FFOmega

Part I: Bitter-Sweet Dreams

Chapter 15

Harry's day in Transfiguration would go down amazingly as one of the most awkward classes ever. Because, before the end of it, a misfired spell from their own professor left him, for the most part, naked from the waist up the moment that Colin Creevey came in and was doing pictures. The boy apparently was heading the committee for something called a "yearbook" for the school, and was given permission from Dumbledore to take pictures of the classes. As he had, McGonagall has been demonstrating on her desk how it was possible to transfigure an object to change its consistency so it looked or felt differently.

She had been intending to make her desk see-through. The flash of the camera had caused her to blink and her aim to falter, and she hit Harry, and he stood there, as he had been about to go up and hand in his transfigured work. And as his shirt disappeared, one girl, Mandy Brocklehurst, fainted, Parvati started fanning herself, and Blaise put her head in her hands, before she started thumping it on the desk. Since the display in the hallway, Harry had been placed in their seating between the two girls, and no one really intended to harass Harry as long as he was with Bella.

If there was one thing that Blaise didn't like much, it was being looked at as the "weak" one or the one that had to be taken care of. Bella had meant well, and she was sure that Harry would have done worse, but either of them doing anything would make everyone forget her breaking the boy's nose. And that meant that people would start looking at her as the weak link in the relationship.

If there was one thing she didn't want happening, it was that. Because if other people started thinking that, then she was worried Harry would as well. The girls were all staring at him, and as long as Bella was there, they wouldn't do anything for fear of their own lives it seemed, but no one seemed to be looking at Blaise as any kind of competition. And the brunette's eyes narrowed and she tried to hold back what she was praying weren't tears.

When his shirt situation was corrected by the flustered teacher, Harry sat down. He slid his hand into Blaise's. The girl's head was down and she was tensed, and he held her hand, before running a hand along her back. She was distraught, and he didn't know why, but he intended to find out. He had agreed to help Bella out, and was glad the girl had defended Blaise like she had, but something about the thing seemed to be tearing Blaise up inside, and Harry wasn't about to let anything hurt her if he could help it.

The moment class was over, he grabbed her and pulled her to the side, and they hung back as the crowd dispersed for their tutorial times, electives or free periods. He held her there, and then looked at her. And he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. When the kiss broke, she looked down. "Blaise…" She still wasn't looking at him. "Blaise…" He tried to lift her chin to make her look at him, but she seemed to be looking at everything but him. There was something in her eyes that made him worried.

"Gaby…wha…what's wrong?" He was panicking. Something about the way she was avoiding his eyes made him worried. "Did I do something wrong? I am so sorry, Blaise, I am so sorry for whatever it was, I swear whatever it is, I didn't mean it! How can I fix it…stupid…" By the end of his tirade, which was induced by her silence, he was mentally beating himself up.

Blaise grabbed his wrist and looked up at him. She looked to his eyes. She felt so worthless to him. And she spoke to him, "I…I just don't know what to do, I feel so worthless. Like, you need Bel-" Before she could even begin to speak about Bella, or anything else about feeling worthless, he grabbed her and kissed her deeply before holding her to him.

"Blaise, listen to me, and listen well. Understand this. You are the only one I need right now. The only one. Everyone else, I would love to have with me, but if they were to go, I think I could find a way to function correctly. At this point, though, if you left, I have no idea what I'd do from there. You are my anchor, Blaise, the one thing that is holding me here. Kyoto told me that, basically, you are the one thing stopping me, from becoming him."

"Wha…what do you mean?"

"I mean, that you are the one person stopping me from slipping into becoming like him, which, according to him, is a very good thing that you are here. It's in me, we were similar people, horribly similar people, even before the Turning, and now, there is just one thing stopping me from becoming like him, and that's you." He held her, kissed her softly. "So don't go off like that with me, don't go thinking you are worthless. You are the only thing of worth that I have that I care about. The money and all of that rubbish, I couldn't care less, but you…please don't fall apart on me, babe, I need you here."

He held her closely to him, and she began to tear up slightly. She looked up to him and kissed him softly, before it got deeper. Breaking off, they started to walk together. About 5 minutes later, Blaise realized she had no idea where they were going.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? I got you a Gryffindor Tower permit. So, cutie, would you like to follow me back to the lion's den?"

"Well, I was going to hell anyway, so, why not." They laughed as they walked hand-in-hand to Gryffindor Tower. Harry told her the password at the same time as he gave it to the Fat Lady, and together, they entered the Common.

-----

Kyoto was having a bad day. He staked out his old loft, and found that the woman herself, Rose Brown, had moved into the place on stake-out, 2 of her armed men patrolling the area constantly, attempting to look inconspicuous and undercover.

Leaving that place, he had run into the girl. She was a very awkward sort, and he knew what she did the moment he saw her. It was all in the walk. He sighed low in his throat seeing her. It was a sad life for her, and it was no accident that he had run into her, none at all. He almost cried when he saw her. She looked so much like her mother.

