AN!: like I said in the first chapter this story is not going to follow any Jedi path too strictly. it's more of a place for Harry to start from and a way of life for him to follow (for lack of a better word to use) Harry will find more powers and skills in this chapter and he moves from the few Force powers he knows to some skills and powers he finds, all of this comes back in the story as a part of his journey and Path. every skill builds on the last one and the choices he make with or against the light side of the 'Force' will affect the way his life progresses.
This story really covers more of a "What would harry be like if he was in touch with his powers before he was brought back to the magical world, and the affect it has on the wizarding world as a whole. This story is not going to be very long. (10-14) at the most, and it's not going to cover too much of the tay to day life. it's more of a milestone story.
I had rough drafts of the first three chapters on B0b's hard drive and along with Agent's Potter and Case files of Richard Castle it was all a part of my work in progress file. I'll be putting up at least one chapter a week. it could be in this story or one of the others it all depends on what I can write that week. but so far I like playing with three stories all at the same time. It keeps me from getting writer's block. If I hit a wall with one fic, I move on to the next one. With that being said this is the most response I've ever gotten for a chapter one. Let's see where this story takes us.
The end of the summer changed the routine a bit but Harry still rode his bike to Hermione's house every day after school, and he spent the weekend at the Grangers. They were forming a tight bond and now that Harry was teaching Hermione Kendo they fell into a rhythm that complemented each other's style. Harry was always out ahead but Hermione was always just a step or two behind him at everything. They also had a short hand for most things. They could spend hours with each other and not say more than a few dozen words but they knew what the other was thinking. Emma thought it was cute that they began to sit a bit closer to each other when they did homework on the dining room table or sat and watched movies together on the couch.
With the mastery of his Force powers Harry spent a good hour every day, usually during History class to meditate in the Force to see if he could feel a new power. This deep meditation brought out new skills starting with the ink trick. Harry was sitting down to do homework one day in early September at the Grangers when he found a broken pen in the bottom of his book bag. He levitated the pen and the spilled ink out of his bag and floated it in front of him. He looked at his paper and had an idea. He waved at the ink and it formed the letters of his name in the air Harry closed his eyes and projected his essay on to the ink. When he opened his eyes his essay hung in the air over the paper in his handwriting. He waving at the paper and it sank down onto the page. It was a bit dark and heave but it worked and Harry smiled a very un-jedI like smile.
"Two things, how did you do that? And can you show me?" Hermione asked looking at Harry with wide eyes.
"I will as soon as I figure it out. For now I need to borrow one of your spare pens." Harry said with a smirk.
The next week Harry bought a few bottles of ink and did all of his homework by visualizing the words in his head, projecting it on the ink, and dropping it on the paper. This shaved hours off their homework time each week and allowed both Harry and Hermione to spend more time on their Force powers.
Harry's next skill came on September 17. Harry was sitting in the Granger's yard trying to come up with a good gift for Hermione's birthday. Hermione was spending the day at her uncle's house with her dad, but the Granger's yard was the best place to work on his Force skills, and Emma let him in. He knew what he wanted to get her. He saw a really nice book of Haiku poems in the book store in town but the book was very expensive. Harry was thinking about the book. He got a chance to look at each page in the book store and thanks to his photographic memory it was all stored in his mind. Now all he had to do was organize it and project it in ink so he could get it down on paper. He had every detail just right and he was about to charm the ink when Emma came out to call him in for lunch. It broke his concentration and in a blink of an eye and a flash of power the book was sitting in his lap. Emma saw it too.
"Harry, where did that book come from?" Emma asked.
"I don't know? But I think it came from my mind. I need to go to the bookstore in town and see if I didn't just summon it from off the shelf. If I did I have to put it back. But if I didn't then I never have to worry about presents ever again." Harry said with a big grin.
Emma drove him into town and he saw the book still on the book shelf. His grin got bigger. Harry walked out of the store and walked into the pawn shop next door. He asked to see the red Katana with the gold dragon hanging on the wall. The sword was a real Japanese antique and the price tag was a thousand pounds. Harry looked it over and studied it in detail. He did the same thing with a set of daggers and a French rapier. He walked out of the shop and got in the car. As she drove back to the house Harry sat in the back seat with his eyes closed. When they got to the house Harry walked in and sat on the couch. He held out his hands and a flash of light later Harry was holding the Red Katana. He handed it to Emma and made another one. He set it aside and made two copies of the Rapier, and four daggers. He felt light headed after that and shook his head.
"Can you wrap those up for me? I think I need to lie down for a bit." Harry said rolling over on the couch and passing out. Emma took the throw off the back of the couch and put it over him. She then wrapped up one set of weapons in a big box she had in the garage. She placed the other set in a old camp blanket and put it in Harry's back pack.
When he woke up three hours later Emma was sitting in a chair reading the book he made.
"This is perfect Harry, it even has the right feel to the paper." She said.
"I think it's a new skill I found. I can copy things. At least I think it's just copying things. I'll have to try to make something from scratch later when I'm feeling more powerful but for now it's just copying." Harry said wiping his eyes as he sat up.
"Well it's still a great skill to have. You just created four thousand pounds worth of valuables this afternoon. But I think next time you should start with something smaller." She said setting the book down and coming to check his temperature. "You still look a bit pale. Come and have a snack. It will build up your strength." She said in her normal caring tone. It was the voice Harry loved the most. While his aunt started using that voice with him he could still never be too sure if she meant it or not. Emma on the other hand took him in and treated him like a son from the very beginning.
