Okay folks with the number of story alert E-Mails I got I know a number of folks are enjoying this crazy rewrite story so how about some more reviews already please?
And of course the usual blah blah blah don't own any of the characters Marvel and J.K do.
Peter and Kitty glared at the trio as they forced them out of the common room and outside toward the lake. The Americans ignored the bad weather for the most part and instead concentrated on the various things that they could do they then led them into the Gryffindor Locker room where they then began going through some slow motion kata's that Kitty was teaching them all since they couldn't be seen outside with the swords for the time being. The group then spent a few minutes going through some stretches before they made a dash toward the castle and made it inside though they were all seriously soaked now.
"Hem, hem, hem." Umbridge witch said as she saw the five teens finally come back into the castle the toad like woman had obviously been waiting for them to come through the doorway and right to her. "And just what is it that you five think that you are doing?" She asked in her grating little girl voice.
"Its something called exercise, you might want to give it a try someday." Peter said sarcastically, as he casually performed a small, for him handspring on the floor and came back up and grinned at the Ministry official. "Don't tell me that running around the lake every morning and teaching them a few exercises is now considered illegal as well?" He asked in annoyance.
"I do believe that it is in violation of Educational Decree number twenty-four Mr. Parker. As you are in violation of it, and I quote." The woman said as she pulled a scroll with all of her Educational Decrees written on it. "An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as the regular meeting of three or more students." Her eyes roved up and down at the five of them.
"Lady, if you want to dock us points and have us spend more time with ya in detention then bring it on." Kitty shot at the witch in a bored tone. "But right now we're cold and hungry and want to get showers, and since we have no intention of stopping our exercises at any time at all, and Peter and I are going to continue training in the martial arts."
"The what arts?"
"Look it up." Peter said, as he slung the bag with the training swords over his shoulder and started to walk off.
"What is in that bag?"
"Training gear." Peter said, as he reached in and pulled out some ankle weights that they had made the three start using now that they were starting to get used to the idea of all of the running that they were being forced to do. "It also makes for a nice place to keep wands dry and so we don't have to worry about anyone using them for anything else, like say a charm to make things lighter." Peter sent a knowing look toward a blushing Ron Weasley.
Umbridge nodded and turned to look at the bad weather, her mind turning as she looked at the group. On the one hand she could try and ban them from exercising as they called it and deal with trying to watch out for Parker and Pryde, or she could leave them to it and let the two Americans continue in their attempts to what looked like trying to drown the three others with the elements. "Very well, but I have a slight request to make of you if you insists on continuing this foolishness."
"And that would be?"
"Quiet simple really, I leave you alone as long as it is just the muggle thing that you are doing and you agree to leave your wands in your dorms."
"Its part of the physical training regimen to use our wands we have to use Peter's and mine actually." Kitty pointed out to the woman. "Because of the type of wands that we have."
"Really and just what kind of wands do you have?" The woman asked with doubt.
"Ironwood wands Professor. Which means that they're extendable and are used for staff training practice."
"Very well. I suppose you can use those two wands, as long as the other three agree to leave their wands behind or at the very least inside of that bag during your little sessions."
"They'll stay in the bag." Kitty agreed.
"Very well then." Umbridge said, as she then turned and left them to get to their common room and get cleaned in time for breakfast and classes.
Later on that day the Gryffindor 5th years were all currently in Charms class working on silencing charms. Peter and Kitty were staying out of the conversation the trio were having about their late night conversation with Sirus as they were paired off with Neville and didn't really feel like explaining to Harry all of the evidence that someone was watching the mail. Besides, Neville may believe in Harry's story about Voldemort's return, but he would probably also become rather agitated if he were to learn that Harry was actually in regular contact with a wanted person. The confusion of this might make him question whether or not Harry was right or not, and Harry didn't have enough supporters as it was to pointlessly rile them up. Besides, as far as they were concerned all of that kind of information including the matters of the Order, were either Harry's or Dumbledore's duty to tell the boy not theirs. Hermione was currently the one that had been given the less than fun job of going through the details with Harry and explaining what all of the various clues were. Harry though he was concerned was more incensed at the moment over the fact that Umbridge and Filch were likely the ones that had been responsible for the wounding of his snowy white owl. Peter and Kitty had noticed that while Wolvie had looked a bit roughed up when he had come in that morning it had been nothing like the broken wing that Hedwig had sported yesterday. Peter had joked with Kitty that it was because the bird was a bit more like his namesake and had been the one to win all of his fights. After the joke the two had taken the day to clean the owl up and had tried to check the owl's talons for any dried bits of blood that were not that of animal prey but belonging to something a bit bigger. They had kept some of the scrapings that they had but had sent most of them to Muir Island to get analyzed for the off chance that there was any human blood that might explain if someone had tried to read their mail. The idea that someone was reading their mail wasn't as big of a worry for the two of them since most of the communicating that they did out of the castle didn't involve Wolvie the owl was mainly used to send school news while they used their communicators to talk with the members of Excalibur about anything of real importance.