Years before, before his most recent death and subsequent rebirth thanks to his sister killing the man who killed him, he had met a girl. Her name had been Erica. She had had an amazing personality, had cared about him, and the most wonderful body that seemed to mold into his perfectly. And he saw it in the girl he had met the current day.

Her…His daughter.

He had little emotional attachment to her, she wasn't in any way connected to the person he was now, but she was connected to his soul. He had found her, and she hadn't known him. He hadn't expected her to. But he needed to see her, even just for a little bit.

The biggest thing making his day horrible, however, was the fact that, once again, the woman, Lulu, had found him. And she was about to ask more questions. Before she could even ask, however, he shouted at her. "If you have to be here, get out of the way. If you get in the way, I will kill you. He will kill you." And then there was the echoing sounds of someone coming. The man was fairly tall, wearing a gray duster and he was holding a steel case.

"Demon scum."

"Fallen piece of dog excrement."

The two men eyed each other, before Baretta handed over the steel case. Kyoto looked at it and nodded, before he set it down. "Up for a round?" Baretta shook his head. They were silent for a moment, before Kyoto suddenly pulled back and punched Baretta in the face. Hard. Lulu stared, as the hit would have possibly removed the jaw of many men, but it barely turned Baretta's head.

"You sent whoever this bitch Rose Brown is, after me? She's staking out my damned place! I do not need fucking Scotland Yard on my back. You don't exist. Me, I exist more than anyone else on this planet. If they decide to try and capture me because of the Shadow thing all those years ago, are you going to come and save them?"

"Demon, know to whom you are speaking."

"Shut the fuck up, you fucking bastard, do not start with me. Do you have any idea who the fuck I am? Do you have any inklings what I will do to you. So what you can't die. I can make it that you can't move. Feel like being a vegetable? Do you want to find yourself with your stupid guns jammed up you ass? Listen to me, and listen closely. I. Will. Kill. You." Kyoto looked down at Baretta, his long white hair seemed to look even whiter, and his skin was becoming drawn. His eyes were cast in some kind of shadows and weren't able to be seen. His body tensed and he flexed his hands.

Baretta looked at Kyoto, before Kyoto hit him again, this time with a right cross that actually brought Baretta down to one knee, and Kyoto took the case and with one jump, disappeared. Baretta stood and spit to the ground, a huge glob of blood sitting there before it began to fizz and bubble and soon it was gone, and there was nothing but a dip in the pavement and a black spot where the blood had been.

"Shadow, what has become of you? How is it that you have found a way…the wall is falling, Darkness, and I do hope that you find a way to survive it." Baretta muttered before he stretched his back slightly and he turned and started to leave. Lulu approached apprehensively, but found herself looking as two guns leveled at her. He had spun quickly, and was aiming at her. However, before she could do much of anything, the man looked up and seemed to be listening to something, and he turned, and seemed to cut open a rip, and he stepped through and disappeared.

Lulu sighed and left the scene, wondering what this "wall" was, and when the next time she would be able to locate Kyoto was. She was finding him more and more intriguing the more she learned about him. He had power, and she intended to learn it, and if she could, get his help in taking down her enemies. If not, she very much hoped that he wouldn't become an enemy, because whoever this "Shadow" was, people that know Kyoto talking about him every so often was freaking her out. What was it that made this "Shadow" more to fear than the high-leaping, white-haired demon she kept running into?

-----

Ginny's eyes raised up from her book the moment Harry and Blaise entered. Blaise was on Harry's back, and she was acting as if she was a cowgirl riding a horse, and was laughing loudly as Harry mocked a gallop into the room. He looked under no strain as he carried her, and through maneuvering, he swung her from his back into his arms, and he dropped her to the couch. She was still laughing as he tickled her for a moment before he ran up the stairs to drop off his bag.

Cleo was in the corner talking about something in secret with Bella, but they were still in the room, which left the common room fairly tilted toward what Ginny believed to be "Blaise's Side" of thing. Logically, she should have wanted nothing to do with anyone there at the current time, as she was outnumbered. But something that many would come to realize is, sometimes "true Gryffindors" don't always operate on logic.

"So, ran up here as soon as you possibly could have the moment you got that pass, I see. Had to rub it in everyone's faces, didn't you. No one wants you here, understand that before you get comfortable." Ginny was pushing all the meanness she could into that statement, which wasn't exactly in her nature. But something in the back of her mind was stirring her on toward saying more. "Why can't you stay under your little rock in the dungeons, snake, and leave us to our own kind. Lions don't breed with scaly bottom-feeders, they breed with other lions."

