot more expensive. The book also listed the method for collecting and harvesting ingredients. Since killing pokémon for items was illegal, harvesting generally required knowing when the pokémon would swarm. Swarming butterfree while their mating dance would drops tons of powder. One had to be knowledgeable and be in the right place at the right time. Chancey would often reward their trainer with eggs. These eggs would then be sold to potioneers at high prices.

First year potions involved brewing healing potions such the basic potion and super potion, and the various status healing potions such as Paralyz heal, burn heal, awakening and antidotes.

According to the book first year was mostly focused on the correct methods of ingredients preparation and harvesting. Later years would focus on more exotic potions such as Elixir, ethers and Max potions, and crafting items like black sludge and heavy ball.

The Geography book was about the various regions, their various features, mountains and plains and such, ultimately Harry found it boring and moved on to the next one.

Navigating with the stars was exactly that. Apparently, the stars didn't move in the sky and you could use them to navigate before GPS existed. The book "Navigating with the stars" would be the text book till his third year and he would only have to buy supplemental star charts.

"A beginners guide to Pokémon Behaviour" was written by Prof. Oak, the most popular pokémon professor, in Harrys opinion. It taked about the relationship between pokémon and trainer and even between different pokémon, Harry found the book to be the most interesting till now. Harry read the first couple of chapters, they talked about respecting your pokémon, the importance of proper training methods, not over training, treating your pokémon as your equal but at the same time being strict to curb any bad behaviours. It talked about the intelligence levels of various pokémon, How a pokémon become more intelligent and self-aware as it remained in its trainers company and grew up. Harry agreed with everything the book said and it was quickly becoming Harrys favourite textbook.

"1000 herbs and fungi" and "Pokémon and their habitats" were thick tomes and served as encyclopaedia and reference books rather than as textbooks.

A guide to Pokémon battling was written by a Potter and Harry was excited to read it, but on flipping through the book Harry realized it was only the first volume and there were three more. Harry promised himself to get all four when he visited Diagon Alley next. The book did provide many interesting battling tips such as the benefit of dodging, having a versatile move pool, using stab moves wherever possible, using a move to counter certain unmissable move, recalling your pokémon before he was too injured. It also spoke of the importance of trainer attitude during the battle. It was important for the trainer to not panic and remain calm. All this reading of battling was itching Harry to have a proper trainer battle. Till now most of his battling experience was fighting against furrets.

Hogwarts a history was boring. The book he had was the 89th edition of the book and was published 13 years ago. Upon flipping through book Harry did learn something interesting about Hogwarts. Hogwarts was founded by four great trainers in the end of the Great War. Godric Gryffindor of Kanto, Salazar Slytherin of Johto and Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw of Hoenn came together to form the first of its kind trainer school. Hogwarts was the first formal pokémon training academy in the world. There was a rumour that the even the legedaries were so Happy with the decision, that Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno and even Ho-Oh showed up to bless the school. It is said that the tree legendary birds can still be seen around Hogwarts sometimes.

Harry also learnt about the class structure of Hogwarts, the first 2 years, everyone had the same classes which included Pokémon Behaviour, Potions, Global Flora, Pokémon Biology, Battling, Geography and Navigation and History.

The next three years students had to pick up on 2 or 3 electives which included classes like breeding, divination and move mechanics.

In the final 2 years, the students could drop most of the classes and specialize in types instead. The final 2 years wasn't exactly clear but Harry had a long time before that and he would surely learn more about this in Hogwarts.

The book also listed the pokémon distribution.

First and second years had one pokémon, their starter.

Third and fourth-year students could get one more.

Followed by 1 or 2 more for sixth and seventh years.

Hogwarts hoped that by the time a student graduated they had atleast 3 fully trained pokémon.

It made sense to Harry, having 3 or 4 fully trained pokémon would make facing the harsh and unforgiving world very easy to navigate. No wonder Hogwarts students were so successful.

Unlocking Pokémon types and Biology was all about the various types and their advantages and disadvantages, their strengths and weaknesses. All of this seemed very basic. But this was only the first year and Harry realized he was more than prepared by Mr. Blackwood.

Harry continued visiting Mr. Blackwood and training with Growlithe. Nero had even started to learn flamethrower from Growlithe but it was barely stronger than an ember, however Harry hoped that once Nero became older, he could work on improving the move now that he knew the basics. Harry had even begged Mr. Blackwood to have a pokémon battle with him. Mr. Blackwood kept refusing until he finally capitulated. Mr. Blackwood was scared that Nero would be too injured and lack of nearby pokémon centre would complicate matters. However, seeing how eager Harry was Mr. Blackwood finally agreed but only after he had procured a couple of super potions and burn heals.

