AN: Standard disclaimer, it is blindingly obvious I don't own the Harry Potter universe.
AN2: A bit of warning the end of the chapter is a bit gruesome, although why you're still reading this series if you can't handle that is beyond me, you must have missed so much of the plot.
-:-
Chapter Six: Q&A
The trial was thick and heavy on the two teens minds for the full three weeks that it took to quash the allegations, in that time they learned a great many knew things from all their teachers; Professor Flitwick had pulled put them through the most difficult charms exercises they had ever encountered, along with the project the whole of fifth year was working on for charms they were also learning their OWL level studies which were punishingly difficult and exhausting, at least for most of the class. Hermione refused to let Harry's ego about his power levels get out of control though, only gently prodding it to make sure it lived and thrived, he needed something else to be proud of.
Harry had taken it upon himself to craft a whole new invention for the race, specifically designed for the kind of tasks Professor Flitwick had set, especially for speed. He knew it was cheating and as such he had a less 'juiced' creation to run competitively, mostly he was going all out on his secondary creatio sort of personal challenge.
The major issue he was encountering was the time with which the creatures would remain powered over any kind of distance when moving at speed. Usually they charged themselves up by absorbing the ambient magic that naturally existed around their creator, but in a race they rapidly ran out of energy.
It took him about a week do discern the cause, because they were made of metal they were heavy for their size and used a great deal of energy when required to jump any distance at all. Seeking to lessen the energy drain required by such an event Harry bored small circular holes in the flat plates of the critter's legs and body, removing a great deal of metal that was weighting it down, additionally he installed small springs in the creature's joints in such a way that it would naturally spring forwards with each step further increasing it's efficiency.
This led to more problems as it often hopped right of the end of whatever surface it was running on and Harry had to devise a new method of detecting the terrain in front of it so that the creation could more accurately aim it's leaping hops. Hermione commented one evening that he might want to try a variant of the mage sight charm, that is actually give the small creation proper sight so that it could assess all the terrain in front of it rather than just the rudimentary shape of it. Harry had scratched his chin at this suggestion, honestly stumped at how to imbue the tiny creature with a spell meant to aid normal sight, and still have it actually be beneficial to the naturally sightless contraption.
Eventually he stumbled upon a solution that, while slightly time consuming and fiddly, was excellent: The mage sight charm worked by enhancing the image received by the retinas in the Human body, essentially just magical magnification and/or augmentation. Scientifically speaking this meant that the spell altered the way light interacted with the rods and cones within the human eye, producing an altered image for the brain to analyse. To exploit this Harry carved a pair of miniscule eyes for the contraption with his ultra-fine wizarding jeweller's tools. The tiny brass hollow spheres had a single pane of quartz at their face and it was on this quartz that Harry cast the mage sight charm, light would go in through the quartz lenses and be converted into magical signals by the charm's variant, which a set of runes on the inside of each brass eye deciphered, analysed and then fed the information to the rune clusters all over the mechanical creation's body. He had at first experimented with only a single eye for simplicity's sake but the information that was transferred from the mage sight variant to the rune clusters was incomplete and resulted in some truly hilarious mishaps as the critter leapt gleefully from any surface it could find unaware that it had nothing to land on until it hit the ground. Harry very nearly gave the small creation a tinny voice so that he could amuse himself with its squeals of what he imagined would be joy. Unfortunately he was totally unable to do so without the proper charms and had to give up on the idea with a resigned finality.
The creation itself was six legged, a number Harry found quite pleasing to work with, the symmetry and elegance of six legs seemed to mesh well with his aesthetic style and he ran with it. Each of the legs was multi segmented and powered with miniature tungsten springs that he had transfigured with great care under Hermione's supervision, tungsten was a dangerous metal to transfigure as it was incredibly dense and if any air pockets remained inside the metal they could explode under the pressure. Fortunately Harry was by now a master of stone to metal transfigurations and could happily achieve his goal; crafting the stone springs with the shaping charms had been an exercise in frustration however.
He would have simply transfigured a block of the stone into tungsten and worked from there but he was restricted in several ways, firstly he couldn't enchant the springs at all if he worked in such a manner, the metal refusing to hold the enchantments unless they were pre-existing when it was transfigured, secondly transfiguring thicker quantities of the metal was exceedingly dangerous, more so than normal as it was much easier to mentally overlook the centre of the block of stone and leave only a hyper compressed pocket of air and other gasses that would explode the moment he tried working with it.
Finally he had few charms that worked on metals to shape them easily meaning he would have to hand coil two dozen springs five millimetres in diameter, not a fun task, especially when tungsten was such a solid metal, which made it great for springs, but a pox to work with manually, and especially in such small scale. Those multi segmented legs connected to a metal framework that, while sturdy, was much lighter than his old carapace designs. Situated at the front of this strange conglomeration of tiny metal struts was a minute head comprising of a thumbnail sized sphere containing the two eyes. Within the larger sphere were more runes that controlled the flow of magical information across the rest of the mechanical bug, not unlike a brain. Of course the eyes and head had to be carved first from stone in minute detail before being transfigured, a task that saw almost as much hair pulling as the springs.
It was far from done. He still had to embed a multitude of quartz stones into the metal struts which would allow for fine tuning of the artificial intelligence he had painstakingly enchanted. Then dozens of test runs awaited him as he carefully worked out the kinks in his design. It truly was a wonderful piece of workmanship and Harry knew that Hermione was deeply proud of him for accomplishing such a feat, just as he was proud of her for leaping ahead so dramatically in conjuration.
-:-
Transfiguration had become something of a test of wills between Harry and Hermione, the class had moved on rapidly from conjuring small flames to actual living creatures in the palms of their hands. Invertebrates had been first and Harry had taken great pleasure in conjuring ants and other small insects into his hand to watch them move about. Thankfully they hadn't been working with the slimier invertebrates like snails. While Harry was amusing himself with insects however Hermione had moved on to birds. She apparently had a talent for the magical art which didn't surprise Harry in the slightest, much in the same way that she was adept at Hexwork where it required total focus, here too she thrived off the challenge of mentally imagining every part of the creatures they were summoning before bringing them into existence.