The room's sound died as these words left Ginny's mouth, and right as Blaise's eyes narrowed, Ginny kept talking. "Don't know what you want with Harry, shouldn't you be licking at Malfoy's boots, or such other things, you whore. He doesn't need you," and as Blaise was diving at Ginny, ready to rip the redhead's hair out, hair by individual hair, Harry caught her in the air. He had been coming by the stairs, and had reacted as fast as possible, grabbed Blaise in the air and holding her as the girl thrashed and kicked and flailed, attempting to rip into Ginny. She was incoherent in her yelling and anger, but for the most part, it was not good.

At one point, Cleo covered a nearby 3rd year's ears, which looked very funny considering her lower year, while Bella flinched and muttered, "Can you really do that with a quaffle and a beater's bat?" Harry scowled at the situation, before lifting Blaise up over his shoulder like a fireman's carry and carried her up the stairs. She was still clawing at him when he dropped her on his bed. He kissed her hard, and pulled her so she was looking at him. She was crying even as she was angry, and he knew why. Ginny had hit low. Blaise had just had a breakdown about him needing her, or not needing her, and Ginny had hit an open wound.

She was scared. As he looked at her, he leaned down and kissed her hard. "Merlin, Blaise, you mean so much to me." And he kissed her again and then, making sure she was calm, walked her hand-in-hand back down to the common room. There was a little spurts of red hair along the carpet and toward the stairs, little spots of red up the girl's stairs, and Hermione sitting there, seemingly filing her nails with her wand.

"What just happened here?" Harry asked, as he saw Cleo holding in a laugh, and Bella under a silencing charm, laughing so hard she was on the floor, rolling back and forth in tears.

"Nothing…much." Hermione muttered, before standing and seemingly floating out of the common room, a bounce in her step. Harry cocked his head and stared after his friend, before he kissed Blaise and walked over to look down at Bella. The girl had stopped laughing seeing Blaise looking down and got up and stroked the girl's hair silently and softly. She kissed Blaise on the forehead, as the girl sat on a loveseat, before she sat on the arm. Harry sat on the other arm, and stroked her hair continuously, but Blaise rose and moved him into the seat, and she sat on the arm.

Harry felt loved, truly, as Blaise took his hand, while Bella leaned to the side against the back of the chair, stroking his hair as if it was a long-time habit as they spoke about the classes of the day.

-----

The next morning, Harry awoke and washed up, this time in the normal bathroom, still before everyone awoke. He was by no means a morning person, just more that he found that he was needing, and therefore getting, a lot less sleep, since he and Blaise stopped sleeping in the same room. He would awaken 3 hours after he fell asleep, feeling completely rejuvenated physically, but as if he had never been asleep mentally. Emotionally, he was falling apart. Of course, it didn't help that he awoke and stumbled, falling face first onto the tile floor. He turned and looked, seeing Colin asleep on the floor with his camera. The boy was waiting up for a picture of Harry getting ready to shower.

The trip didn't awaken Colin, so he went to a shower stall and cast a silencing charm. He showered and left, dressing before the boy awoke. He walked down the stairs and went down to the common room. It was still early, too early for anyone else to be up. He headed down to the grounds, and put down his bag and began some stretches Kyoto had taught him. He finished before he thought about running around the grounds. He saw no reason to do so, so, instead, he began to do some of the martial arts katas Blaise had taught him.

Starting off with mostly kicks, moving slow and deliberate, he soon sped up. After finding the katas lacking in any type of variety, he began mixing moves with dodges and acrobatic maneuvers. He was not exceedingly good at it starting out, as he was fighting an invisible opponent, but the overall variety of his movements was fairly high considering. It all just felt right to him, certain moves coming before he thought about them.

Suddenly he became aware of a presence coming toward him. He turned and looked, and there was Blaise. She was dressed in what looked like a leotard, but with one of his button-up flannel shirts on over it, the bottom buttons undone and tied. The sleeves were rolled up, and she was holding two of her knives in her hands. "Nice, babe. But I'm still, and will always be, better."

This was a challenge and they both knew it. He pulled off his robe, and dropped it to the floor. With a quick and practiced movement, he withdrew his two knives, and held them in the way she had taught him, the handle in his closed fist, with the blade pointing downward, away from his thumb. She did the same, and instead of going into her normal crouch, she spun the blades once more before leaping straight at him, a downward slash at him.

Doing a back flip away, he brought the blades of the knives up into an X shape as she came down with a harsh downward slash, he used one blade to push her attack to the side, swinging the other knife down to block her thrust with the other knife. He used the same defensive move to block a double-bladed attack, before pushing her back using his shielding move to get some distance. He ran at her and did a twisting no-handed flip over her, making to slash at her. She moved, but there was a thin cut, and as she moved, the shirt she wore showed a long cut down the back. She scowled at him before kicking out.

Her kick caught him in the thigh. It wasn't a strong kick, but he realized what it was for later, as she used the kick to step up his slightly bent leg just enough to spin and kick toward his head. He ducked just in time, and as she spun away from him, he gave her a light kick to the back. She used that forward momentum to roll into somersault, but as her feet came to the ground, she pushed backward, sending her at him with her back to him, her elbow out to hit his face. He ducked it, but this let her shoot over him and place her knife to neck.