At 1:00 pm in the afternoon 2 days before Harrys departure to Hogwarts, Harry and Mr. Blackwood met in the Harry's secret spot in the park.

"This will be a one on one battle between my Growlithe and Harry Potters Houdour. The match stops whenever I say its over." Mr Blackwood started and then sent out Growlithe.

Throwing Neros pokeball Harry shouted. "Nero, I choose you."

Harry was so excited that his heart was beating out of his chest.

His fists were clenched and there were beads of sweat on his forehead.

Harry realized that the battle hadn't even started and he already panicking. He strengthened his resolve, he would calm down and think logically as the books had stated. He had trained for over a year for this day. He would not let Nero down.

"Nero, begin the battle with a tackle attack." With a loud bark Nero rushed towards growlithe

"Growlithe dodge and use leer."

"Follow him Nero, don't let up. Use Fire spin to trap him."

Nero used his newly learnt fire spin but instead of the flames swirling around growlithe the flames were absorbed in his body and growlithe seemed to start glowing.

Harry and Nero were both confused. This was not what fire-spin was supposed to do.

Mr. Blackwood on the other hand grinned. This was a perfect teaching moment and as a teacher he loved his "teaching moments."

"I had expected something like this Harry. Tell me what do you know about abilities."

Remembering about something similar Harry had read in the biology textbook Harry said "Not much, isn't is something to do with a pokémons unique nature, their biology like some pokémon can move faster when they are paralyzed."

"Nature and ability are two different things. Nature is more to with a pokémons disposition, like you know how some people are lazy, some are energetic, some like to read, some like to play" Harry nodded. "pokémon are similar, like a pokémon with lax nature will forego defence in order to attack more, a pokémon with brave nature will forego in order to hit harder. Determining a pokémon nature is difficult and there in no pokedex or manual will tell you what it is. It can only be determined by a trainer after long hours of observation. After a short observation I can surmise that your Houndour's nature is most probably rash, his special attacks hit especially hard and he doesn't care much for defence. However, I could be wrong. Don't think too much on it though. Natures are what they are and cannot be changed and don't affect overall battle prowess all that much.

Abilities on the other hand are a completely different ball game. They are inherent capabilities of every pokémon species. Every pokémon species can have any of one three abilities, two primary and one hidden. Most pokémon of their species have one of the 2 primary abilities. Pokémon with hidden ability as their primary ability are extremely rare. It is also possible for a pokémon through intense training to awaken its hidden ability in addition to its primary ability but it requires a lot of hard work and training. The ability you talked about is called "quick feet". Pokémon with quick feet find that their speed increases whenever they are inflicted with a status condition."

Harry kept nodding. He had come here hoping to have just a battle but he was learning so much.

Mr Blackwood continued, "My growlithe has the ability "Flash Fire", pokémon with flash fire are not affected by fire moves. They absorb the fire and use it to boost their own fire type attacks. Here let me show you. Growlithe use flamethrower on Nero."

Harry who was so engrossed that he did could not give the command to houndour to dodge in time. Nero was hit by a massive flamethrower. Harry was sweating and wanted to yell at Mr. Blackwood for not giving him any warning, but in the midst of the inferno, Nero appeared unharmed, and he too absorbed the flames just like growlithe.

"Congratulations Harry, Nero also has flash fire, no wonder his fire type attacks are so strong, despite his young age." Mr. Blackwood said with a laugh.

"Allright boy we can't use fire attacks, but it also won't affect. Get in close using flame-charge and use headbutt," Harry yelled in excitement

"Dodge growlithe" the much faster growlithe easily dodged.

"Keep using flame charge." Harry had wanted to use flame charge to close the gap as it was faster than sprinting, but he saw that Nero was faster in catching up to growlithe with every use. Then he remembered that flame charge had a chance to increase the users speed.

"We have been on the defensive long enough, Growlithe use take-down."

"Counter with head-butt" Both pokémon collided with a loud thud!

Despite the recoil growlithe seemed to come off better in the encounter. Nero was panting.

"Attack with swift growlithe." Growlithe barked loudly before sending many flying stars towards Nero.

"Dodge Nero," Nero took advantage of his increased speed and ran around the park but the stars kept following him.

Harry remembered "Swift cant be dodged, use ember to burn out the stars." Nero turned back and used ember on the stars. He was successful in burning most of them but was stuck with a few which sent Nero tumbling on the ground. Nero got with some effort and was panting.