"I think it will. Just like our big lunches and dinners during the summer when we were training the hardest. I think the Force is like a muscle. It burns calories when you use it." Harry said as Emma made him a turkey and cheese sandwich and a juice box. "Hopefully I can continue my work after this. I want to try a few other things." He said taking a bite.
"Is that a good idea Harry? You do still look a bit sick." She said.
"I'm not going to be trying anything that big or complex this time. In fact I want to find the power threshold of this new power. I want to test how little Force it takes to copy something." Harry said.
"Okay but then you're going to help me cook dinner, without the Force. You can't become too reliant on it." She said rubbing his head as she walked by him.
After Harry ate he went back into the living room and sat crossed legged on the couch. He closed his eyes, concentrated and held out his hand. A small thin pearl handled gold pocketknife slowly faded into existence in his hand he opened his eyes and cheered.
"This is great! I used hardly anything to make this!" Harry said opening the small knife.
"Is that real gold? Is all of it real gold?" She asked picking up the knife.
"I think so? Let's see?" Harry said closing his eyes. He held out his hand and a small gold bar materialized in his hand. "The next time you're in town see how much you can get for this." Harry said handing her the small bar.
"This can't be real. This is a kilogram." She said weight the bar in her hand.
"Take it to a jeweler and see, I have one more thing you can add to it." Harry said closing his eyes. He held out his hand and nothing happened for a few seconds. His eyebrows scrunched up and he glowed for a second. When the glow faded out he was holding a emerald cut ruby the size of a golf ball. "That took a lot more Force Power." Harry said handing her the stone. "Stones are harder to copy then gold." He said wiping his brow.
"My God Harry!" She said looking at the big red flawless stone. "Where did you see one of these before?" She asked holding up the ruby.
"The crown jewels, but it's not hard to picture it in your head. We all know what a ruby looks like. Just like the gold bar. I saw one on display in a war museum. I just left off the Nazi eagle." Harry said smirking.
"Right, well for safety sake I don't think we should try to sell a ruby this big." She said trying hard not to laugh at his crazy way of doing things.
"Good idea, later on I'll see if I can sketch a setting for it on my pad and see if I can copy it. Now I think you wanted to do some cooking?" Harry asked hopping off the couch and stretching.
Two day's later Harry gave Hermione her gifts and showed her how to copy things. When he explained it to her and showed her what he made she had a confused look on her face.
"Harry, you call it copying but you've made changes to the design of each of the things you made. If it was just copying then how could you make changes? I think it's Making. You're making these things with your mind and the Force. You should try to make something from scratch." She said excitedly.
Harry nodded as he thought about what she said. She was right, he hand made changes to almost everything he created. As he thought about this Emma and Dan came out to the yard.
"We just got back from town!" Emma said excitedly.
"We stopped off at the jewelry store to see if they would be willing to take that gold bar. The jeweler tested the gold and said it was very close to 18 carat gold and said the bar was exactly 1 kilo. The going rate for 18 carat is 163 pounds an ounce, 35 ounces to a kilo, that comes to…" Dam said with a smile as Emma held up a big stack of hundred pound notes.
"5,700 pound!" She said handing Harry the cash.
"Wow!" Harry said holding the stack of cash. "This is so much money!" Harry said looking at the cash. "Well, here, take this," Harry said taking two one hundred pound notes off the top of the stack and handing the whole stack back to Emma.
"Harry it's yours." She said trying to hand it back.
"No, keep it. I spend all my time here eating your food and taking up space, in fact. Here." Harry held out his hand and another three bars faded into existence. "This time I made it pure gold." Harry said handing Dan the three bars.
"Harry that's a lot of gold." Dan said looking shocked.
"And you guys took me in when you didn't need to. You could have kicked me out any number of times. But you took me in and treated me like a son." Harry said looking emotional.
"Oh Harry." Emma said hugging him as she got misty eyed too.
Hermione joined the group hug and Emma looked at Dan. He always tended to keep Harry at an arm's length. He saw him for what he was, a boy, who wiggled his way into his little girl's heart. But looking at the group he knew something else. He also wiggled his way into Dan's heart too. Dan always wanted a son, now it looks like he got one. He hugged the group with a smile.
"Since we have a sudden increase of founds can I have a pony now?" Hermione asked from the center of the group breaking them up laughing.
"No, we still need more land. The yard is big but it's not big enough for a horse." Dan said laughing.
"Well how much is the land behind the house worth?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know? A lot." Dan said laughing.
"You heard the man Harry. Make more gold. I want a pony." Hermione said jokingly.
"Okay." Harry said closing his eyes. He waved his hand and with a flash of light a pallet of gold bricks sat in the yard. Harry wavered for a second but after a shake of the head to get his balance back he was fine. "There you go." Harry said with a big grin. The elder Grangers looked like they might pass out but Hermione jumped up and down with joy.
"Yay! I get a Pony!" She said.
"Harry how many gold bricks is that?" Dan asked in a voice somewhere between a choked whisper and a voice cracking squeak.
"I'm not sure? I thought of a pallet of gold bricks and that's what showed up. This making thing is a lot more complicated than I first thought." Harry said scratching his head. Hermione ran up to the pallet and looked them over.
"10 bricks across, 10 bricks wide, six bricks high. That's 600 bricks at 5,700 pounds a brick… umm, 3,420,000 pounds?" Hermione said looking confused.