The animals were not long lived and disappeared abruptly after a few seconds as they were purely magical constructs, living matter made from magic itself. The raw magic they were essentially bullying into shape refused to stay put for long and dispersed rapidly, hence the short life spans of the magical animals. But as Professor McGonagall often told them, this was a vital stepping stone to greater things. Hermione however had refused to accept that this was a simple stepping stone and had taken it upon herself to find practical applications for the art. One of her favourite new tricks whenever one of the other students taunted her was to toss an enraged sparrow at them that she had conjured into existence rapidly.
About a week after her first discovery she had laughed out loud in their quarters and had gone quite hysterical for some time. Harry, finally amused enough to turn around and see what had tickled his love quite so much was struck with the thought of a muggle magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, Hermione's projected thought expanded to show the aftermath of whatever party the magician had attended to show a laughing wizard in robes wandering away.
Catching on to what Hermione was so amused by Harry quickly joined her in helpless laughter. Between gasps of air when she finally calmed she said
"Statue… of secrecy… my arse!"
Harry had dissolved into fits of laughter once more closely followed by Hermione who had collapsed backwards on their bed with her knees tucked into her chest as she laughed.
It had been good to let off some of the stress of the court case that wasn't to be, they had needed a good laugh for a while and both admitted later that the thought hadn't been that funny. For the rest of their lives though the two would have to supress a chuckle whenever they conjured an animal.
-:-
As prefects they were required to spend a bit of time in the Gryffindor common room to make sure the students weren't getting too rowdy, as a result they ended up socialising with a great deal more people than they thought they would, and questions were asked of Harry about his speech at the end of last year.
"Well we've been here nearly a month Harry and so far as I know you haven't made a single training session available to us."
Harry looked up from where his head was resting in Hermione's lap on the couch at Seamus who was the latest to question what was happening. Before he could respond however a deeper voice spoke up, one with a rich aristocratic accent.
"Attacks happen to Potter all the time, he's used to them, he probably trains in his spare time daily, but to the rest of us they're frightening, they're sudden and they're unexpected, and most of us are woefully unprepared."
Harry sat up to the sound of Neville Longbottom's voice as his words carried around the common room, fourth through seventh years were nodding in agreement with the young heir's words.
"But what right do we have to beg him for help when many of us believed what the prophet has been spouting this summer."
Harry felt Hermione perk up at this; they didn't get the Prophet at their home this summer as they had been so frequently involved in discussions with Alastor, Remus and Sirius that they had all the current events squared away. They were far behind the gossip of the prophet and till now it hadn't bothered them. Harry waited patiently and Neville obliged, looking him in the eye now.
"They've been saying you kidnapped her, had an affair, and she escaped on you, they've been saying you're just an attention seeking brat who doesn't know how to shut up when it matters most."
Harry didn't need to ask who 'her' was he knew full well who Neville was talking about and Harry's eyes narrowed. He felt Hermione's hand on his arm and turned to her, eyes blazing in fury. He kidnapped her? Oh the irony was sweet.
"So tell us Harry Potter, are you mad? Are you just an attention seeking little boy? Or is there something actually going on that we need to be aware of, that you need to train us for, because damnit I watched to duel last year, and you're better now, I can feel it in my bones. None of us are going to come out of this alive if we don't band together, if you don't help us."
The common room was deadly silent, here were the words spoken in plain English that many of them had been toying with for weeks: The hinted ultimatum of support or abandonment that Harry teetered on at this knife edge of a crossroads. If he took the wrong path here, if he slipped, it would be his war to fight, his and Hermione's and theirs alone. Harry knew what he had to say.
"Six o'clock tomorrow morning on the Quidditch pitch. Wear clothes you can exercise in."
-:-
The day dawned with a grumble, it was barely light when Harry stepped out onto the pitch, Hermione at his side, the clouds had rolled in overnight and even the dawn itself was struggling to punch through the stormy skies. Scotland was ever a harsh mistress.
Arrayed before them were two dozen Gryffindors, nearly six from each year group evenly fourth through seventh, but some had turned out in greater numbers than others, Fred, George, Alicia and Angelina were the only seventh years, and barring Hermione and Harry only four fifth years remained, but that left nine fourth years, Ginny of course was in Azkaban from that year, and seven sixth years, three muggleborns had lost their lives over the summer from that group.
Harry took a moment to remember those who were no longer with them, Ron, ripped form them so suddenly they barely had time to get their wits about them as he died, dean who had slipped quietly into the night of the World cup, Katie Bell, who had been missing for months was now presumed dead, and Ginny, who had been tossed into insanity by Voldemort's Phantom. He and Hermione had discussed the Diary at great length and had decided that it had been the anchor for Voldemort's spirit when he died; he had probably forged the anchor voluntarily in his quest for immortality. Harry was just happy that he had destroyed the anchor when he had. Judging by what they had learned he had very nearly regained a fully physical form from Ginny's magic.
His thoughts snapped back to the present as Hermione moved forwards separating the students down gender lines. After experiencing first-hand how damaging an overzealous physical routine could be to the female body Hermione was determined to make sure the girls looked after themselves and didn't become fanatical. Harry remembered with a jolt of painful memory how thin Hermione had gotten over the summer before her mother had taken her aside one morning and essentially had an intervention with her daughter. They had worked themselves too hard, even Harry had begun to feel the effects of overworking himself despite his immense physical stamina bolstered by his ability to improve that font of athletic ability with his magic.
They had already been on their run that morning, three laps around the black lake had got them both nicely winded and after a ten minute break to recoup they had made their way out to the Quidditch pitch ready for the first day of training with the Gryffindors. Harry privately hoped he could get the Hufflepuffs and 'Claws in as well but he doubted it, his ties in those houses weren't as strong, though he fully expected Daphne and Tracy to turn up at some point.