The group wandered the halls a bit as the trio continued till they found a crowded classroom with people that were hiding from yet another day of constant rain. The trios had obviously learned their lesson about secret conversations and were now being more observant, and were doing what they could not to be overheard by people they didn't want to hear them. The trio may be beginners at the game, but they were thankfully learning quickly, and they may actually ask for advice next time instead of trying to act like they knew what it was that they were doing.
Harry and Ron were given the good news that they now had the dubious honor of going back out in the rain again later on in the evening, now that Angelina had managed to get permission for them to reform the Gryffindor Quidditch team. After the team captain had left giving Peter, Hermione and Kitty a cold shoulder the older teen witch obviously had not forgiven any of them for their little 'sewing party' as it had began to be known as. Ron seemed to deflate though after the girl had left, his eyes now alight with worry. "Don't worry, you'll do fine." Kitty assured him as she patted the redhead on the back.
"Easy for you to say." Ron mumbled at her.
"You might as well suck it up." Peter told the redhead. "There's no way whatsoever that they are going to allow you to quit with only a few weeks until the first game, and it being the one against the Snakes they're going to need every drop of experience that you have. So frankly my dear they don't give a damn." Peter waited a moment, but only Kitty smiled and only weakly at that. "No one appreciates my sense of humor or classic movies." He grumbled to no one in particular. "Your wants and wishes just don't matter so you might as well get over it and get your head in the game."
"Yeah but."
"Sorry mate, but he's right." Harry said backing Peter up. The redhead scowled but nodded gloomily. "Besides there is no way that I am telling Angelina that you went and changed your mind about being the Keeper. Anyways what would the twins say to you if they found out that you went and chickened out on them? How would your parents react if you took this way out as well? Besides Gryffindors are always charging forward and all that stuff right?"
"Not to mention it has been your dream to be on the team with Harry since 1st year." Hermione added as she read from her book.
"Yeah but."
"Uh uh, you made your bed, now you have to lie in it." The bushy haired girl told her friend with a smirk.
"Uh, huh, now we can get to what's been eating you today?" Kitty said looking over at the girl. "Even when you've been talking about last night you've seen a bit distracted about something, you want to tell us what's on your mind or do we need to guess?"
"A game of charades is it?" Peter asked with a bad look. "I really hate that game?"
"I'm just worried that we're doing something wrong." Hermione confessed to them ignoring the bad jokes. "I mean honestly, are we doing the right thing with the whole school problem? Is it right to learn how to do what we are planning? Maybe Mrs. Weasley's right and we should stay clear of everything and just keep our heads down? I mean sure Snuffles supports us but is that really a good thing?"
"You make it sound like having him support us in something is a bad thing Mione." Harry said, sounding slightly betrayed. Hermione flashed her friend a sympathetic look, but didn't seem to be about to change her mind whether or not they were doing the right thing.
Kitty sighed at this for a moment before she looked the other girl in the eyes. "Hermione you have to understand that this is war, and that usually the people that just bow their heads and let others do their thinking for them end up in a world of suppression. Didn't Churchill once say that the policy of Britain was to wage war whether it be by land, sea or air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. The only thing is you need to add magic to that list and you have what it is that we are faced with." The muggleborn students no matter their year or House all nodded in agreement as they remembered bit and pieces of the speech, and from the knowing look of Hermione a number of the people bet that Hermione Granger had the speech memorized. "Think about it this way for a moment, in world history before the creation of things like the printing press only the monks and a few nobles could read after all an uneducated mass is so much easier to control than a people that can think for themselves and share their ideas. That is partly how a number of revolutions have started because people have gotten together when something was either being forced down their throats or when they finally realized that something was wrong. It's partly why Britain went from the most powerful rulers of the seas to what they are now, all of their once great colonies and outposts gone and people of their own living there."
"So before you go and start second guessing yourself remember what it is that could be." "Mione." Harry said as he eyed his friend cautiously. He looked her in the eyes and she seemed a bit reluctant as she met his eyes as if by talking bad about Sirus she had somehow insulted him. "I don't know if I can do this without you Mione. I need you there to help me with this."
"Yeah, and besides it was your idea." Ron shot off at her.
"Well can you blame me?" Hermione asked; bristling at her friend while Harry's head sank at his near victory. "I don't like being used not even when its just Snuffles who's just trying to live through us."
"Then why do you let Dumbledore use you?" Peter asked with a smirk.
"What are you talking about? Dumbledore doesn't use me." Hermione replied hotly.
"Easy there." Kitty said, "you're getting to loud."
"Right." Peter drawled out at Hermione. "So the fact that the three of you are placed into a life threatening position every year while the other students don't have to worry about anything is a coincidence then?"
Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times before she stopped and considered what it was that he had said. "He's been testing you Harry."
"What?" Harry said in confusion wondering what they were on about.
"He's been testing you the entire time." Hermione said scowling her eyes flashing dangerously. "All of these years when we've told him everything he's just been teaching us how to fight in some war of his. AS far as we know we're just pieces in this war if his to move as he likes."
"That may not be all of it though." Kitty warned her dorm mate. "Don't think you know it all until after you've researched the information you have, this requires learning about the subject and where the lies and tricks begin and end. Sometimes they are for the good and sometimes they're not don't try anything until you have all of the information that there is or at least all of the information that you can get your hands on." Hermione nodded reluctantly and turned her back on the head table while Peter smirked at the headmaster who was walking by the classroom and made a motion of scissors cutting something off something from the two friends.
Dumbledore frowned as he watched the action of the brown haired boy. If Parker was hinting that he had managed to get part of the trio to not trust him as much things could get all that more difficult with the trials that were to come. He ignored the bad feeling he had though as he turned back to talking to Umbridge whom was asking him something or other about another rule or policy of her, it wouldn't do for the woman to realize that he and the Gryffindors were on opposite ends of things right now knowing her she might try and take advantage of the situation.
"I have to research some of what your saying in the library." Hermione said, unaware of the message that Peter had just sent towards the headmaster. The others nodded in understanding; they understood that the girl needed some time to digest the fact that she and her friends had been used so completely.
Peter looked up as Ron and Harry finally joined him in the common room that night the two were the last members of the team to come in and they were both whispering and deep in thought over something. "You two want to talk about it?" He asked as they slumped onto the couch.
Ron sighed as he lay on the couch. "Oh not a bloody thing mate, if you don't count the fact that Harry here is reading bloody You-Know-Who's mind."
"Really, and what was he thinking?" Peter asked as Lockheed settled on the back of the chair giving him a slightly annoyed look.
"I told you Ron, I just felt what he was feeling not his actual thoughts." Harry defended himself.
"So you felt his feelings huh?" Peter said and got an answering nod. He looked up at the purple dragon. "Hey Lock, I need you to go and get Kitty, she knows a bit more about this stuff than I do and I might say it wrong so can you go and get her for me please?" The dragon nodded and stretched his wings and flung himself off of the chair and flew toward the stairs. The boys waited practicing a few charms impatiently till two brown haired girls made their way down to see them.
"So what's wrong this time?" Kitty asked curiously.
"He's feeling Voldemort's feelings about things, sounded like an empathic connection to me, but I thought that I would see what you think of it since you have a bit more experience in this sort of thing."
Kitty nodded, ignoring the fact that Ron was staring at her. While Hermione was wearing a nightgown and robe, Kitty was wearing sweats and a baby tee that showed a lot of her stomach.
Hermione on the other hand was looking at them curiously as she continued to add what she knew of the two Americans together.
"An empathic connection sounds right, mixed with a possible low-level psychic connection. The connection seems to be triggered by emotions of high content. Its odd actually though, I've never heard of that kind of psychic connection from Ray the Professor or from Jean." Kitty said as she racked her brain.
"So that means what?"
"Not sure," Kitty admitted, "it could be just a side effect of that curse that didn't quiet work, or it could be about something a lot more dangerous. It'll take time and research before I can give you a real answer about something like that."
Harry sighed. "Great."
"Think Dumbledore might know anything about it? I mean I don't exactly trust the guy, but he does seem to know quiet a bit and direct questions are the ones that he has a bit of trouble answering with his usual evasion methods, though he does have an annoying habit of glossing the truth to fit his needs as far as I can tell, but he might tell you something about that scar that can help you out."
The trio looked at Peter in surprise that he had suggested that they even seek out Dumbledore's advice on the matter. "But I thought you said Dumbledore was using us, how can we trust him?"
"He didn't say to trust him Ron, he said to get his opinion on it." Hermione told her friend. "He wants us to make an opinion of our own, but he also thinks that Dumbledore might have some useful information that could help us out while we're trying to figure it all out."
"I think I like it better when we could trust Dumbledore not to have an ulterior motive, and we don't even know that he does mind you." Ron grumbled crossing his arms defiantly.
"We're just being cautious." Peter defended. "Surely Dumbledore would appreciate it if we were being cautious in about whom we trust and talk to? Besides Dumbledore is being watched quiet a bit by the Ministry, it's not really safe to spend a lot of time with him anyways."
"Good point, we need another way to talk to the Order then though, or at least to Sirus." Harry said his eyes lighting up at possible ways he might learn things about his life.
"Don't get ahead of yourself kid." Kitty said with a laugh at him. "It might be that we just need to worry about your group instead of all of the other things that we don't need to worry about just yet." The two boys deflated at this but reluctantly nodded in understanding, though Harry did look a bit sick at the reminder of the club.