"Three and a half million quid." Dan said falling over faint. Emma's knees buckled as well and she ended up next to her husband.
"Dan, how are we? How can we? Umm…" Emma said not knowing what to say.
"He just waved his hand and three and a half million quid." Dan muttered.
"Harry you broke my parents." Hermione said trying not to laugh.
"Sorry?" Harry said shrugging.
"We'll never be able to sell it like this." Dan said finally getting his head back on his shoulders.
"What if we found it?" Harry asked.
"Found it?" Dan asked confused.
"Sure. Say you wanted to build a swimming pool. What if you dug up your yard and found this?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"Harry you're a genius! I'll call up a friend of mine on the city council and get some pool plans drawn up. Now all we have to do is bury that gold." Dan said looking excited.
"I'll do it tomorrow. For now I think I need to eat something heavy. I feel weak." Harry said.
"I think pizza is in order. Come on." Emma said standing up and fussing over Harry like she did two days ago.
The next day Harry lifted a big piece of the lawn and Hermione overturned the pallet into the hole. Dan sprayed it with a hose to get the bricks muddy and Harry dropped the yard back over top of it. Hermione made a flag with a wave of her hand and stuck it in the ground over the gold to mark the spot. A week later and a construction crew showed up to dig the hole for the pool. Three scoops with a back hole later and Dan and Emma were on the six o'clock news talking about the gold they found in their yard.
A man from the UK treasury came out to certify the gold and make the official count. As the crew kept pulling bricks out of the ground Harry kept making more. At the end of the week the count was 1,500 bricks of pure gold with a value of a little bit over ten million. The treasury, fearing a crash in the gold market by adding so much gold made a deal with Dan, they would buy half the bricks at above market value if he kept the rest out of the market. Dan signed the deal, and an armored car took half the gold to the reserve and the other half to a bank to hold for Dan.
The next week Dan bought the land behind his house, a Land rover Discovery, and a horse carrier. They drove out to a horse farm to buy two horses on Saturday and Hermione could hardly sit still the whole way there. They spent most of the day riding horses and Harry found the act of sitting on a living thing very comforting in an odd way. Hermione went back and forth between two very beautiful mares. A white horse named Dancer and a light tan horse named Lady. Harry on the other hand made his choice very quickly at the start of the day and stuck by it even though everyone kept giving him odd stares. The horse was named Geoff. He was a dark brown horse of mixed lineage the stable owner bought at an auction for a thousand quid as a joke because of the name. He was part Clydesdale, they knew that much by the comically large hooves and his long black mane. But the rest of him was small, he was short, skinny, and his neck was too long. Harry didn't see all of that. He saw a kindred sprite. Someone who was mistreated, underfed, and unloved. Harry walked by stallions, race horses, and noble steeds and right into Geoff's stable. Emma found him a few minutes later talking to the horse.
"You and me, we have a lot in common. Different from everyone else but special in our own way. I'm going to take you home and fed you, and then we're going to ride around a bit. How does that sound to you?" Harry asked. Emma was going to laugh at the fact that Harry was talking to an animal like he could talk back but she stopped when the horse nodded and neighed. She shook her head. Of course Harry could talk to animals. Nothing fazed her at this point.
Harry got some help from a stable hand to get a saddle on Geoff and after some pointers Harry got on Geoff. He reached down and pat him on his neck. With a few more tips about horse control Harry rode Geoff out of the stables and into the paddock. He made a slow casual loop of the paddock on his new friend.
"Nice early October day today isn't it Geoff? The sun is out, it's not too cold yet, and there's not a cloud in the sky." Harry said as Hermione came flying up on Lady, the tan colored beautiful race horse. She had a huge smile on her face and she was slightly out of breath from the speed.
"Made your choice?" Harry asked nodding at her noble steed.
"I think I did. Lady comes from a good breeding stock and she's a bit younger." Hermione said.
"Yes but can you hold a conversation with her?" Harry asked with a smile.
"No, she's a horse." Hermione said.
"Geoff is a horse and I've been having a great conversation with him. He's a bit on the quiet side but I have a feeling he'll open up a bit once we're away from here. Right Geoff?" Harry asked his horse, and much to Hermione's shock the horse nodded and snorted.
"Right," Hermione said shaking her head.
"You try it." Harry said. "Open your connection to the Force, and let it flow through you as you speak to your new friend." Harry said.
"Okay, um, hello Lady, I'm Hermione?" She said in a tentative voice.
"No, don't be that stiff, just talk and she'll listen." Harry said riding down the hill and onto the inside track.
When Hermione came back to the stables she had a huge grin on her face. She ran up to Harry who was in the back brushing Geoff's back and feeding him apples.
"I did it! I talked and she listened to me! It was great!" She said excitedly.
"I told you, so are we taking these two horses?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Yes I think dad is just filling out the paperwork." She said patting Harry and Geoff on the back as she ran back to go take care of her horse.
In the end it cost twenty-five thousand Pounds for Hermione's horse and they threw in Geoff for free. Harry just laughed and shook his head. They loaded them into the horse box and headed home. By the time they got back the contractor crew was just finishing the conversion of the big wood shed at the back of the yard into a two horse stable. Harry and Hermione lead the two horses out to the back yard and into the stable.
"Geoff, Lady, welcome home. This will be where you stay, and we'll get you nice comfy blankets for the winter. All the hey, carrots and apples you can eat, and we'll take you on regular walks through the woods." Harry said brushing Geoff.