He wandered down and greeted the boys, commiserating over the cold morning with them as Hermione finished with her mini-lecture to the girls. As she finished he shuffled backwards a bit to encompass all of them with his words, Hermione tucking in under his arm to ward off the Scottish morning chill.
"This isn't a joke, it's not going to be fun, in fact I think a fair few of you are going to find a few more ways not to like the two of us this morning and in the weeks to come. Remember though, you're not obligated to be here, it's for your own good though so it's worth sticking it out. I remember when I first started running regularly, it was when I was eight and I had to escape my brute of a cousin and his thuggish friends, I learned fast how to pace myself to get distance on those idiots, and that's what we're going to teach you today."
He waved his hand and two lines painted themselves magically in the grass about twenty meters apart. Harry let Hermione speak next.
"This is the most important part of fitness, of fighting really, is knowing how to pace yourself, how to conserve your energy to get the most out of your reserves, magic is no different, but the concept is easier to teach physically. Be warned, the first time you all do this, it's going to suck. It's going to hurt; some of you might throw up. But it's worth it I promise, any other Muggleborns here?"
She scowled when no one raised their hands, another reminder of how bad things had gotten so fast, how could the ministry still be ignoring this?
"Ok I'll have to explain from scratch then. This is what is called a beep drill, the general idea is to last for as long as you can, you'll all line up along the same line facing the other one, when you hear a sharp beeping sound you'll begin moving towards the other line, jogging preferably. When you get there you'll turn around and run back at the sound of the next beep. Traditionally the beeps will speed up and get more difficult to go between, but because few if any of you will have done any real exercise before we're just going to start you off easy with beeps spaced the same amount of time apart. And just so that you don't think we're torturing you Harry and I will run this as well, although only till none of you are remaining, any questions?"
Fred raised his hand and Harry groaned internally, what was the trickster going to come up with now? Curiously though the question was actually serious.
"How does this teach us to pace ourselves exactly? It just sounds like it's going to be horribly boring"
Harry fielded this one
"Because you have a rough idea of how long apart the beeps are going to be, your body will automatically try and make the twenty meter distance in about the time it takes for the next beep to sound, believe it or not it's actually easier to keep a constant running motion going than dashing to each side, stopping, then going back. Once your body is set into a rhythm you'll want to take a note of how it feels to be in a physical rhythm like that and what kind of a state your mind is in. You'll find that you tunnel vision a bit, focusing only on the next beep. Once you've got more practice under your belt we'll start throwing hexes at you and making you block them. After a few weeks you should be at least competent at keeping yourself moving and aware at the same time."
To Harry's astonishment Fred and George both simply nodded before heading over to the line. Most of the students had worn exercise appropriate wear, although Harry already felt sorry for Cormac McLaggen who'd felt he could tough it out in robes.
Harry and Hermione lined up at either end, wanting to be able to observe down the line if anyone in particular as struggling more than normal so they could help them along, or pull them out if they were going to be a danger to others. Harry looked grimly at the other line twenty meters away; he always hated this damn drill. Absently he was aware of Hermione setting up a noisemaker charm in the recesses of their bond, and then, almost without warning, a beep sounded and the whole line surged forwards.
-:-
Never before had Hermione had more appreciation for the gruelling runs she and Harry partook of every morning, even winded after their daily run the two teens were only just breathing heavily when the last of the Gryffindor trainees collapsed to their knees (apparently Fred had much greater physical stamina than George for whatever reason) she watched Harry hoist Neville back to his feet, the poor boy was sweating profusely. Her man's voice rang out sharply over the cold pitch.
"Not bad for a first time, you're all too knackered to do more today, or you should be, same time tomorrow, same place, and Cormac, bring some damn shorts or something you nearly killed yourself today. If you need to have blisters healed and you don't know how come to me or Hermione and we'll give you a hand."
She wove between the Gryffindors who were all in various states of disarray and healed blisters and pulled ligaments wherever she could. She and Harry had quickly learned a host of minor healing charms related to physical overexertion when they had begun seriously exercising, or at least when Hermione had. Harry's feet were like slabs of stone on the bottom of them, covered in callous and scars from where he had run, sometimes barefoot, for kilometres. She hated what had driven him to such lengths but she was proud that it had forged him into a stronger person, not a weaker one.
As the last of the Gryffindors headed back up to the castle she joined Harry as he sat comfortably against the grandstands looking up at the cloudy sky they had been exercising under. She joined him, quietly sitting down in his lap curling up against his ever warm body; seriously he was like a freaking heater. His breath came out in front of him in crystalline plumes of frost and she couldn't help but admire his masculine features from where she was nestled. She fought back a giggle as he suddenly swooped down to tickle her with his stubble; she loved it when he did that. His husky voice shot shivers through her.
"What's on your mind love?"
She looked up at him honestly not knowing how to put her thoughts into words, she wondered at his question too, he could simply have plucked the information from her mind, but then again she appreciated the effort he took to actually talk to her.
"I love you."
The heartfelt admission from her made his lips spread in his easy lopsided smile and he moved close to kiss her sweetly, his whiskers slightly abrasive on her skin.
"I love you too."
The two teens sat there for over an hour as they simply watched the dawn roll in under the cloud layer. The vibrant colours that the clouds were shot through with as the sun began to rise lent a sense of romanticism that was usually lacking in their lives to the scene. Hermione honestly wished they could stay here forever but she knew his legs must be cold against the ground by now and they had a warm shower waiting for them back in their quarters, or maybe...
"C'mon love, let's go inside. I want to take a bath with you and relax in the warmth."
His throaty groan made her grin, yes, this morning had been wonderful.