"I win." She said confidently. Until she felt a poking at her chest. His knife was poking at her heart. She jumped back as he slashed with the other knife, before she leapt and slashed as he was off balance, grazing his jawbone just a bit. He kicked the side of her leg, and she fell, and he pinned the arm with the knife that had cut him and held the blade, trailing it up and cutting away the buttons on the shirt.

He felt a trailing as well, and saw her trailing the non-sharpened edge of the just slightly curved daggers they both were using along his thigh, before she poked at the groin area on his pants. "Yeah, you win." He replied, smiling sheepishly. He slid the daggers back into the holders and helped her stand. He kissed her deeply, before he turned her around and wrapped his hands around her hips, walking so her entire back from head to legs were pressed against him. She placed her feet on his, and he walked them to the castle.

"You know, since you ruined this shirt, I should get another one." She said, teasingly. He knew there was no point in arguing with her, and he simply nodded. She looked at the one he wore before smirking. "I want that one. And don't worry, I'll remove it myself." And she shoved him into a broom closet.

-----

That morning, Harry and Blaise showed up late to breakfast. All eyes were on them, and it seemed that there were several pictures moving around of the battle the two had had, including one where Harry actually won, but that was one out of about ten pictures, all acting out different actions and battles. Mr. Long was eying the two of them with a faint ghost of a grin, while Ms. Madison looked about ready to burst in excitement, looking from Blaise to Harry and back again, smiling brightly.

It seemed the whole castle knew about the morning match between Blaise and Harry. The two Defense teachers looked in variable states of glee, Dumbledore looked deep in thought, and McGonagall and Snape both looked in varying degrees of shock. Taking a seat at the Gryffindor table, Blaise took Harry's hand, leaning her head on his shoulder for a moment. Blaise laughed as she saw all of the knives within the general area of where she and Harry sat were missing, and piled at the ends of the table, away from them. Harry, on the other hand, was trying to figure out exactly why Ginny was sitting directly across from him. Cleo was on one side, and Bella the other, and it looked like they had been shoved apart by the girl.

Her hair was noticeably different, a deeper color, bordering reddish brown. It was shorter than it had been, that was clear, and she looked to be under the influence of a hair-lengthening potion, given out by Pomfrey only when a subject lost all of their hair by some means. This was clear, as within five minutes of breakfast, she had a good few inches of red roots. Hermione must have done a number on the girl, Harry figured.

She was batting her eyelashes, and suddenly Harry felt something along his leg. It was Ginny's foot. And it was sliding up along his leg. He was drinking at the time, and in his shock he sprayed his drink in his mouth out and forward. The end result was Ginny covered in milk. He coughed a few times before there was silence. He coughed some more, but it was obviously hiding his laughter, Blaise doing the same, along with Hermione. They were "coughing" rather loudly when Dumbledore stood and spoke. "Does the Gryffindor Table need to see Madam Pomfrey? Possibly some throat lozenges? A lemon drop perhaps?"

This inspired real laughter, and it continued for some time. Breakfast ended quickly, and soon it was time for Advanced Dueling. Harry grabbed Blaise's hand and shoved his hand deep into his pocket in a deliberate move, and Bella realized what he was doing, and the girl walked over and slid her hand into Blaise's. They headed into class to see Mr. Long standing to the side, twirling a long metal staff expertly. He looked up to them and smiled, seeing them not sitting. He pointed over toward the side wall, where they all lined up. He made to move a very large table over, attempting to drag it, and called for help.

Dean, arguably the most muscular-looking in the class, was asked to help, and he struggled and couldn't lift his side of the table. He asked why they didn't levitate things, but was told that the things on the table were very magic-sensitive. Long went through all of the males, almost seeming to avoid asking Harry until the end. Ron had just gone, and had struggled a fair amount, a bit less than Dean, but still he wasn't able to help move it more than a foot. Long was holding his end of the table up the whole time as if it was nothing but a lightly-stuffed pillow.

Finally he looked to Harry. Harry walked over without needing instruction and made to make it seem as if he couldn't lift the table. The man narrowed his eyes at him and spoke so the class could hear. "Mr. Potter here is purposely not lifting the table. This class will not progress for anyone until someone can help me move this large table without magic, so it is in everyone's best interest that he not hold back." Harry sighed, looking at the man, and, bending his legs as he was told, he lifted the table with ease. He walked it over and placed it down gently, without slamming it down or anything. He walked back to his spot, ignoring the eyes on him.

"Thank you Mr. Potter. Now, on this table will be your best friend, your partner, your lover. On this table will be you weapon and or weapons for this class besides your wand. This thing, you will eat, sleep and breathe with, if possible. You will form a bond with this weapon. Now, the key thing to understand is the trust being put in all of you to do the right thing with these. You will be like school Aurors, more so than the prefects, and those of you who are prefects, then this is added responsibility.