"We'll also get nice comfortable saddles so you don't have to have a hard saddle on your back. You know, before I knew I could talk to a horse the thought of riding one was the best thing in the world, now that they can talk back I'm feeling kinda guilty for hopping on." Hermione said rubbing Lady's nose.
"Don't be, it's what they do, as long as we treat them right they will be happy to give us a ride right boy?" Harry asked Geoff. Geoff nodded and knackered. "See."
"Well as long as they say it's okay." Hermione said hugging her horse around it's huge neck.
Harry's quest to understand his power to make things continued on. He spent most days after school sitting in the yard making things. Most of the time he worked off an idea and made many variations on the same theme, like knives and swords. He'd look up the plans for a sword type, study things like sword length, blade with, hilt to blade ratios, grip thickness. Then when he understood the principles of the design he sat in a deep meditation and made two dozen of them in two dozen different ways. Steel, iron, bronze, black steel, damascus, silver, gold, titanium, tungsten, glass, ceramic, diamond, or ruby.
Then he would pick a type, like gold and make ten copies of that with different hilts like wood, leather, bone, ivory, and any other thing his brain could come up with. Then he would move on to the next type of blade. By the end of October the Granger's basement was full of trunks packed to the top with swords and knives, but Harry understood the power needed to make any metal or stone on the periodic table. He tried to get the Grangers to sell his creations or give them out as gifts, but Emma insisted on keeping them. She had a rack in the family room and every new sword he made would spend some time on the rack. She even kept some of the nicer ones around the house.
Harry was happy with his creations, but he hit a wall when it came to what he was going to do next. He knew he was scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas when he finished his third set of Katanas. This time they were the ones without a tsuba he picked up a book on clock making but Dan stopped him in the hall one day and handed him a book on firearms.
"Here, start with the flint lock pistol and when you can Make a .22 rifle I'll take you out back in the woods and we'll go rabbit hunting." Dan said patting him on the back.
But things weren't all work all the time for Harry. He took an hour long ride around the woods every day with Hermione. They kept to a nice easy pace, and they hardly ever spoke to each other, instead they used the time to soak up claiming serenity of the ride and the beauty of the woods as the trees turned from dark green to yellow to red to no leaves at all and fresh snow on the ground. On one of these rides Harry also found a new skill.
It was a typical Tuesday in mid november. Harry and Hermione made the slow loop of the forest like they always did. There was a fresh two inches of snow on the ground and the kids were wearing heavy leather shearling jackets to combat the cold. The horses even had blankets and leather wrapped wool socks on their legs. Everything was going fine until they got to the back edge of the woods. Harry rode up along side of Hermione and held out his hand to get her attention. He pointed to his eyes and pointed to the trees. He then slowly pull the Cavalry saber from his saddle.
"Harry?" She asked also pulling her saber.
"We're being hunted by dogs. I can feel them out here. Five maybe, six of them. They're in the trees all around us." Harry said.
"Can we make a break for it?" She asked reaching down to pat Lady on the neck to calm her down.
"No, we're going to have to fight them. They are behind us, and Geoff can't run that's fast." Geoff neighed a soft scornful sound like he was apologizing. "It's okay boy. We can handle this." Harry said staying calm.
"Why are they not attacking us?" Hermione asked.
"They're going to wait until we make the turn up ahead I think. When we get close stop, get down, and turn around." Harry said with a reassuring smile.
They approached a bend in the trial and five feet before the turn Hermione stopped Harry rode on for a few feet before he too stopped. They dropped off the horses at the same time and waited with their backs to each other. The attack happened fast and all at once. Three big brown and black German shepherd mixed dog attacked Harry from both side of the woods and the trail at almost the same time. Harry cut them down with the swiftness of a true Jedi in three quick and brutal swings. but while Harry was handling his three dogs Hermione was attacked by three dogs of her own. She split one of her dogs in two but with her back to the left side of the trail another German Shepherd tackled her to the ground by the time Harry turned around to kill the other two dogs Hermione had two big bite marks on her face and her hand. Harry cut the two dogs in half and turned his friend around. He saw blood everywhere.
"Hermione!" He shouted but she didn't respond the force of the fall had knocked her out. Harry didn't know what to do for a second they were far from home and she was losing a lot of blood. Harry closed his eyes, centered himself, and held out his hand. He didn't know what he was doing he just called on the Force to heal his friend. He felt a drain of his power and he opened his eyes to find Hermione on the ground totally healed and looking up at him confused.
"Harry, what just happened?" She asked.
"We were attacked by dogs, you got knocked down and attacked. I healed you with the Force. Apparently I can do that too. How do you feel? Are you okay?" Harry asked looking around for anymore danger.
"I'm fine I think?" She said sitting up. Harry helped her to her feet and put her on Lady.
"Go back to the house and tell Dan to come back with a few guns and the SUV. I think I can feel more of them out here. Go, and take Geoff with you." Harry said handing her saber back to her.
"Harry are you sure? Why don't you come back too?" She asked.
"Because I feel something else out here too. I think a few strays are attacking something else. Go! I'll be fine." Harry said taking her hand.
"Be careful Harry." She said looking sad before taking off back down the trail with Geoff chasing her.