-:-
The training quickly settled the Gryffindors down and they, much to Harry's approval, got stuck in and gave it their all. Within a week all of them at some time or other had come to him and expressed gratitude at their increased spellcasting ability and raw power, Harry couldn't have been more proud and Hermione right there along with him. The Hufflepuffs joined in towards the end of the first week and never looked back. Harry hoped the Ravenclaws would cotton on, but the house of the studious appeared to be avoiding strenuous activity for the time being.
As Harry had predicted Daphne and Tracy joined the group the day after it's induction and, after a brief argument with Seamus, no one batted an eye at a pair of Slytherins being there, the friendship; they had with Harry, and to a lesser extent Hermione, probably smoothed their way somewhat.
Hermione's birthday was a quiet one, Harry organised a lovely dinner and spent the evening pampering her more then she usually allowed, it had been nice just to let go and relax into his arms and wonderfully talented hands as he massaged scented oils into her aching back and legs from the day's trips around the castle. Later that night they tangled together in a sweet and passionate embrace that saw them up till past midnight and only when Hermione was nearly unconscious with exhaustion did Harry finally let her down from her highs. She slept excellently that night.
Finally on the twenty second Professor Umbridge sent them a note informing them that the Wizengamot had dropped their suite at long last, without need for a hearing, just as they had been promised. Until they read that note and felt the weight of anticipation and dread lift off their shoulders they hadn't known just how heavy it had been weighing on them those past three weeks. Sadly things were not about to get any simpler for them as, mid-way through the week, they were greeted by none other than Alastor in the entrance hall, he took them aside quietly and informed them of over a dozen attacks that had taken place across the country, they had been discovered in a rush that morning as contained magical pulses had alerted the Ministry's sensors.
They looked askance at the retired auror and he obliged them by expanding his statements.
"Sixteen muggle males and sixteen muggle females, all thirty two of them your ages, and couples, were found dead across the country. Carved into their skin were your names over and over, like some kind of sick tattoo. You won't be punished by the law for what happened that night Hermione but the Pureblood agenda has made it quite clear where they stand."
Hermione whimpered and stepped into Harry's embrace as he glared at Alastor with a hard expression, it had taken days for Hermione to overcome her initial burst of guilt at taking those boy's lives, they were going to be in for more long nights ahead. Moody simply shrugged, as If to say: "You needed to know." Harry couldn't disagree with him, though that only made him scowl harder.
"Why thirty two Mad-Eye, do we know?"
Moody shot them a look of sympathy; it was a lot of lives to have, seemingly, on your hands.
"One male and one female for every year of their lives; just be thankful they didn't double that."
Harry nodded stiffly and thanked Alastor for telling them, it didn't really feel like the right thing to do but he had no other words at hand for the situation. He couldn't rightly take his anger out on the old man, not until Christmas anyway when they could duel again.
Carefully he led Hermione over to one of the benches at the sides of the entrance hall and let her sob into his shoulder. It was going to be a long night ahead.
-:-
Neville Longbottom was often thought a dullard, a fool even. Last year he had been enamoured with a madwoman, and frankly it didn't do his case any good. But despite that, despite the dozens of times Snape had made him look the fool, he was perceptive, he was cunning, and above all he was courageous enough to persevere through what had been thrown his way. He remembered arriving at Hogwarts, barely believing in his own magic, overweight, and stumbling; a joke.
Now he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, he had grown of late standing now nearly four inches taller than Harry himself. His baby fat had burned away leaving him lightly muscled and fit. His dark brown hair, before no less than a mop, was now longer and, when tucked behind his ears, looked aristocratic. Finally he looked down at the wand held between his fingers, not the ash and dragon heartstring of his father's wand, no this was holly, fourteen inches with unicorn hair. His Gran had consented to buying him his own wand at long last and it felt perfect in his hand.
He glanced out the window to the Quidditch pitch, easily visible from this vantage, and quietly cursed at the day ahead. Training with Potter… Harry… was… Exhausting really, but he could feel the difference already, where before he was a mediocre, bordering on outright bad, wizard his magic was now humming with potential beneath his skin and spells had never come easier to him. He deftly swished his wand twice and like it was shaved by a fine razor the stubble fell from his cheeks, collected itself and sped into the rubbish bin.
Before the holidays he never would have attempted that spell, for fear that he would slit his own throat, but now it came to him naturally, it was like using his own two hands, he knew what they could do, he had learned everything there was to know about them, and now he could use them with dexterity, although they were often used in less dexterous measures on soil and sod in his gardens. Magic and his wand were like that now and he loved every spell he cast.
Turning his attention back to the day ahead he flicked his mind over his classes, Defence first, as it was Monday, that was always interesting, then transfiguration, Conjuration had come to him surprisingly well, not nearly on Harry's level, let alone Hermione's, but it was much easier than wanded magic for whatever reason. He wondered idly whether it was simply because he was so used to failing with his father's wand.
He had a meeting to attend at Gringotts during the lunch hour so he would have to eat a small repast before leaving. Then after lunch Charms; that was becoming more and more difficult as days went by, he just didn't have the kind of mind required for the tasks professor Flitwick had set them and he was sure he would have to flunk the auxiliary course to keep up with his core studies. No matter, he didn't need charms for his future anyway. Government would be simple, it always was, he needed it to maintain his Wizengamot seat as an untitled member but he had been drilled in the knowledge all his life by his Gran and Uncle, the class therefore was a pushover.
It was, all in all, a fairly normal day, it was a shame Herbology wasn't until later in the week, that was where he really excelled. Oh well, better get down to the pitch for warm ups, Harry won't wait for us when he's already done his morning run, and really, why should he? Affirmed of purpose he quietly left the bathroom, his exercise gear already on.
-:-
The workout was gruelling, Harry had a glint in his eye Neville had seen only rarely and Hermione looked subdued, he wondered what had happened. Though he didn't wonder for long as Harry pushed the forty seven students through a harsh workout that left them all panting for breath at the end of it. Everyone had stopped complaining last week when they really started to see the results of Harry's training on their spellcasting and general health, though many wondered when they would start duelling practise, the unofficial true objective of many of the people there.