"You okay boy" Nero replied with a confident "Woof"

"Let us finish it with takedown growlithe."

Harry realized that no matter what he did Growlithe was faster and stronger than Nero, the speed boost helped but Growlithe was still faster. Harry had an outrageous idea.

"Nero, use smog to completely surround and blind Growlithe."

Nero did just that, with growlithe blinded the take-down attack was interrupted.

"Keep sending embers in the smog, don't stop Nero."

"Harry, fire attacks, wont affect Growlithe." Mr Blackwood exasperatedly said.

Harry just smirked, "Don't stop Nero." He had seen a spark in the smog. Now "smog-explosion" was notoriously unreliable and would hurt both the user and the opponent, but if timed perfectly and with a well-placed dodged most of the damage could be avoided.

"That's it, Nero, one final ember while jumping back as far as you can."

"Oh No!" Mr Blackwood realized, he was just humouring Harry at first but now he realized something was wrong, "Get out of the smog growlithe."

But it was too late. With a loud boom, the smog blew up and growlithe was thrown to the ground. He got up with much effort.

"Don't let him recover Nero, use flame charge to get close and use bite"

Nero started using flame-charge and the speed boost kicked in again. In a blink of an eye he was besides growlithe a delivered a devastating bite to Growlithe left hind leg.

Visible stumbling Growlithe got up and glared at Nero. Growlithe was angry. This upstart had done too much damage.

Nero glared back.

"One final attack Harry, Growlithe use take-down"

"Nero use headbutt"

Both clashed in the middle, and there was a huge dust cloud. After the cloud settled Nero looked down for the count, while growlithe looked dead on his feet, panting.

"The winner is Growlithe." Mr Blackwood stated.

Harry rushed to Neros side and cradled his friends head in his lap. Harry looked ready to cry on seeing Neros condition. He started "Sorry Nero, it was all my fault, I shouldn't have insisted on the battle, it's all….."

He was cut off by Mr. Blackwood, "Don't apologize, Harry," Mr Blackwood said sternly. "Even though Nero looks hurt, he has a smile on his face. He loved every moment of it and you apologizing will be an insult to all his hard work."

Nero weakly barked at Harry as if he was agreeing with Mr. Blackwood.

"You loved it boy, didn't you? You were great, I am sorry for apologizing, we both did our best and we will only get better."

Even though he was injured and weak, Nero enthusiastically licked Harry tearful face. "You liked that boy, want to go again",

Nero almost jumped in excitement at that, then pathetically fell back in Harrys lap. Harry laughed at this.

Mr Blackwood smiled at the antics of Harry and Nero. He was surprised by how instinctively Harry reacted on the battlefield. Harry Potter would go far.

Pulling out 2 super potions and handing one to Harry he said, "here spray half of this on Nero, then put him back in his pokeball. Bring him out only for dinner and spray the other half on him. Then keep him in his pokeball overnight. He will be fighting fit by tomorrow morning." Harry sprayed the super potion on Nero and he visibly recovered. Harry returned Nero and got up.

Mr Blackwood held out his hand, "Great battle Harry, I have seen experienced trainers who react slower and with lesser conviction than what you did. The use of flame-charge to increase Nero's speed was masterful. And the smog-ember combination was something else, I should berate you for being reckless, but you timed your dodge perfectly. Growlithe was lucky not to get poisoned, otherwise it would have been game over for us."

Harry shook Mr. Blackwood's hand and embarrassedly said. "I dint realize the flame charge thing at first. I only used it to close the gap."

"The point is that you realized. Using a move to close the gap was also well though out. Most people don't realize that even damaging moves can be used passively. Your use to use ember on the swift stars was also brilliant. Even veteran trainers don't realize that just because a move has 100% accuracy does not mean that it can't be countered. Come on I will put out some lunch, and take pride in the fact that you pushed an experienced growlithe to its last legs using only a starter pokémon."

Harry and Mr. Blackwood walked back to Mr. Blackwoods home, where Mr. Blackwood made some turkey, roast beef and ham sandwiches and served them to Harry with a bag of crisps.

After lunch Mr Blackwood started, "Harry, I am moving back to Johto next month. I had been thinking of doing so for a while but I was waiting for you to get accepted into the London Academy, before making any decisions. Now that you are going to Hogwarts, I can finally move to Johto, I will be teaching at a new branch of Oak Academy in Goldenrod City. I will also be looking to get back into battling. Not the gym circuit but something more casual, like tournaments and such." Mr Blackwood finished.