Harry calmed his breathing and listened to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. He heard something, it was a whine of a dog. Tuning to the left side of the trail Harry narrowed his eyes and headed into the trees. He felt out with the Force and it guided him to a clearing fifty meters in. There he saw two German shepherds toying with a hurt blue pitbull. From the deep bite marks on her neck and the pool of blood around her he knew she was close to dead but she growled and snapped at the two dogs every time they got close. Harry Force pushed the two dogs into a big tree and he heard a sickening crunch. He turned to the injured pitbull mutt, and tried to approach but she growled and snapped at him. Harry put his saber down and held out his hands.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help." He said in a soft calming tone as Dan rushed into the clearing with a pump shotgun. The dog looked sad for a second before laying down and closing it's eyes. Harry rushed over to the injured dog but it was too late she was gone. Harry felt frustrated but that soon turned to concern when he rolled the dog over and saw her belly was heavy with pups.
"Dan She's pregnant!" Harry called out in a panic.
Dan rushed over and pulled out his pocket knife. He cut right down the middle of her belly and pulled back the skin. Harry watched as Dan performed emergency surgery to get the pups out.
"Harry make a box with a warm blanket." Dan said. Harry made a wood milk crate with a heavy wool camp blanket surrounded by hot water bottles.
"Will this do?" Harry asked.
"Yes, here I think most of these guys are alive. But I don't know how long they'll last we need to rush them to the vet." Dan said reaching into the mother to pull out two extremely small puppies and set them in the box. He reached in and pulled out one more before going in one last time.
"Boy am I glad I reached in again. I found another one." Dan said shocked as he pulled out a tiny little thing and set it in the box he cover the blanket over the four pups and picked up the dead mother.
"Can you make another blanket for her. We need to take her too so the vet can identify her." Dan said.
Harry made another camp blanket and Dan wrapped the mother in it. He picked up the mother and Harry followed after him out to the trail and the waiting SUV. Dan set the mother in the back and Harry got in the back seat with the box.
"Hang on kid, we have to rush. Those pups only have so much time." Dan said starting up the SUV and taking off down the trail back to the house. They stopped in the driveway just long enough to pick up Emma and Hermione before Dan sped into town.
"Harry how are they doing? Are they moving at all?" Dan asked.
"No, but I think I can help." Harry said holding out his hand he felt a rush of the Force and there was a flash. Harry looked down and the puppies were up and moving around. They also look slightly bigger now. "They're up now and moving about! And they're bigger." Harry said feeling dizzy.
"Harry you over taxed yourself. You're going to pass out." Hermione said grabbing Harry by the shoulder to stop him from falling into the box of puppies.
"Did he pass out?" Emma asked feeling worried.
"No but I feel dizzy and sick." Harry said in a tired voice.
"Well keep it in we're right down the street." Dan said pulling up to the Vet's office in town. "Emma take the SUV around the block and find a spot. Hermione grab the box." Dan said getting out of the truck. He grabbed the mother and Hermione grabbed the puppies and Emma slid over to the driver's seat. She drove around the block and pulled into a spot on the corner. She got out and went to check on Harry.
"You okay Harry?" She asked checking his temperature. "You're shaking and you look pale." She said. Harry pushed her out of the way and fell out of the truck, he threw up everything in his stomach on the street and then dry heaved for a few seconds. Emma rubbed his back.
"You feel better now?" She asked taking his face in her hands.
"I think so. I think the adrenaline just wore off." Harry said spitting and smacking his lips.
"Come on let's go get you some ginger ale and crackers." She said in a soft tone as she helped him up off the ground.
Emma took him into the corner store and got him a few drinks and some crackers. They walked nice and slow to the vet's office and by the time they got there the vet was almost done. Hermione was sitting in the waiting room playing with the vet's cat.
"You okay Harry?" She asked getting up to hug him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What's going on?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. Dad's in the exam room with the vet." She said pointing down the hall. Just then Dan came out with the box of puppies followed by the vet.
"Well, the good news is we now have four very healthy puppies." Dan said setting the box down on the counter.
"Good, what are they?" Emma asked looking at the tiny rodent looking babies.
"Pitbull and black Lab mix. Two males and two females. They should turn out to be four very big dogs when they grow up." The vet said.
"Cool, I always wanted a dog." Hermione said looking in the box.
"Now for the bad news, these guys are going to require constant around the clock care if they're going to make it. My suggestion is to pick a puppy and keep an eye on them. They need to be fed this formula every 2-4 hours from these bottles. You have to keep them warm and you have to keep them clean using this sponge bath soap. I'll toss a bunch of it in a bag for you. You're also going to have to bring them to me every few days for the next couple of weeks. But if you keep to a schedule they will conform to it." Dr. Oakland said with a smile.
"Thank you Dr. Oakland. We'll call you tomorrow and set up a visit plan." Dan said shaking his hand.
They took the puppies home and set the box on the table. Dan looked around and landed on Harry. "You found the mother and you saved their lives, you pick first." Dan said.
"Well, um they all look the same except for the white one…" Harry stopped talking when the biggest one rolled over and opened his reddish pink eyes. "Him. The one with the red eyes." Harry said.
"Harry, I'm sure his eyes will change colors as he grows up." Dan said.
"Yes but I will always remember he had red eyes. I will call you Blaze." Harry said. Emma came back to the table with four pieces of different color ribbon. She handed Harry the red ribbon and he tied it very gentle around Blaze's body.
"I want this small girl with the gray fur on her belly. I'm going to call her Shadow." Hermione said taking the pink ribbon and tying it around her puppy.