Neville flopped to the grass, uncomfortably hot in the cool air and gulped in lung-full after lung-full of the brisk chill to try and steady his racing heart. He really, really hated the beeping sound Hermione's wand made, they had progressed on past the, as Harry called it, 'wussy shite' and had advanced onto the beep drill that muggles did where the interval in which they had to run the twenty meter distance got progressively shorter as time went on. It was maddening, running the distance only to get there and then have to turn around again. Just as Harry had said that first morning they ended up with something like tunnel vision where the next beep and the next line were the only things they concentrated on.
They had been told that when a muggle slipped behind and missed a beep they were removed from the drill, Neville wasn't sure if it was as a shaming exercise or for their health, but either way he probably would prefer it over what Harry and Hermione did to those who fell behind. Stinging jinxes and underpowered+ sorcels followed their feet and rear if one of the runners missed a beep on the first offence, second offence onwards was tallied, every time they missed a beep until the drills topped the number on their bracelet would increase in an increment of ten. That's how many combined crunches and push ups they had to do in a seventy thirty split when the drill was ended.
Poor Pavarti had racked up fifteen beeps one day, they had all felt sympathy for his house mate at the time but now with Harry's respect under her belt Neville thought that she had got rather the better end of the deal when, uncomplainingly she had done her crunches and push ups immediately after the drill. It had taken harry and Hermione pushing magical energy into the exhausted girl to stop her from falling unconscious after that, but there she was, running with that self-satisfied smirk in her warm down laps, Neville wondered if it had been planned.
Every Friday instead of doing forty minutes of the drill instead they did a last man standing drill where there was no time limit and they competed to see who could last the longest. Out of mutual agreement Harry and Hermione sat these drills out and planned the further training they would soon begin giving the other students. Fred and George were the general leaders in this event both of them lasting more an hour each but, true to form; Fred kept his lead and managed to beat his twin each day. Now it was possible to tell them apart sometimes as one would shoot annoyed looks at the other, obviously George sore that he couldn't best his brother.
As he rose to his feet and went for his own warm down laps Neville reflected on the reason they were training at all, why he was at least. Voldemort's minions had attempted to attack his home in the summer, they had failed of course but the town had been levelled, old friends and acquaintances, muggles all of them, slain and butchered in an atypically gory event that had plagued him for weeks with nightmares. Eventually his night terrors had calmed and instead had been born in Neville a desire to strike back, to be ready for them when they came again.
He wouldn't fail his Gran, not again.
-:-
A letter from Dan and Emma came via Hedwig for Harry and Hermione later while they were relaxing after their shower, apparently the Muggle Government had finally dropped the various investigations into the 'terror attacks' that had occurred in the summer. Harry felt sick to his stomach at the memory of the killings and felt Hermione's hand on the naked skin of his shoulder. Her breasts pressing against his back in an intimate manner as she wrapped her other arm around his waist and pressed her cheek against his back. She didn't need to say anything; he knew that she too was still shaken over what had happened on the anniversary of the world cup, on the anniversary of their friend's death. Silently he turned and took her into his arms, holding her naked body against him with a tender care that she brought out in him so often.
"I miss him."
The simple statement from her brought a prickle to Harry's eyes, there was no need to ask who she spoke of, for she had plucked the thought of Ron out of his head after all.
"I do too love, I do too. I could use a bit of his humour right about now, or maybe a game of chess to take my mind off everything that's going on. Ugh, it's so frustrating being locked up in this castle with everything that's going on outside. Look here, Mum says they've had word from Remus and Sirius that Dumbledore is finally breaking through to the Wizengamot. Don't know why those berks couldn't just tell us themselves but there you go, never mind Dumbledore himself."
Her hand stroked the skin of his back firmly and he felt her fingers running over his spine like they were memorizing the shape, as if they hadn't already. He felt a pang of regret run through her and prodded at the emotion, asking her silently to elaborate.
"We don't fight."
Harry pulled back slightly to look at her with a bemused expression.
"Why on earth is that a bad thing?"
She smiled against his chest before replying, he could feel her lips curl.
"Because there's no making up afterwards if there's no fight to make up about."
Harry groaned and pressed his forehead into the crook of her neck as she continued.
"It would be such good stress relief to just have a good yell at someone you know? Usually the boyfriend is the target but you're just too damn good at knowing how to make me happy."
He had no idea where this was coming from; it was almost as though she was disappointed about all of this, about their bond. He realized immediately that thinking about such things was futile though because…
"I don't regret anything about us Harry, I love you."
She took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her.
"Just because this relationship is seven shades of unconventional doesn't mean that I don't cherish it. Consider that my parents and I would probably be dead if not for you, you'd be at Privet Drive having the stuffing knocked out of you again and you'd be all alone with no one around to look after you. This." She put her hand on his heart "Is the only thing I need to keep me happy Harry, as long as this keeps beating and you remain you, I'm a happy girl, now kiss me you great lump."
He'd be a fool to refuse her such a delightful request.
-:-
Defence class felt a bit grim as they entered the slightly darkened room and took their usual seats, Harry noted that the blinds had been closed and Professor Umbridge was, for once, standing when they entered. Her back was to the class and she was wearing her long coat, her gaze was seemingly locked on the covered cage that Harry had noticed the first time he had walked into the class. It was rattling.
Harry shot Hermione a look and they reaffirmed their connection, ready to blend at a moment's notice, whatever this was they would have their wits about them. Professor Umbridge, while having so far been an academic teacher, was someone they did not doubt would give hands on instruction. When the last of the six students had been seated (Seamus) Professor Umbridge turned to the class and spoke in her disconcertingly childish tones.
"In our most lessons thus far we have been discussing how to identify and dispatch various forms of lesser undead. Wraiths and Phantoms are far too dangerous to allow into a school, and to banish Ghosts and Poltergeists is rather distasteful. Inferi and skeletons are banned by the ministry and for good reason and Draugr and Mummies are impossible to import. How then do I give you hand on instruction in dealing with minor undead? The answer of course was right under our noses the whole time."