"Well as informative as all of this is, I do have other things to do like get some sleep and if we're not going to tell Dumbledore right now about your scar then I'm going to bed." The others nodded as Hermione walked off.
Peter waited until the girl was gone before he turned to Harry. "Look, when you told me about that map of yours are you sure that it shows where everyone is?" He questioned the green-eyed boy intently.
"Positive." Harry answered. "Why?" He questioned.
"I may or may not tell you, but if it can help us it might give us a bargaining chip that we can use to get the Order to talk to us, but I need to know where Umbridge room is and what her password is, but for that part I can try and wait her out after I find out where her rooms are."
"Then you're going to have to take the map with you." Harry said, as he thought about what they needed. "The map will show you where to go, and it should also tell you what passwords to use to get through. I kind of think that the map is somehow connected to the school wards, so it always knows these sorts of things either that or no one has bothered to change any of the passwords in a long time. Either ones a possibility actually, with Dumbledore as the headmaster and all. I think he likes to see how many of the schools secrets that student's find, and part of doing that would be not changing any of the passwords."
"He's barmy enough to actually do that actually." Ron said after a moment of thought.
"Right," Peter said, "so can we use it to get an idea of where it is that we're going to try and get some bargaining power in the next few days? Besides having something to offer the headmaster may be the only way for us to stay out of trouble." Harry nodded and went to get the map for the other teens to use. He handed the map to Peter after showing him how to activate it and how to wipe it clean. Peter nodded his thanks and the other two turned to their homework while the two Americans began searching the map for Umbridge's marker hoping to find her within her room.
"A tower room? Why doesn't that surprise me?" Kitty asked as they found Umbridge's dot on the map where she was at least for the moment not moving.
"Can you get in there?" Peter asked her.
"Yeah piece of cake, the only thing I'll have to worry about is for when she's in there."
"Wait for someone to have detention to get in there." Peter told her "If we time it right you should have a few hours all to yourself in her rooms, think that it will be enough to find out what you need to?"
"It'll have to be." Kitty said grimly as she wiped the map and closed it up taking it with her as she went upstairs.
"Hey Peter, think you can help us a bit with some of these potion questions?" Harry asked as he looked at the other teen hopefully.
Peter nodded as he moved to sit beside the other two and helped them with their books. He frowned though as he read something then looked at Harry a couple times. "Hey Ron, read this and tell me who you think of after you read it." Peter said as he passed the potion book over to the redhead who grimaced as he took the book from his dorm mate but read it anyways.
Ron halfheartedly began reading from some passage or other in the book with only half interest thinking that it had to do with school, but when Ron's eyes widened a bit and he began sitting up straighter and reading more intently Harry realized that there was more to what his friend was reading than what he had originally thought as the redhead read the page then his eyes flicked to Harry for a moment. "Bloody hell, you don't mean to tell me that you think that."
"I do." Peter said nodding. "If what people say about Harry is true, he has been acting a bit off for a while this might actually explain his new attitude about things and why he's acting a bit off lately."
Harry felt his temper flare a bit as he realized that they were talking about him and he had no idea what it was that they were actually talking about.
Peter turned to look at Harry. "While I know you had a lot of respect for Cedric and all, why did his death seem to make you so different all of a sudden Harry?"
Harry opened and closed his mouth but couldn't actually come up with a good answer to that, and finally just shrugged unsure how to best answer when he wasn't sure what it was that he should say to that. It was true he had respected the older boy, but that didn't really mean that he should have lost all of his control right? "What do you have?" He finally asked them.
"Just remember that this is just a theory." Peter warned, as he nodded to Ron whom slid the book across to his best friend. "For all we know, you have a lot of pent up anger and frustration and have finally had enough and are letting some thirteen odd years of anger and resentment out all in one year."
"That's possible to." Harry admitted grudgingly, as he looked down at the book and read. "These plantes are moste efficacious in the inflaming of the braine, and are therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts, where the wizard is desirous of producing hot-headedness and recklessness moste efficacious in the inflaming of the braine, and are therefore much used therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts where the wizard is desirous of producing hot-headedness." "How do we find out if this true?" Harry asked Peter, as he placed the book down with a forced calmness that he was by no means feeling at the moment.
"Don't know, first we have to figure out how it might be getting administered, and then we would have to stop it from getting to you. It may take us a couple of days to figure out the best way to deal with it."
Harry nodded in agreement they had a lot of work to do then.
The group began their run again the next day and Peter had made a couple of comments about how amazingly it was that it was once again raining today. The group then met up in a seldom-used hallway and did the sword kata's that they had started learning, while Ron on the other hand watched his friends with amusement as he popped grapes into his mouth. After they were all finished the boys voiced their suspicions to the two girls as they were making their way up the tower.