"Rule one, you will not act in a duel and use your weapons against an opponent without them. Two, you will not use these to seriously harm or maim anyone. You will be drawn to your weapon, and they will be used in this class and held until bonding happens. They are not to be used in Defense class unless used against another in this class."

Everyone stared. There had been no documentation of weapons being used in the school in a very long time, and they were all shocked that they would be using them in a class. He instructed them all to take a moment to get in touch with themselves, as that would be how the selection process was made, and any tainting or changing factors would decrease the magic's ability to match the student up with the weapon for them.

He walked over to Blaise and Harry, and spoke softly. "We all know about the knife fight this morning, so I understand that you both have your knives, which are clearly your weapons of choice, so you may sit out of this, or you may see the weapons you will be presented with."

"Actually, sir, I am not as comfortable with knives and such as Blaise is. I use swords much better." The man nodded. "And I think we might as well see what weapons we will be given. My question is what is the reason for this class with the weapons and such, as well as what we will be doing with them and how important they will be this year."

The man smiled at Harry, before he spoke loudly so the class could hear, repeating Harry's questions. "First of all, the weapons are going to be key in this class, and we will not be doing very much dueling with them or at all until the bonding happens. This occurs as these magically crafted weapons become…enamored, if you will, with their user, and begins to take on traits similar to the owner, as well as take on a shape and general alteration is the weapon's existence to make it easier for the user to weild. It is a conscious feed on the owner's magic, slight but there, that causes the weapon to alter, and due to these alterations, they change so that the user can not be hurt by their weapon. This is of mass importance as, all we need is someone getting decapitated trying to throw their own chakram or something equally as dumb."

"How will we know what weapon we will get?" Blaise asked, looking slightly concerned.

"It really depends. Some people will get weapons meant to cover for their tendencies concerning magic, while others will get weapons to that lean toward their strengths. Others, will get something completely different altogether."

He moved Hannah over toward the table and pulled off the metallic-looking cloth. In front of her were an assortment of hook-like weapons, they were all sharp but hooked. She lifted a pair that shined in the light, and held them, before walking away, staring at them.

Next up was Bella, she squeezed Harry's hand and Blaise's before walking up to the front. And in front of her were what looked to be gauntlets of some kind. She lifted a pair that were golden in color, and looked almost made out of chain-mail, except the fact that it looked solid at one point, but had the crisscrossing design etched in. She slid them on and flexed her hands.

Susan was next, Mr. Long covering the table with the metallic cloth again before pulling it off for her, and she was presented with a group of cleavers, large, one-handed bladed weapons, with the blade large and square. She picked one up and walked away as well.

The first shock was Justin. He walked up, and everyone expected something like a bow and arrow set or something like that. But he was presented with a group of shield and short-sword combinations. He lifted an English short sword, and a circular shield to be worn on one arm. Ernie got a similar combination as well, something that had a lot of people confused.

Soon it was Harry's turn. He walked up and waited, as the man pulled the metallic cloth off the table to reveal Harry's weapon choices. And there on the table,

Was absolutely nothing.

The surface of the table was swirling in a pit of black, almost like reverse-ripples in a lake, the wave coming from the corners of the table and hitting in the middle and sinking in, before repeating continuously. Harry stared at it, before Mr. Long covered the table again and pulled the cloth off again.

There on the table was a pair of what almost looked like fingerless gloves. Only one pair, and this was weird, since everyone else had at least a choice of some kind. Harry observed them, they were made out of a leather-like material that he identified as a hide of some type. There was some kind of metal piping along the seams, and studs of metal on the knuckles. He picked them up, shrugging, before turning to go back. Mr. Long placed the metallic sheet back down, and Harry slipped them on and walked away. He flexed his hands a few times, feeling the gloves, they seemed almost like they were made similar, if not the same, as the boots he wore, feeling a slight weight, but also an understated power.

Dean's weapons were large war-axes, a weird compliment to Seamus' war-hammer, and he lifted a large, two-sided axe that looked incredibly heavy, and he did it with a fair amount of ease. He walked over to Seamus and they both laughed, and spoke quietly, comparing their weapons.

Finally it was Ron's turn. When he went he saw a table full of shields. The shield he was drawn to was, at the very least, half his height, but looked to be more. It was long and fairly wide, but just thinner than the width of his shoulder. He lifted it and looked thoroughly disappointed as he walked away.

Last to go in the class was Blaise, and she looked fairly nervous. And when she stood in front of the table, and the cloth was pulled off, the girl nearly fainted, and Bella stared in complete and utter shock as she lifted the weapons she was drawn to. It was a thin pair of blades, curved but a lot longer than she usually used, and they were a greenish-silvery color on the handles, and the blade was a silver. They were beautiful weapons, and they had snakes curling along the handles and along the base of the blades. They were beautiful, and seemed to show pure Slytherin elegance. And it was clear why as there was writing along the base. "Alonzo" on one, and "Alphonse" on the other.