With a snappy wave of her wand the cover over the cage was yanked to the ground and the pale faced young woman within lashed out at the bars with her hands hissing angrily.
"This is a vampire. You know about them, have studied them in depth for several days, they are extraordinarily common and are of course, dead. Their hearts no longer beat and their bodies decay without the infusion of magical energy, or as most vampires choose it, blood. But you've never seen one before, I should hope, and I'll wager you've never killed one; fortunately."
She waved her wand again and five more cages at the back of the class lost their covers.
"I have one for each of you."
-:-
Hermione looked at the young woman in the cage with a hint of trepidation, she could feel Harry's heart thudding in his chest through their link and she knew he too was equal parts inquisitive and nervous. It was hard to apply what she knew to the young woman, no the vampire, in the cage. Academically speaking she knew that vampires were dead, she knew that they carried no knowledge of their former selves and existed purely as predators that hunted on the living, much in the same way that a hawk hunted mice and rabbits.
Visibly though there was nothing to separate this vampire from any human being, she was wearing robes not unlike Hermione's own and had midnight black hair, not unlike Harry's. Her face was a mix of Asian and Caucasian. What allowed her to separate this… vampire, from the young woman she appeared to be were three things, firstly her eyes were a deep vivid red. Her behaviour suggested something inhuman, and her teeth, when she showed them, were needle thin and filled her mouth like those of a shark's. Truly Hermione didn't know in that moment if vampires drank blood or devoured flesh.
As if she had read Hermione's mind Professor Umbridge spoke
"Notice the teeth, they are hollow and are capable of draining the human body of blood in about thirty seconds, two seconds of suction will cause the victim to become light headed, especially if the bite is in the neck. Ten seconds and the victim will suffer motor loss, fifteen seconds and unconsciousness will occur. At that point unless you are rescued by another you are as good as dead.
The sole difference between vampires and ghouls is their diet. Vampires are at least somewhat human, able to blend in with the crowds during the night. Ghouls have given themselves in completely to their predatory side and feast upon the flesh of their victims. The result is a much more debased creature that is somewhat more feral. They are impossible to capture as they begin to eat their own bodies when starved."
Hermione felt in that moment that that information was totally unnecessary.
"You do not have to kill your vampire today, or ever. Those who you do not kill today I will personally dispose of later. This is voluntary, but it is an important learning experience. Do I have a volunteer for the first one?"
She spat the last two words, and Hermione noted a touch of vitriol in her voice, almost as if she had some kind of personal reason for hating the creatures. The class was silent for exactly a second before Harry stood up. Hermione couldn't help but smile at the look on his face; it was determined, and frankly a little sexy. It was an unspoken rule of the wizarding world that witches naturally found power sexy. Hermione couldn't help it, Harry couldn't help it; he was just a powerhouse of magic and personality. No wonder Ginny had been so obsessed with him.
She watched calmly as he walked down the steps of the lecture hall like class and stood before the professor on the stage. He didn't even look at the vampire. A thought struck Hermione
"What laws surround the killing of vampires professor?"
Umbridge looked at her sharply
"There is a hundred galleon bounty on each of their heads placed by the ICW over a hundred years ago."
Hermione was a little stunned, the universal order to slaughter a magical creature, even an undead, wasn't to be lightly thrown about. Hermione couldn't help but wonder where she had procured enough vampires for the whole of fifth year to make a kill.
"Are we going to be getting that money today?"
She glanced at Seamus who had a slightly eager look in his eyes that made Hermione feel faintly sick.
"No, the money will be donated to the school, I didn't want there to be a reward for you killing these creatures today, you're young and the allure of gold is strong, it is very easy to become addicted to earning it in such a fashion and I do not wish that for any of you."
Hermione looked at her Professor with a new level of respect, it was an extremely muggle attitude to care for the wellbeing of students in such a fashion.
"Do you know what you have to do Potter?"
Hermione's eyes snapped to her bond mate as he spoke
"Decapitation, removal of the heart, wooden stake through the heart, exsanguination"
The short list rattled from him so quickly if Hermione hadn't been waiting for it she would have missed it. She reflected on his manner, he was almost business like. Carefully she wandered into Harry's mind and observed the separation he had made from his emotions, nervousness, fear, and anxiety, all of it was pushed aside. She envied him slightly for his mental strength in that moment; she doubted she would be that composed when the time came.
"Quite right Mr Potter, do you have a preferred method?"
"Decapitation ma'am"
"Understood, I'll raise wards around the stage and open the cage, you're completely safe if I think you can't handle it I'll stun the creature and you can either have another shot or I'll deal with it later, understood?"
Harry nodded once and for the first time Hermione felt worried for him, safe, certainly, but what would this do to his already fragile control of his guilt? When it mattered Harry was an iron wall of controlled emotions, but later he could be a wreck.
In the end she needn't have worried, like most things apparently Harry excelled at killing vampires.
-:-
Harry's wand was held in his hand by his side in the usual duelling posture that he adopted, the point slightly off to the side so that he could move into any number of sorcels or spells immediately. He checked his breathing and noted that it was steady, good, his heartbeat was fine, his muscles were relaxed and ready. Carefully he swept his foot in a quarter circle in front of him, looking for irregularities in the woodwork, satisfied he nodded to the Professor, then the front of the cage slammed down.
He barely had time to move as the vampire launched forward, it was nearly faster than he could track, but Harry was a seeker. Keeping an eye on fast moving objects was second nature to him. The vampire moved deceptively gracefully and was near perfectly balanced, Harry wondered blithely if, like Voldemort and Dumbledore, vampires existed in a faster frame of being than everyone else. Fortunately Harry knew from experience that entities that moved faster than normal and reacted quicker than normal often found it difficult to accept that they had screwed up and their minds ignored threats that a normal person would evade.