Hermione's eyes widened as she listened to what it was that they had to say about the possibilities of potions being given to Harry making him lash out at people. "The facts do fit." She admitted reluctantly, still not quiet willing to give up on Dumbledore, but this was just another possible mark against everything that she had grown up believing in. "Let me do some research, and I'll see if I can't find a spell that will allow us to tell if someone is under the influence of a potion it should be in some of the healer charms books."
The two boys were relieved after lunch to find out that their practice had been cancelled that night since they had meeting for their club instead. The group then began talking about the room that the house-elf Dobby had told Harry about sometime last night when he had returned a healed Hedwig to Harry sometime during the night.
"Its just that Dobby's plans aren't always safe Harry." Hermione said worriedly. "Don't you remember when he lost you all the bones in your arm?"
"Kind of hard to forget something like that." Harry said dryly with a smirk. "But the fact is that wasn't Dobby's fault but rather it was that pompous gits Lockharts fault for actually trying to perform a healing spell that he couldn't even do. And the car thing was Ron's and mine fault; the only thing that I can really blame him for is for stopping my mail and for tipping that bowl onto the woman's head that one time. Besides Dumbledore mentioned this place to me before so it should be okay."
"Well if you're sure." Hermione said, not exactly convinced, but willing to drop the subject for the time being until she could come up with a better reason as to why they shouldn't use the room that Dobby had suggested.
"Dobby? He's the free house elf right?" Kitty asked them curiously.
"Yes, and he is but the first of many." Hermione said stubbornly glaring at Ron who grunted in defiance, but continued to place more food in his mouth.
"Dumbledore told you about it?"
"Yeah, but it is the best place I can think of to do this though, so no arguments please." Harry begged the other boy, whom reluctantly nodded in agreement after Kitty kicked him under the table.
"I swear you're as bad as Logan sometimes when it comes to trusting people." Kitty told her friend as she swung her book bag onto her shoulder.
"Hey, I'm just being careful." Peter defended himself. "Besides, if I was really that much like your beloved crazy blade man I would have gutted a number of people already."
"Maybe, but at least he doesn't act like he's immature all the time." Kitty shot back with a smirk. The two then began to argue lightheartedly on the subject of Logan and Peter's lack of maturity.
The Gryffindors got to the corridor a few minutes early and after consulting the map they saw that the way was clear. "See perfectly safe." Harry said looking at the others with a cocky grin that the others ignored for the most part.
Kitty looked at Harry and grinned at him. "Yeah but do you want Dumbledore knowing that you were here?" She questioned as she pointed to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy and his trolls. "Or are we going to let him on that part of your plan and hope he doesn't try and shut you down?" Kitty raised her eyebrow at this waiting to see if the boy had a plan for this.
"Well how do get Barney to move then."
"Offer him some fruity pebbles?" Peter suggested to no one in particular. Before anyone could ask what that meant the twins showed up and wondered what the group was doing watching the picture. Peter smiled as he pulled something from a hidden belt under his shirt and tossed it to one of them. "Hit the portrait with this would you?"
The boys nodded and banished the capsule into the portrait and they watched as it exploded into a gray goop. Bull's-eye. The twins said high fiving each other.
"And how are we going to explain this when we're done?" Hermione asked.
Simple it dissolves. Kitty said with a grin and then ushered Harry to do his thing and make the room appear. A few minutes later the group all sat silently in the Room of Requirements as a nervous Harry began to make a really bad opening speech. Peter sympathized with the other boy telling a group of thirty people what they were going to be doing had to be hard the fact that about a quarter of the group were people that had been on the Quidditch team with him and taught him a lot of the basics for so long probably didn't help matters for him any either. All of the Hogwarts students were surprised though when none of the trio agreed to calling the group Dumbledore's Army making the vote split on what to call themselves.
"You could always call it Fight Club." Kitty said from where she was sitting.
"Yeah, and the first rule of fight club is you do not talk about fight club." Peter joked.
"I don't know, that would give us away quiet a bit don't think?" Hermione said worriedly. "We don't want it to sound like we're going to try and take them all on right now do we?"
"Why not?" Ginny asked defiantly shooting a glare at some of the more timid members of the group who were too scared to make a real choice.
"Well how about the Defenders then?" Dean said uncertainly, breaking the tension that was building in the room. "There was an American group of heroes that have magic and all that went by that name at one time I think, but what's more is that they defended people. Isn't that kind of what we want to do here?" The boy asked them all.
"Seems workable." Harry said after a moment of considering what his roommate had just said. It also doesn't have anything in the name that could really get a person in trouble unless someone decides they want to know what it is that we want to be able to defend ourselves from, whether it is the lackeys of Voldemort or the idiots in the Ministry who are more interested in covering everything up right now."