As she walked back, Blaise looked to Harry, in a daze. "Who are Alonzo and Alphonse?" Harry asked. Bella and Blaise answered at the same time.

"Slytherin's sons."

"He had them crafted by the same man who made the Gryffindor sword, in anticipation of his children being born. However, the children were never born, as his wife was killed by a muggle mugger, as legend says, the reason he started to hate muggles. The weapons were lost, apparently, right before he disappeared from the school." Bella continued, as Blaise stared at her weapons. Mr. Long gave them all a moment to get "acquainted" with their new "companions" as he called them. Harry looked at the gloves before he began to do some punches with them on, getting used to having them on.

Bella was stretching her hands in the gloves before suddenly from the top of the hand, a small blade came out. It only came out a small bit. She stared at it for a bit, before finally figuring out how to retract it. She smiled darkly before jamming her hands back into her pockets, wanting no one to see the development.

After a while, Mr. Long spoke loudly. "Class, I will give you your assignments now. This class will be more open-ended, as I am not as good at lesson-planning as Ms. Madison, therefore I have nothing planned anyways. So you will be researching what your weapons do and uses for them, or pass usage through history. Ms. Madison will talk to you about Enchanting, for those of you in her Advanced Defense class, and it will be possibly to enchant these weapons, but only after they have bonded with you.

"These weapons will bond with you best with a drop of your blood, so that they can be tuned to you, and it will be possible to call them back to you should you ever be dumb enough to misplace them. But take heed, my staff here, I attuned to me with a mix of my blood and some blood from my familiar, which was something called a flame sprite. Chimera, which is the staff's name, can release a blast of fire with certain attacks, and generally anyone who comes in contact with it outside of me, be it through attack or simply touching it, will receive a slight burn."

Everyone nodded, and Mr. Long suspected that Dumbledore would be receiving a good deal of visitors for Fawkes. However, none would receive blood from the phoenix, as they almost never gave their blood unless killed, it was in a phoenix's nature.

Harry intended to wait a bit before he put the blood on, as the teacher suggested that they wait so research could be done on what they wanted their weapon to be able to do. Blaise immediately rushed over to the teacher to see if he had any sheaths for the blades, and the man smiled at her eagerness, she was the first to ask so far. He nodded and pointed her over to the cabinet, which she opened and found long strips of leather. "Get to work." He shouted to her. He expected anger, but the girl took some leather and stuffed it in her bag and nodded to him.

Harry walked over and looked around before he found something that looked like dragon hide. Mr. Long had walked over, as Harry was last to go over, and saw what the boy was holding. "You don't need sheathes for your gloves, and dragon-hide is usually only used for incredibly powerful or dark weaponry, and the knives you carry do not radiate that energy…although something on you does…" He muttered the last part, and Harry chose to act as if he hadn't heard it.

"It's not for the knives. I have this sword…it…it's in a metal case right now, but trust me, if anything needs this kind of protection, that sword does. If I need to pay you for it, then I will, but for the safety of everyone else, I have to make sure that that weapon is properly protected." Mr. Long observed him, before nodding. Harry turned and left. As he walked out, Blaise was waiting for him. Bella had opted out of Advanced Defense, instead wanting to take Arithmancy at the time. Blaise smiled at him nervously before speaking.

"Harry…he spoke about having a magical creature add some blood to the owners when the weapon is bonded…Well, I was wondering…"

"You wanted to go and see Fawkes? Go ahead."

"No…it's just that, well, I don't know how magical a Demon is considered, but I was wondering if you would add some of your blood to mine."

Harry was silent for some time, this had caught him off guard. He saw how much she was in love with her weapons, he saw that immediately, and if his thoughts were correct, "You know that would probably mean that they would bond to me as well, right?"

"Yes, but the story says that they were created by a part-demon blacksmith, and I am hoping that the full potential will come out. Besides, its not like I won't just take them from you if you start playing with them too damned much." She finished with a smile as he nodded at her and smile, before he kissed her.

"I'll do it after this next class, we are almost late." And taking her hand, they went back into the classroom for Advanced Defense. Blaise felt a surge of energy as she touched his hand that was covered by the glove, and a pulse shoot through her left hand, where the jewelry he had made for her had sunk into her body, which was weird. Because he had grabbed her right hand.

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Arriving to Advanced Defense, they were first outside of the few who had both classes who had chosen to not leave the class. Harry and Blaise stood in the back, knowing how the professors operated, and laughed at the people who walked in and sat, having not learned since Defense class. When Ms. Madison arrived, she smiled at Blaise and Harry before heading over to them. She wasn't tall, and up close, Harry saw how pretty her eyes were. She was, without a doubt, the hottest older woman he had seen since he last saw Jamie.