"Emma, you pick next." Dan said.
"Well, you're probably thinking I'm going to pick the last girl, but I want the runt. He's really tiny and he looks like he needs the most care. I think I'll call you snow." Emma said stroking his pure white tummy with her finger.
"That just leaves you little girl. What am I going to call you?" Dan said looking at the small black pup. "Maggie, after my mother." Dan said looking at his new puppy with a smile.
"Okay, everyone grab a can of formula and a bottle, I'll show you how to do this." Emma said.
The next four weeks were tense and full of worry. A week and a half in and Emma's dog Snow's belly swelled up and he stopped moving around. The Vet took him for a few nerve racking days but soon he was back in the box happy and healthy. Harry's puppy blaze tended to bump and push the other puppies until Harry had a talk with him. After that he protected the box and herded his siblings together in the middle of the box where the most warmth was. But a month after that terrifying day the puppies were declared healthy, and normal. They didn't require as much attention but Emma hovered over the box most of the day when the kids were at school. But aside from that everything was back to normal.
Mid December saw Harry's last breakthrough of the year. It was two weeks to Christmas. Harry made some nice things for everyone, but he wanted to get Hermione something really special. The problem was he had to make it and he didn't know how. He knew how he could start but he needed Dan's help. His opportunity came when Emma took Hermione shopping for Harry and Dan's presents. Harry walked up to Dan with a smirk on his face.
"I need your help with something." Harry said.
"Sure what's going on?" Dan asked.
"I need you to describe a dirt bike to me. How it works and what it looks like." Harry said.
"Come again?" Dan said looking confused.
"I need help practicing making things by description. You know what? A dirt bike is too hard. Let's start with something smaller. Explain to me what a pocket watch is." Harry said taking a seat on the couch next to Dan and closing his eyes.
"Well, lets see, it's a round gold disk with a white face. On the face is number's 1- 12. It has three hands that spin around. This is all protected by glass and the glass is protected by a gold cover. And it tells time." Dan said watching Harry.
Harry held out his hand and a flat gold disk faded in to existence. One side was white. Going across the face was a list of numbers 1-12. There were three miniature human hands spinning around. The glass was right as was the door. Harry opened his eyes and the Watch said "5:15 PM." In a posh voice.
"Nope. Try again." Harry said waving his hand and making the gold monstrosity go away.
"Right, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be." Dan said blinking.
A half hour and five ever improving mistakes later and Dan was holding a pocket watch that was almost perfect, except for the fact that it was as thin as a coin and had no internal parts at all. Aside from that it ran fine and told the right time.
"This is what I was hoping for. Well not really but look, I made something that can't exist because it can't be real. This is an object made by the Force and running off the Force." Harry said excitedly. "Now tell what a dirt bike is." Harry said with a smirk.
One and a half hours and six failed attempts later and Harry was standing next to what looked like a dirt bike. He got on it, hit the red button that said start. And it started shaking and making noise. Harry twisted the right handlebar forwards and he was driving around the back yard. When he pulled the brake bar with his left hand the bike stopped. There was no engine. There was no fuel. Harry was sitting on a bike that should not exist.
"Okay, now explain to me what a lightsaber is." Harry said with a down right un-Jedi like grin on his face. Fifteen minutes and three very dangerous mishaps later and Harry picked up the black Maglight looking cylinder out of the air. It had a good weight to it but it was not too heavy. One side was capped off and the other side had a cup at the end. There were two buttons on the black cylinder. A green button and a blue button. Harry hit the green button and a green blade of light come out of the lightsaber three feet long and it made a humming sound. Harry swung It around a bit before hitting a big boulder. It left a scorch mark but other then that the rock was fine. Harry hit the green button and the blade shrank back into the cup. He then hit the blue button and a blue blade came out. Harry poked the bolder and the blade cut into the rock he pulled back and the hole in the rock had glowing hot edges. Harry cut the rock into three pieces. Harry held out his left hand and an identical lightsaber appeared. He tossed it to Dan.
"Hit the green button." Harry said switching back to the green blade. "Now fight me." Harry said. Dan swung his lightsaber at Harry's and when the two hit together they stopped and made a loud crackling.
"I'm going to need one of these for Christmas." Dan said with a child like grin.
"Deal." Harry said making another on and tossing it to Dan. "But you can't play with it until Christmas morning." Harry said.
Christmas morning came and Hermione was shocked by the lightsaber and even more shocked when she found out how Harry created it. Soon she was trying to create the impossible, but try as she might she just couldn't get it. She could copy things, she could even create things that worked, but she couldn't make things like the lightsabers, or Harry's dirt bike. But she wasn't totally disappointed by this fact. After all, Harry could make gold and diamonds and she couldn't. still she decided to keep trying but in her heart she knew this was another trick only Harry could pull off.
As winter turned to spring the two kids were again picked for the fencing team regional. On Friday the second of April 1990 Emma was driving the two kids to Guilford again. This time for the first day of a three day single elimination style tournament. Harry and Hermione sat in the back with their eyes closed and their breathing steady. They were deep in the Force preparing themselves for the day ahead of them. They were going to be doing this a lot over the next three days. They would each have two matches today, three the next day, and three the last day. Between those matches they would have to sit and watch the other kids face off. Everything was fine and serine until Harry opened his eyes suddenly.
"Can you turn left up here please?" Harry asked.
"What?" Emma asked jarred out of her silence.