"Well said." The twins chorused in imitations of Ernie's attitude, eliciting a few snickers. The two Weasley's had never hid their opinion on what they thought of most of the people in the Ministry, only having respect for their father and a few other people that worked there. A few minutes later they were practicing the disarming charm, and the two Americans found that while they could draw their wands out faster than anyone else and perform the spell flawlessly there was something to be said with the speed in which either of them could actually say the spell and were both sent flying back into a pile a cushions.
"Looks like we need to work on our speed casting." Peter said as he pushed himself back up ready to go another round of disarming spells. Peter groaned a bit as he walked out of the room while, he and Kitty could have easily have dodged a number of the disarming spells tossed at them that had not been the point of the lesson and so they had endured fortunately for them none of the others except maybe Harry, Hermione and the twins could actually shoot straight meaning that some of the shots could be easily dodged without worrying about showing more than normal abilities. It seemed that their was something that the Guardians of Magic had not allowed for when it came to magic and that was the experience that was needed to cast the spells quickly and proficiently.
"So Harry." Kitty said, "I have a few ideas from my old school that might help with what it is that were doing, and if nothing else it will give you an idea of how good they're getting with what it is that your teaching." Harry nodded a bit distracted as he was watching the map. "I was also thinking that you need to work a bit with the others on their accuracy, not everyone is as good as you guys at making sure that their shots actually hit where their aiming, at least not until they get to the third or fourth shot that is, so I was thinking that maybe we can have a bit of a firing range set up and they can learn how to aim their spells to go where it is that they actually want them to go and not just to randomly fly around the room."
"And how would this fire thing help?" Ron asked curiously.
"Simple, if we were to use low level spells like piercing charms on some targets we could show them just what it is that is needed to be done, it will also have the added bonus of letting you work on your targeting, which is better than most but could probably be better with a bit of practice."
Harry nodded in agreement. "I think that could work, is there anything else that you can think of to do?"
"Yeah, but it'll take me some time and experimenting with that room to see just how exactly it would be possible, and I may need to do some other things so it could be a couple of weeks before I can yell you anything if it works though it would give you a dangerous new toy to use along with the room."
"So Harry, now that we're done talking about that, you want to tell us what is going on with you and Chang?" Peter asked with a grin. "I couldn't help but notice that you spent a lot of time with her going over on how good she actually seemed until you walked over there that is of course." Peter winked at the dark haired boy and both he and Ron eagerly awaited for some kind of response from him.
Harry blushed a bit at this. "I don't know, it just kind of happened you know." He said sheepishly drawing a laugh from the other two boys who laughed while the girls rolled their eyes before they sped up to get away from the conversation that they really didn't want to listen to.
Kitty followed after Hermione and watched quietly as the girl slipped into a room quietly. Not being able to help herself being a cat and all had its disadvantages Kitty thought as she followed the girl and watched as the girl began beating on the wall in frustration and understanding came onto Kitty. "So, how long you going to like him like that without doing anything about it?" Kitty questioned her friend.
Hermione whirled around in surprise already drawing her wand. Her cheeks flushed a bit as she realized whom it was that was talking to her. "As long as he's happy there's not a lot I can do about it." Hermione said shrugging. "Besides, I already told Ginny I'd help her get a shot at him."
Kitty winced at this. "Well that's got to make this a bit more difficult than it already is."
"How about the part where they all think I'm in love with Ron?"
"Are you?"
"No, but he at least challenges me."
Your life is a soap you realize that right?" Kitty questioned her friend.
"No it isn't, its more like I'm the supporting character of some book but I don't rate as a girlfriend for some reason or other." Hermione said glumly as she stared down at her feet sadly. "I guess I just don't have what it takes."
"Yeah right." Kitty mocked her. "More like you're to scared of making things change between the two of you to worry about what might happen. Course I'm not exactly the best person to get relationship advice from considering my track record of guys I've chased or cared for usually giving their hearts to someone else usually one of my best friends mind you."
"I could use hearing about someone else's misery about now if you don't mind."
Kitty scowled but nodded. "The first boy I ever really loved was Piotr Rasputin. He was a Russian exchange student he was a farmboy with the skills of a great painter and a loyalty to his family that you wouldn't believe. He was strong and nearly fearless and just eemed like the perfect white knight at times. We weren't officially dating mind you but there was a lot of attraction between us that just about everyone could see." Kitty smiled wistfully in memory of those much simpler times when they only had to worry about things like Magneto, the Hellfire Club and Phoenix. "Then things went down hill without me having a chance to fight it she said sadly. We were a part of a team but I had to take care of some things so while I was busy my team went to check it out not knowing that they would be getting thrown into something known as the sSecret War."
I've heard you mention this before. Hermione said curiously.