His wand snapped up and a cutting curse left the tip with blinding speed as he darted to the side. His aim was true and a sickening thud and roll echoed around the room as the vampire's headless body hit the woodwork and its head rolled to a stop. Professor Umbridge vanished the body and the head, to parts unknown, and looked at him keenly before gesturing him back to his seat. When he finally looked up at the class he was amused to see awed expressions on most of their faces, he had apparently made it look easy.
-:-
Hermione gripped Harry's hand tightly for a second as he sat down and, wordlessly, she stood and made her way forwards even as another cage was drawn forwards. Hermione's victim was another female, this one was a tanned brown that Hermione imagine probably hid the unnatural paleness typical of vampires. The fact that the creature's skin was tanned probably meant it was fresh; it hadn't had time to bleach from lack of sun.
Professor Umbridge merely stood aside as Hermione mounted the stage. Hermione found it a bit odd that she hadn't done the same routine with her that she did Harry until she realized that she had in a way, knowing that they were bonded. As a note of politeness Hermione spoke clearly as she ascended the steps.
"Decapitation"
After watching how fast Harry's vampire moved she knew her strategy, bait it straight into her, then lop its head off, nice and simple. She stood her ground and nodded once, her wand already moving.
-:-
Harry watched with pride as Hermione's target rushed forwards only to fall backwards from the force of Hermione's spell, its head clanging noisily against the back of the cage before dropping to the floor.
No words were spoken, as Hermione returned to her seat and, of all people, Pavarti strode forwards next. There was a short discussion where Harry guessed Professor Umbridge was making sure Pavarti knew what she was doing before the girl strode up onto the stage and, to Harry's amusement, conjured a wooden stake from the air into her hand. It was an impressive bit of magic that Harry had to imagine she had practised before.
The third vampire didn't seem at all wary of the obvious trap and Harry had to wonder exactly how old these vampires were; they rushed blindly forwards, had no strategy, didn't talk and their eyes were betraying their hunger. They were acting like they had only been turned hours ago.
Pavarti's target rushed forwards like his brethren had, this one a swarthy male, and Harry watched, somewhat impressed, as Pavarti moved forwards and her hand came up, burying the foot long stake to the hilt under the undead creature's ribs. She moved through the creature, using its momentum to knock it behind her as she ducked under its arm, the move looked suspiciously practised. Umbridge seemed to agree and they had a short conversation before Pavarti returned to her seat. Harry had to admit that in the last few weeks she had grown into a person he could respect.
He wasn't really attracted to her, the bond comfortably prevented that from happening, rather he was impressed with her drive and spirit, she would be one of the people he approached to be squad leaders when they really started training and, after conferring with Hermione quickly, he confirmed that she would be given the chance to become a closer friend, not on the level Fleur had been, other than Hermione he wouldn't ever trust someone that deeply again, rather she might be able to fill Ron's gigantic shoes.
Neville took the stage next and went the route of Harry and Hermione, calmly cutting the creature's head off as it charged forwards, although he used a sword that Harry often saw strapped to his under his robes. It was a typical British weapon, simple and utilitarian and Harry had wondered if it was the Longbottom family weapon or simply Neville's own.
Seamus surprised everyone by blowing a whole in his vampire's chest with a blasting hex, Lavender did the same thing. Although it took her two attempts as the first time the vampire had swayed out of the way of her attack seemingly at random because of its gait. She hadn't been able to get a second shot off before it had leapt at her, before being stunned mid-air and thrown backwards by the Professor.
As they left the class Harry couldn't help but reflect on the lesson, six fresh vampires, one for each of them to kill. Such a simple premise but loaded with so many hidden secrets; like where had the Professor procured such obviously fresh vampires? Where were the ones for the other classes being stored? Did she expect them to do this again? The questions whirled through both teens' heads as they headed to Transfiguration. At least the class was never dull.
-:-
Victoria Umbridge sat heavily at her desk. It was always hard to watch someone take their first kill in cold blood, and to see six youngsters so casually slaughter six mostly defenceless, although still threatening, creatures was a bit boggling. That said she had in fact drilled into them that these creatures were just that, creatures, and it helped that she had got the vampires so fresh, they were more animalistic in that state.
The world tilted as she rested her head against the backrest of her high chair, her boots crossed in front of her and her jacket on the back of her seat. She wondered how she was going to convince them that not all undead were so mindless. It was the most difficult part of this topic, switching from lesser to greater undead. They had all the groundwork and knowledge she could give them in a short time about the lesse3r undead, but greater undead were a completely different ballgame. Ghouls, vampires, wraiths, phantoms, even ghosts and poltergeists, and especially mummies and Draugr, were noticeably unintelligent, only having the least of minds. Though Ghosts and Poltergeists with enough magic around them could subvert this, much like the Hogwarts residents.
Revenants, Litches, Nosferatu and Wights were some of the most cunning, intelligent and magically powerful creatures on the planet. She hoped she could get through to them. Growling under her breath she shuffled some paper around until she found the letter that had been sent to her that week from her department in the ministry. The attacks on the muggles over the summer were confirmed as skeletons, though they were physically altered in some way. Further down she reread the passage that had caused her so much consternation
'The detection cylinders have also given us a positive reading of a Nosferatu on British soil, we will need your expertise to put it down when it shows its face.'
A Nosferatu was the last thing they needed, especially out of the blue like this, usually they heard about one trying to get to Britain via the underground channels that they kept an eye on. But having one suddenly appear out of nowhere was startling, especially as the dozen or so known Nosferatu were still in slumber in various parts of the world, this was a new player to the game, either young, strong and newly created, or old, cunning and powerful enough to stay under the radar for two thousand five hundred years. Throwing the letter down in disgust the Unspeakable stood and walked over to the side room she had asked for with the job, on the tables were the six destroyed vampires, 'killing' them was such an awkward term, did they have life? Did they not have life? Did ending their un-life count as 'killing' them? It was so confusing, and so much easier to refer to them as objects to be destroyed or terminated.