"Up there at the end of the road, make a left." Harry said.
"What's going on Harry?" She asked as she made the turn.
"Just trust me for a few minutes. I think I feel something." Harry said directing her into a packed driveway of a big manor house. It looked like there was an Estate sale going on in the manor. "We have to go in there. Did you bring any money with you?" Harry asked.
"I have some money but I didn't bring a lot. What's in there Harry?" She asked.
"Something powerful, I could feel it from miles away. I'm just not sure what it is just yet, but I can tell you in a few minutes." Harry said walking out of the car and heading into the front door. Emma and Hermione went in after him.
"Do you feel it?" Emma asked.
"I do, but I'm not as in tuned to the Force as Harry is." Hermione said watching Harry walk around the manor.
"There are a few things in here. We're going to need a lot of cash." Harry said dashing up to Emma.
"I'll go talk to the man running the sale and see if we can hold the things you want until later today." Emma said walking over to a group of people talking to an older man holding a clipboard.
After a short conversation Emma made a deal with the man running the sale. He handed her a few tags and a pen. She could tag anything she wanted and he would hold it for a day until she came to pick it up.
Harry ran through the manor pointing to things. A wood humidor that had no key, a few knives and daggers from a display stand. A gold and ruby necklace, a hourglass on a chain gold chain, and old gold signet ring of a skull and crossbones, an old fashioned broom with a bent handle, a huge old marble mortar and pestle with engravings all the way around the bowl, and finally, an old locked steamer trunk, again it had no keys and it felt very light so it had a very reasonable price of twenty pounds.
"We need to take the trunk with us." Harry said placing both hands on the lid.
"Okay." Emma said walking over to the sale runner.
"What do you think all of this stuff is?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know, but whatever is in this trunk. I can feel the power rolling off it in waves. We need to get this stuff back to the house as fast as we can so we can start figuring it out." Harry said.
"What about the tournament?" Hermione reminded him.
"You're right, I forgot. We'll take the trunk back to your house and then head to the tournament. We'll be late but I know this is important. Feel the lid." Harry said placing her hand on the trunk.
"Oh my, you're right. It's very powerful." Hermione said.
They put a down payment on the lot and Emma drove them back to the house so they could drop the trunk off. She made a call to the tournament and said they were having car trouble to give them some time and then they headed back out.
The day was long and drawn out in Harry's opinion. They each had two matches that day. Harry, being ranked number one took out the boy ranked 128th in his first match, and Hermione who only lost to Harry last year took out the 127th kid in a quick and brutal match. Then they had to sit through 64 other matches which took two hours. Thankfully they were play first to three points with a one minute clock but the setup time and the formalities were getting on Harry's nerves. Finally the first round was over and 64 kids were cut from the tournament. They broke for lunch for an hour and then they returned for the second round this time it was first to five points with a three minute clock. Harry dominated his opponent so fast the boy had hardly enough time to put on his mask. Hermione took out her opponent just as fast and then the waiting game had to be played again. Emma went out into the hall and used a payphone to call Dan. She had him take the Land Rover to the manor and pick up the lot of tagged items while they were stuck in Guilford watching the second round.
Two hours, and thirty matches later and the field was cut to 32 for round three. Emma drove them straight back to the house and Harry practically ran into the house. He dropped into his meditation sitting position in front of the trunk and closed his eyes. He held out his hand and placed it on the lock. He concentrated on the force and the lock and after a few minutes the lock clicked open. The Grangers were all standing around the trunk watching as Harry opened the lid. Inside the trunk was much bigger than the outside. It looked like it was four times bigger. The trunk was full of folded clothes, books, big rolls of parchment paper, and a black over the shoulder messenger bag with a yellow badger on the font.
There were a few other things in bags and boxes but Harry's was drawn to the tray attached to the lid of the trunk across the top. There were a few books and a few handwritten journals sitting in the tray. Harry pulled them out and set them on the floor. He found and old pen knife that radiated power. He handed it to Hermione and she studied it. He found an old two inch barreled Webley revolver and Dan took that. He tried to check it to see if it was loaded but it wouldn't come apart. Harry found a small leather pouch full of odd looking gold coins. He turned the pouch over and a hundred of the heavy coins spilled out along with a bank draft book with a Seal that read Gringotts in gold as well as an old bill fold wallet full of hundred pound notes. The last item in the tray was a flat black box about a foot long and three inches wide. Harry opened the box and found a ten inch long red wood stick that looked like it was turned on a letht. Harry felt the power of the stick he knew this was something very powerful. He picked it up out of the box and red sparks shot out of the front and a gust of wind came from nowhere and blew things off the shelves. Harry felt like he was holding onto a live wire Harry dropped the stick on the floor.
"What is that Harry?" Hermione asked staring at the stick.
"I don't know but until we figure it out let's not touch it." Harry said floating the stick back into the box and setting it on the table. With the tray cleared Harry pulled out the books. There were about forty of them and they all looked heavy, like textbooks. He took the one off the top and it read, the standard book of spells grade 7. The cover had a moving picture of a stick waving at a spoon, the soon turned into a frog, and then into an odd shaped ball before turning back into a spoon. Harry held up the book so Hermione could see it.
"Hermione, I think we have this Jedi thing all wrong." He said with look full of mixed emotions.