"And like I said, I wasn't there." Kitty explained shortly. "If you ever want any details you'll have to ask Peter about it he was actually there when it all happened. Anyways Piotr met a healer while he was down there and he fell in love. The exotic girl that could heal the wounded warriors and she had two of its youngest soldiers all over her. The girl died in the war but Piotr still made it clear that were not together anymore when he got back despite everything." Hermione winced at this but didn't say anything. "There was another of course, Doug, he and I were best friends. Kitty wrapped her arms around herself as she remembered her friend as he had been. "He was the best decoder and software people ever, and I was one of the better people to deal with hardware and stuff we made a great team unfortunatley though he died protecting another friend a girl that I think he was starting to give his heart to no matter what he may have said otherwise."
Hermione sighed it seemed Kitty really did have trouble when it came to matters of the heart. "It sounds like my problems are nothing compared to yours."
Kitty nodded in agreement. "Who knows, maybe next time I'll tell you about Alistair next time."
I can hardly wait. Hermione said dryly as they left the room to head back to their dorm.
It was the next night and Spiderman and Shadowcat were waiting outside of a portrait that they thought was the entrance to Umbridges quarters. Peter Parker and Kitty Pryde had listened quietly as they heard that the twin's friend Lee Jordan had been sentenced to punishment that night. The two of them were once again dressed in working clothes as they got ready to invade the woman's quarters. Spiderman took the map and his wand out and muttered the code phrase that activated the map that they had borrowed from Harry, the entire hallway was clear of anyone for at least five minutes. Spiderman then watched as Shadowcat took a deep breath and plunged into a nearby wall and entered what they presumed to be the Ministry teacher's quarters. Spiderman waited a few moments and then much to the guarding portraits surprise it was flung open by someone on the other side. Before the portrait could react in any way to suddenly being opened despite the fact that it was supposed to be empty Spiderman leaped from the shadows he had been hiding in and landed inside with a roll. Spiderman and Shadowcat nodded to each other, and then each of them took a different side of the room and began searching for anything that they might be able to use. Spiderman was going through the desk while Shadowcat was checking for some kind of safe that might hold the papers.
"Did you check around the bed? With the way some of these wizard people think that is still one of the best places to look." Spiderman said after an hour of searching the place had still brought up nothing though they had found various memos from the ministry, none of them said anything that would have been of any use to them or anyone else other than to get a bit of an idea of how high up the political food chain that she was while that was useful to the trio it was useless to the Order and wouldn't get them to back off no matter what happened.
Shadowcat began looking around the bed and chuckled as she lifted the mattress and found a small rip in the box spring cover using her knife she sliced through the covering and found a folder with a number of folders stuck between the springs. "She must like these orders a lot if she actually has to bother checking them all the time." Shadowcat said with a chuckle.
"Maybe she has a thing for people in power." Spiderman said as the two of them quickly began taking photos of the ministry orders before they returned the folder back to its hiding place Spiderman grabbed a jar full of what appeared to be various dark devices that were designed for torture yet could easily be hidden on someone if the need came up.
"Look at this." Shadowcat said having joined him and pointed to a pile of papers. In the pile were reports to or from the ministry on the various activities about things going on in the castle and whom was seen with whom. "Looks like she's really getting into this whole take over Hogwarts thing." The ninja trained mutant said as she examined the reports before she began taking photos of them and all that they had to say.
"Yeah, they might find it interesting to know that Umbridge has a list of the comings and goings to the castle and that she also has a list of any visitors that have been by his offices as well."
"Yeah, here's a report written by an agent in the Hogshead. This is from when we were there actually." Shadowcat said, as her eyes scanned across the paper with interest. "According to this, we're not people to mess with and we should probably be steered clear of unless absolutely necessary."
"Geeze I'm blushing." Spiderman mocked. "I didn't think we were that bad."
"Maybe its because we actually knew what it was that we were doing in there." Shadowcat said shrugging. "Because other than the twins and their friends I doubt any of those others had actually ever been into that place before."
"It wasn't really all that bad, we've both been to a whole worse places than that one."
"Yeah, well not that many people our age have so that may be why they're a bit worried then of course there's the fact that you have a crazy relative that no one really wants to get on the bad side of when you consider all of the people that he's fought with or had something to with having arrested."
"Yeah, yeah all right I get it Shadowcat. Lets get out of here though before Umbridge decides that she wants to come back and get something."
"What do you plan on doing with the box? If Umbridge finds it she'll accuse us for bringing it into the school."
"Which is why we're only going to see to it that we know what each of them are and what kind of spells are on them."
"Couldn't we just take a picture of them though?"
"Sure, but if we do it this way we make Umbridge worried because she'll know someone is onto her and that there is nothing that she can do about it since she can't actually admit that she had a box of dark items now can she?"
"Good point, and if we don't try and hide them in our rooms we should be okay."