"You both probably know that everyone pretty much saw or heard of your match this morning. That was beautiful work, and it will give me a good chance to work out your agility and ability to some extent. Now, you two are alright with me splitting you up so the class can be in two different groups to learn from you two, right? Good, then…" She seemed to assume her question would be answered in the affirmative. All it did was drag the old Blaise back out from wherever she had been stashed to let "Insecure Blaise" out.

"No. No, you may not split us up." She said powerfully. Hermione had heard, and quite literally almost choked. Harry glared at his friend, watching as he saw exactly how much like her mother his girlfriend was. "We work well together, and I really have no desire to be some kind of team leader or something like that. Make Granger a leader, we both know that she was the real mastermind behind the success of her group yesterday, she lasted the longest outside of our team, and our team only lasted that long because of Harry's planning. So I think if you need your two groups, you have them." And after she finished talking, she seemed to shut down to any discussion on anything she said.

Ms. Madison looked at them and smiled slowly. "Ms. Zabini, I think I am going to fall completely in love with you by the end of this class." She then spoke loudly so the class could hear her. "See class, the key to Defense in general, is confidence. You can't be, for lack of a better term, a little bitch, if you intend to defend and come out alive. You can't be scared of challenging the norm and challenging the mold of spells if you intend to do spell creation." Hermione was staring in shock at the entire exchange, Blaise had just gotten congratulated and applauded for defying a teacher.

"Now, the first term of class will be all about the magical ability to defend one's self, and, or, others. Many say that the best defense is a strong offense, and to those people, I say, we shall see. The first few classes, we will look at each of your specific affinities for certain types of defense, be it attacking or standing as a solid defense."

"How will we do this?" Hermione asked, not even raising her hand as she seemed to be bubbling in her interest on the subject.

"Ms. Granger, why don't you come up here, and we will see." Hermione stood and walked toward her. She pulled at her wand as the other woman did the same, and they squared off. "Defend yourself however you must."

Hermione stood there for a moment, and Ms. Madison launched a stunning spell at her. Hermione used Protego on it, and Ms. Madison smiled before sending another spell, the same color as the stunning spell, mostly, only slightly darker. Hermione made to do the same thing, but the spell seemed to slide right through the shield and hit the girl. After reviving her, Ms. Madison smiled at Hermione confusion.

"How could you puncture the shielding spell! Stunners can not get through except by an incredibly powerful wizard, such as Professor Dumbledore, it's impossible! The spell weaving in the shield spell is at 2.153 mils with a power of 3 to an exponential to be determined by the caster's…" Ms. Madison looked like she was going to laugh, as Blaise slapped her forehead and Padma started laughing. "What?"

"Hermione, she invented the goddamned spell, obviously she knows how to get through it." Groaned Dean, and Hermione scowled at him. Smiling, Ms. Madison nodded, before speaking loudly again.

"That was another example of a spell one can make. A simple stunning spell that passes through a typical shielding charm, as long as the power in the spell is, at the very least, similar. Something else we will be doing this year is some moderate enchanting. Not all of you will have skill in this, and this can not be used on your assigned weapon for Advanced Dueling until the weapon is bonded, so don't even think about it." Hermione looked baffled, as she was one of the few in the class not from the Dueling class.

Ms. Madison went into the theory of spell creation, saying that the intent was every bit as important as the magic. Hermione looked confused and moderately angry as the woman spoke about the uses of spell creation and how, in fact, many charms and spells learned in Transfiguration and Charms were pointless and could be improved upon, but were just basics that had to be set before they could move onto real important things.

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Soon the class was over, and Harry and Blaise pulled out their schedules. They both had "Advanced DA" and that confused Harry, as the only DA he knew of was 'Dumbledore's Army" from the last year. And if that was the case, he really had no immediate desire to do such things. He shrugged and took her hand, heading to lunch. It was uneventful, but as the meal died down and more and more people seemed to be asking him what he knew about Advanced DA, almost all of the 6th years from the club the year before, Harry got more and more agitated. As they sat, Harry slipped his small knife out, and nicked his finger. Blaise did the same, and she pulled out her blades, and they each placed a drop of blood on the blades. The girl sat there, looking at the blades for a while as they sat on the table, before she sighed and lifted them. The moment she touched them, they glowed and the blood seemed to sink into the blades.

Harry adjusted his gloves, and did not notice the blood he got on both gloves in the process. It wasn't much, but the gloves seemed to make a deep darkness and suck in a bit of light, before going back to the way they were. As they finished this process, Dumbledore stood and made his usual end-of-lunch announcements and speech, before he said something new. "For those of you in the Advanced DA class, please stay in the hall, but stand in the back. Thank you." Within 10 minutes it was just the people to be in the class. And Harry was staring in shock as Draco Malfoy, Marietta Edgecomb and Zacharias Smith all there. Harry did not know what the old man was thinking, nor did he know what the class would be about, but he had no idea why all the people were there.