She looked over the six new specimens she had for her dissection table, fresh vampire corpses were hard to come by and these cadavers would be welcome additions to her knowledge. She shrugged on a long white lab coat. The muggles were so ingenious sometimes; creating such a simple garment to protect one's clothes in distasteful situations was a godsend. Approaching the first cadaver, the one Potter had dispatched, dispatched… yes that was a good word for it, she activated a recording rune on the table and began speaking as she examined the body.
"Date; twenty two, nine, nineteen ninety six, time; ten oh five and five seconds, Unspeakable Victoria Umbridge performing autopsy on vampire cadaver code nine, nine, six, two, 'V'. Subject eighty nine thousand and four, specimen code HSWWV0001 is a healthy fresh vampire cadaver of three hours age, date and time of vampirism: twenty two, nine, nineteen ninety six , at oh six forty two, forty four seconds. Date and time of final termination twenty two, nine, nineteen ninety six, at oh nine forty, fifty two seconds. Subject is Caucasian Asian blended female, age unknown estimated late twenties, black hair, height one, five, five centimetres, weight one, six, two pounds else eight, one kilograms. Cause of termination: single cutting curse to the throat, clean decapitation, no fraying, angle parallel with shoulders, no curse burns, terminating party Harry James Potter age fifteen.
Subject exhibited feral tendencies before death, expected and normal, eyes still displaying blood lust even in death, though that should fade within ten to twenty minutes. Hands feet and upper extremities pale even for a vampire and chest is a mottled black, typical signs of blood poisoning in the cadaver, subject was not completely exsanguinated when inflicted with vampirism. Teeth intact numbering…" She cast a spell at this point which displayed a number in the air, "Four hundred and nine, odd number noted, typical with results of fresh vampire before feeding. 'Newbie' tooth still present, attempting to extract… extraction successful tooth one, four millimetres long with no feeding channel, atypical shape but not outside bounds of understood nature."
Her wand came up again and sliced a clean channel from the vampire cadaver's sternum to her groin, with a grimace Victoria spread the creature's skin and flesh giving her access to the creature's innards.
"Internal organs intact and healthy, decomposition has yet to begin although the blood poisoning has ruined the heart lungs and stomach. All three organs are riddled with rot holes. No other items of note, ending recording."
Victoria waved her wand once more and the cadaver was vanished to a transition cube, a tiny glass cube about four centimetres on each edge meant to hold shrunken organic entities for long distance transport. The vampire cadaver hadn't shown any unusual signs except for the remarkably clean decapitation, Potter's spells really were a marvel of control, usually in a first time kill the wound was rather jagged. She hoped the other cadavers would have some answers for her. Answers as to why her glamours had failed, answers as to why her magic, after all this time, was beginning to leave her.
-:-
AN3: Welp, that took a long ass time to write. I actually struggled, it's been difficult to write these early chapters that don't have much going on, hopefully things will get easier with the next chapter, or at least after it, when things start to pick up. Sorry for the wait.
AN4: Review responses
Vegasman: Right? Couldn't let that happen, I like London.
Anotherboarduser: Cheers! Hope you like this one just as much
Pairingmatters: That awkward moment when Snape was worse than Umbridge in canon anyway.
Beyondthesea: Sorry, dumbles will be around a while yet, though I do have an end in store for him… eventually. Also, oh look, undead. *grin*
Shadowdragon: *Blinks* *Blinks* *Blinks* that… that is a long ass review. *Cracks knuckles* *Winces* Let's do this
Fleur is a Nosferatu, Voldemort even said so at the end of the first instalment
Harry has super mixed feelings about Fleur, on the one hand it was just one more person the Potter family thought was a friend who betrayed them, that will stay with him for the rest of his life. On the other hand, unlike Peter, this was very much out of her control… let's just say I've tried to get my head around how I would deal with that and I absolutely can't, never mind the emotional trauma that I didn't experience along with it.
Eh, I get that elemental stuff can be helpful in some situations, like Inferi for example, but why waste time learning fire elemental magic when an incendio works just the same? Idk. Also, yeah they can be a surprise, and I guess that's helpful so yeah okay, maybe they learn some? But it won't be any kind of core study.
No rail guns. *puts foot down* not happening, firstly, where on earth would harry have the concept for such a thing in nineteen ninety six? Secondly the amount of energy required to do something like that is the same as if you would do it with your own body. Harry would kill himself trying to achieve that.
I'm still looking for a good name for Harry's Critters, can someone come up with something? Also I hope my solution to the situation suits, if it doesn't… well tough. As for more advanced creatures like cats etc., maybe, probably, almost certainly, but not yet, he's just learning the trade he isn't ready for something like that, remember that insects are rather easy to imitate because their skeletal (Or I suppose exoskeletal) structure is so simple, mammals are much, much harder, you go ahead and try to make a cat or dog skeleton out of metal and have it articulate properly. Also, amusingly canon already has a precedent for this, decoy detonators, you can expect similar shenanigans.
Also, you're welcome, I do in fact respond to every review that isn't just some idiot saying 'you suck' fortunately I don't get many of those and they're all guest reviews. But do try and be succinct, I don't mind replying to these but they do take up room on the page and not everyone is tolerant of my gigantic author's notes at the bottom of the page.
IcySneasel: Excellent, thanks for your review.
Alright folks that's it for another one. I honestly can't say when the next update will happen I've been feeling less and less inspired to write lately, idk why and it's frustrating because I write for a living as well. So yeah, *fun*, anyhoo thanks for reading and other shenanigans stay tuned for: Chapter Seven: Terror and Wounds, whereupon horrible things start happening with even greater frequency and the small training group becomes a fully-fledged militia, finally we get a deeper insight into Harry's mental and physical state after the abuse that has been heaped on him over the years. See you next time!
LGreymark