The two heroes froze as they heard the childlike voice behind the wall that hid the doorway to this. Shadowcat didn't even hesitate as she grabbed her friend by the arm and phased the two of them through the floor and onto the floor below them. Spiderman fell to the floor with a grunt and landed on his back. "Little warning next time don't you think you old hag!" Spiderman growled as he glared up at the ceiling where Umbridge was now standing.
"Come on, lets get back to our rooms before someone hears us." Shadowcat said, offering her hand to help her teammate back up. Spiderman nodded and the two of them slipped back into the shadows.
The two Americans were a bit tired the next day, but they also felt better using some of their powers in something more than just training but for an actual mission. What was more than that though it had actually gone according to their plan and they hadn't been required to fight their way out of it after some unexpected trap that had been left for people like them that decided to snoop around the place. The two Americans were on their way to lunch when they were confronted by a group of Slytherians. "Parker, Pryde." Draco Malfoy said as he and his bodyguards along with a handful of other Slytherians were now standing in a shadowy corner.
"Dragon boy." Peter greeted guardedly.
"Platinum brains." Kitty said with a smirk. Blaise Zambini smirked at the nicknames that the two Gryffindors were giving his housemate but said nothing, and merely stayed quiet and watched how this conversation would play out.
Malfoy flushed at the names but said nothing for a moment as he glared at the two with fury. "As much as I detest the two of you and know what true worthless wastes of space you are I have a message from my father for the two of you. He seems to think that the two of you would be interested in hearing what he has to say and might actually rise above your current stations. At least Parker can, what he wants with you I have no idea Pryde."
"Oh come on now, don't hold back tell us how you really feel about us Blondie." Kitty returned. The boy tossed a rolled up parchment toward them which Kitty easily caught despite the fact that it had been thrown wide. "If that's your idea of a throw remind me to always have you aiming at us when you shoot its safer that way." Nott and Zabini both smirked at this. The two heroes took a couple of steps back and began reading the scroll.
To Mr. P. Parker
Greetings young one it is a pleasure to finally get in contact with you. Firstly Mr. Parker let me give you my condolences on the loss of your aunt though a squib she did raise you and the loss of a family member is never an easy thing to deal with. Had I known about these events that had brought a young wizard such as yourself I would have seen to it that a more appropriate guardian had been found to guide you in life.
I understand that you are currently in grieving and are actually not looking for someone to tell you what to do so let us say that it is as a understanding person who has also lost his parents to violence and as a school governor that I offer you some advice. The times are changing and whether your guardian is going to believe it or not is of no importance but it is important that you make sure that you make the right kind of allies who you can count on to help you and in turn can help when you are in the position of giving said help. Severus, an acquaintance of mine from my own time in Hogwarts has also informed me that you are quiet skilled in the art of potion brewing. A high praise indeed, knowing the man and his feelings about certain things. This invitation of aide is of course given to both yourself and the true wielder of the Soul Sword. I also understand are having difficulties with headmaster Dumbledore if they continue please do not hesitate to inform myself and I will have your complaints looked into. Know also that while Umbridge can be a terrible enemy she can be a great friend to have.
An associate of mine wishes to send his thanks on the information about a certain group that you led us to, soon we hope to know more about them and may even talk with them if we find the need to employ their services.
L. Malfoy
Peter and Kitty were both nervous now though they did a fairly good job of hiding their emotions. Malfoy it seemed had learned some of Kitty's past, whether it was only her past in the mystical world or more was unknown but it was enough to make a person wonder what it was that the man could actually know. Peter was more worried at the moment at the fact that the man had access to records that included his own, he didn't think that he was related in anyway to anyone of real influence yet if Malfoy was writing to him then it meant that he might have someone in his family tree that had been considered somebody if they were willing to talk to the dependent of one of Dumbledore's greatest supporters. It could of course merely be a way to get some inside information if Malfoy thought that he would go that far against Dumbledore. It also led to the question though of where the information that he and Dumbledore were locking horns all of their talks had been inside Dumbledore's office. Perhaps the dark side also wanted the eye, this just kept on getting better and better Peter thought. Then there was the shot about an organization; Peter couldn't for the life of himself didn't know what the guy could be talking about.
"Thanks Malfoy, we'll consider what your father said but give no promises one way or the other." Peter said stiffly. Kitty nodded in agreement and burned the scroll with a quick spell.
"At least you have some common sense." Theo said nodding to the burning scroll before they each went their own way, the Slytherians through a hidden passageway; and the Gryffindors through the now empty hallway.
"What do you think?" Peter asked his partner.
"That things have just gotten a whole lot more interesting." Kitty replied as they made their way to lunch. "I so miss the days when they just pointed us at the bad guys so we could beat on them."
"Me to. Politics just takes all of the fun out of simple things like bringing the bad guys down."
"Think we should tell them that they're spoiling it for all of the rest of us?"
"Would it matter?"
"Probably not."
"Damn."