"Maybe, but Maybe not? Who's to say we can't call ourselves Jedi? So there is such a thing as Magic? What makes it magic and not the Force?" She said taking the book and thumbing through it. "This has a lot of wand waving and saying things in Latin. We don't need any of that to make the Force work. Maybe the JedI were real. Maybe they got weak over time and they had to make this stuff up so the weaker JedI could still use the force? We just don't know Harry. You can't let this get you down. We're holding in our hands a full list of Force powers we can start working on! Look there are seven books on the stuff. And this says Defense against the Dark arts! That sounds like JedI teaching to me." She said tossing him a DADA book.
"You're right you know. We'll just have to start on book one and work our way through it. We'll skip all the silly wand waving and spell saying, but we'll learn it all." Harry said flipping through the book in his hands.
"Let's get all these books out so we can see what else is in here." Hermione said pulling books out and stacking them by year.
After the books were out Harry found a black medical style bag full of potions ingredients and a cauldron. He set it aside to look at later. He liked to cook, maybe he found his new hobby. Hermione took out the clothes and stacked them next to the trunk. It looked like a school uniform. It consisted of black pants, a white shirt, a black sweater vest with yellow trim, a yellow and black tie and a black robe with a hood. Hermione took one of the robes and pulled it on. It was too big by about twice over but she got the look. Long robes with hoods. Like old Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker wore. This JedI to wizard change over was complete in her mind. It was a long long time ago after all.
Harry unrolled some parchment and found a handwritten essay by a boy named Axton Archer about transfiguration. He scanned it and it seemed pretty straight forwards. Take one object and turn it into something else. Hell that was easier than with he was doing when he was making thing out of thin air. Harry waved at a bottle of dried up ink and it turned into a frog, it ribbited once before Harry turned it into a gold bar. He took the gold bar and tossed it to Dan.
"I found a new easier way to make those. That took almost no power." Harry said.
"No kidding?" Dan asked looking at the gold bar.
"Way easier. I wish I had this trunk two years ago." Harry said shaking his head.
Harry took out all the rolls of parchment. It looked like this guy kept all of his homework for all seven years of school. Harry knew what he was going to be looking at first. Axton was good at summing up his point and boiling out all the other crap. He wrote in short easy to follow sentences and Harry knew he would get more out of Axton's writing then he would from the books. Harry set the big rolls aside and pulled out a wooden box at the bottom of the trunk that was hidden under the school clothes.
The box had no lid. In fact it looked solid. Harry placed his hand on the box and closed his eyes. It took a few minutes but finally the box split around the edges. Harry lifted the lid and found a big trunk inside. He found three sets of gray robes. two black heavy leather vests, a wide leather belt with an old 1911 in a black leather holster and five pouches. Inside one pouch Harry found six small glass bottle of red glowing liquid. In another he found three more wands. These were short and black. The third pouch had what looked like grenades but they were made of glass and there was something bright yellow inside. The pouch next to it had the same thing but these four were purple. The last pouch was bigger and inside Harry found a square case. When he pulled it out and set it on the table it expanded to look like a rifle case. He opened it and found six long guns inside.
"Dan what are some of these, I only know about half of them from the book." Harry said looking at the six guns.
"Let's see, oh wow, nice collection. Let's see we have a Winchester trench pump shotgun that looks brand new, all of these guns do. This smaller is a M1 carbine, the longer one next to that is an M14, next to that is a Marlin lever action, it's probably a 45-70. This bolt action rifle is a Weatherby 460, that's an elephant gun, and that right there is a 600 nitro express. Who ever this guy was he was ready for anything. We have to take these out back and shoot them. I always wanted to try a 600 Nitro gun." Dan said with a big grin.
"I think this guy was some kind of soldier. Check out all this gear." Harry said tossing on the leather vest and the wide belt. He pulled on the gray robe and when he did everything shrank to fit his size. "Wow, that was so cool!" Harry said pulling up the hood. When he did he disappeared.
"HARRY!" Emma and Hermione yelled.
"Yeah, I'm right here." Harry said dropping the hood. "What's with the yelling?" Harry asked.
"You vanished!" Hermione said.
"No kidding?" Harry said rushing to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. Harry pulled the hood up and walked into the family room, he walked up behind Hermione and he was about to tug on her hair when she turned around and slapped him.
"Not the hair!" She said with a smirk.
"How did you know?" Harry asked dropping the hood and rubbing his shoulder.
"I'm still a jedI remember." She said with a smirk before going back to the trunk.
They found a few more things but really it was mostly more clothes. The exception being a black and yellow gym bag with odd leather padded boots and gloves that went up to the elbow. There were three sets of white jodhpurs, two black and yellow sweaters, two black yellow robes, and an odd shaped leather ball. Harry and Hermione tossed it back and forth a few times and they knew why it was shaped like that. It was easier to grip. The bottom of the trunk had loose receipts, and few silver and bronzes coins, and a brass telescope. They put most of the clothes back, Hermione put on the second vest and one of the two gray robes and it sized to her. Dan took all the guns, and they put most of the school supplies away.
"Well we know more and we know less then when we first opened the trunk. We know the JedI became wizards. We know wizards are taught magic at a school called Hogwarts. We know that Archer Axton was a good student, an athlete of some kind, and that he graduated and took a job as some kind of Spy?" Harry said flipping up his hood to vanish.
"We'll have to ask around that neighborhood about Archer. We should also try to find this bank and a few of these stores. There is obviously a place where these stores are hidden away from the normal people. Also we have to try to get into this school, if only so we can meet more people like us." Hermione said.