Dumbledore was walking toward them and Hermione was looking very confused. She raised her hand to the man and when he acknowledge him, she asked, almost frantically, "Professor, what is this class, and who will be teaching it?"

He smiled at her gingerly. "This class is exactly what it was last year, a Defense club." He was silent for a moment, and Harry could feel him looking at him.

"Does that mean that Harry will be leading it?" Hermione asked, as if she knew the answer was an affirmative, as if she was showing her comfort in her knowledge.

"No, Ms. Granger, it doesn't. What did the DA stand for, if I might ask you to share?"

"The Defense Association!" Shouted Dean. His large axe was strapped to his back, and with his hair newly French-braided, something Parvati had done the night before, he looked intimidating to all who saw him with his tall and powerful form. Such that no one dared disagree with him. No one but Dumbledore.

"No, Mr. Thomas, the DA was for Dumbledore's Army. And that is what this will be. This is war, sadly, and I want you all to be prepared. You will all be my generals, my army in this school."

Harry wasn't fuming as much as in shock at the man's gall. "His" had been his words. Harry knew it was his Demonic nature speaking, but he wasn't anyone's property, outside of Blaise's. The class mostly moved behind Harry, and Dumbledore seemed to be having conflicting emotions. "Class, please do not group behind Mr. Potter. The class leaders for this year will the Ms. Granger and Mr. Thomas."

"Why! I didn't do any kind of leadership with the last group, and I don't see how that will change. Harry was our leader, and that was how we liked it, why are you going and changing things!" Dean spoke. Harry smiled at his friend. He too, had grown over the summer, and had changed as well, and it was showing.

"Mr. Thomas, you will not argue with me. Things have changed, making it so that it would be a less intelligent idea for you all to rely undoubtedly in Mr. Potter's leadership. Now, we will pair up and practice the basic stunning spells." Blaise made to take Harry's hand, but the boy was fuming. He walked to Dumbledore and pulled out his wand.

"Let's practice, shall we, Professor?" Harry put his narrowed eyes on the Headmaster. There was the echoing voice he came to know as Knight in the back of his head, but he pushed the thoughts into the back of his head.

"Very well, Mr. Potter." They both pulled out their wands, but before the first spell was fired, Dumbledore caught Harry's anger. "I understand how you feel, but since the recent…changes…I can not allow you control over a group such as this. Your nature in and of itself will cause you to drift toward the dark, and I can not have you taking others with you. I know I have asked a lot from you, but Ms. Zabini is steadily coming to the light, and she is a valued resource and I do not know…"

Before Dumbledore could talk, Harry was across the room and was holding the man by his neck to the wall, Harry's other hand was pressing the man's bony wrist against the wall as well, and his hair was shadowing his eyes. His voice had changed some as he spoke. "Do not think you can control me, old man. You know nothing of me, and if you interfere with my life, I will not hesitate to end yours. You do not know me, and realize, this 'nature' of mine that you speak of, that is nothing. Know that I have very good and powerful friends, and I am able to kill you myself."

"Harry…"

"Harry is away right now, can I take a message?" Came the cold voice. "I am Knight, and the more you piss 'Harry…' off, the more I come out. So remember me, because I will be the one to kill you if you continue to meddle." And Dumbledore was dropped to the floor. "Knight" backed away a bit, and slowly the cold darkness that was coming from him in waves eased back. Few in the class had the ability to see this confrontation, but all the people closest to Harry did, and wanted to know what had gone on.

After a moment, he brushed his hair from his face, and it was clear that Harry was back. His scar, or the place where his scar had been, was glowing a bright red as if the area was agitated in some way. Dumbledore straightened himself up and brushed off his robe before he looked as Harry went into a dueling stance that others were using for the practice, and Dumbledore did the same. "Stunning spell, remember." He muttered to Harry. By then, the entire class was gathered around, watching.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted as he aimed his wand and fired. A black energy flared around his hand, wisps of black and sky blue shooting up his wand, before it seemed to buckle and send a kickback as the spell fired that lifted Harry from the ground and laid him on his back. His spell fired, but around the normally bright red stunning spell, were tendrils of black, and the red itself seemed taint to a purplish color. The spell broke right through Dumbledore's shield and launched the man into a back wall about 8 feet off the ground, and he literally bounced off of the stone and fell straight down to the ground.

And laying on the ground groggily, his body sending ripples of some kind of warping dark energy every so often, like a slow heartbeat, Harry stirred. In his hand, held still by the gloves he got in Advanced Dueling, was his wand.

Shattered, burnt, and with a steady sound that sounded like what he assumed would be a phoenix crying, coming out and filling the hall. Harry stayed conscious long enough to see that, before he seemed to blank out.

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