Harry with tears in eyes hugged Mr. Blackwood. "I will miss you." Harry mumbled and then added in a low voice looking down "Why did you wait for me, I am not worth it." Even though Harry had grown in his confidence, he still had residual self-worth issues due to the Dursleys treatment, that would rear his ugly head whenever someone tried to show Harry any affection.

"What did you say?" Mr Blackwood asked. He didn't catch the last sentence because the mumbling and the tears.

"I said, why did you wait for me, I am not worth it." Harry repeated

"Oh Harry," Mr Blackwood stated as he kept a gentle hand on Harrys shoulders and led him to the couch.

"No matter, what the Dursleys told you, you will always be worth it Harry," Then Mr. Blackwood told Harry of his own journey from an orphan with no prospects to where he was today.

"I saw something in you Harry, a desire to become great, a desire to become free and surpass others. It was my duty as an educator and a pokémon trainer to nurture the fire within you, and now that your future is secure I can move on. My pokémon deserve better than being in East Albion, they deserve to run free and fly in the open skies. But don't worry just because I am moving away doesn't mean we won't talk any more. Use that mail Hoothoot of yours to send me letters. I want to know all about the adventures you have in Hogwarts. Just because you are no longer my student, doesn't mean I am not longer your mentor. Write to me, whenever you feel like, wether you have any questions, or just to say Hi, I will always reply promptly. After all when you become champion I can proudly say that I was your first teacher."

Harry's laughter bubbled among his tears by that last sentence.

"When are you leaving?" Harry asked

"Not for a couple of weeks at least. I just accepted an offer on the house. It will take some time to finalize the details. Don't worry I will see you off for Hogwarts. You have a couple of days, right! In fact, I will even drive you to the station, if you want. I can't trust Vernon Dursley to not drive his car off a cliff."

Harry laughed at that. He wouldn't be surprised if Vernon really did that just to prevent him from going to Hogwarts. "I would like that."

Harry and Mr. Blackwood chatted some more before it was time to leave.

"Here" Mr. Blackwood stated giving a small package. "A little present from me. It's a dusk stone, my sandslash dug it up. I have no use for it. I am sure you will put it to much better use in the future."

"Thanks Mr. Blackwood" Harry stated before hugging Mr. Blackwood

"Call me Jeremy, Harry" We are no longer teacher and student.

Harry thanked him once again and walked home.

By the time Harry reached home it was 6 in the evening. He helped Aunt Petunia prepare dinner. After dinner and doing the dishes, Harry said, "Uncle Vernon, you don't have to drive me to the train station, the day after, I have secured a ride."

Vernon who was sitting on the couch watching telly grunted, indicating he heard Harry.

Harry returned to his room, released Nero and put his food in a bowl. While Nero was eating, Harry sprayed the rest of the super potion on Nero. After dinner he returned Nero. Normally Harry would leave Nero out for the night. But Mr. Blackwood had said to keep him in his pokeball. Pokémon healed better in a pokeball. Harry put some food out for Hilda. She was probably out doing whatever she did.

Harry changed into his night wear and laid on his bed. Today was a very tiring day, both emotionally and physically, Harry had his first battle, he learnt about Mr. Blackwoods history, he learnt that Mr. Blackwood genuinely cared about him and also that he was leaving. He had seen Nero so injured for the first time and had almost panicked.

Harrys fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts. It was going to be awesome.

Today he had first battle, said goodbye to his first mentor, he had learnt and felt love, he had laughed and he had cried, Not bad for a day in the life of an amateur pokémon trainer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This is where I will end the chapter. Going by the name of the chapter, I had intended to include the train and sorting in this chapter itself, but the chapter was getting really long, so I decided to end it here.

I wrote my first pokémon battle. I hope everyone will like it. Please leave some feedback on how I did. I realized that writing a battle is really difficult, there are so many things happening at the same time, that it is difficult to put into words. We also say goodbye to my first OC, Mr Jeremy Blackwood. I hope everyone liked him. He might return in the future.

I have already given some hint as to what subject each professor will teach. If will put up a detailed list next chapter. Don't be surprised if Hogwarts professors are better at their jobs than they are in cannon. Snapes behaviour as a teacher in cannon was completely unacceptable, whether it be in fiction or reality. I will also be referring to Skyrim for potions inspiration and ingredients, especially the flora.

I did not include the description of any teachers, or the Hogwarts castle, as I want the first impression to be from Harrys pov.

The next chapter will include, The Hogwarts express, Harry's interaction with his future peers, and the sorting.

I am thinking of not giving Harry the same friend circle as the cannon. Please leave a review if you have an opinion.