A/N: I own nothing
A/N2: Thanks to my beta, .Grey13, for taking some time off his schedule to read through the draft.
SEVENTEEN
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland
For an afternoon in the middle of September in Scotland, it was an unusually hot day.
The sun shone as if it was aware that tomorrow it would be covered by the clouds that promised the cold spell that Harry and Hermione, as well as everyone who spent more than a year of their life in Hogwarts, knew very well.
Harry and Hermione stood inside the Quidditch pitch, they held each other's hand, while Harry held a sports jacket on his left and Hermione held her own at her right. Needless to say, both Harry and Hermione were disappointed that they were forced to remove their jackets, for they were planning on surprising everyone with their matching jackets.
Beside them, stood Professor McGonagall, and from the expression on her face, it was clear that she was far from amused at being made to wait at a location exposed to an unusually hot sun in the middle of the day.
Dumbledore, as Headmaster, stood a bit away from the group, but still within earshot. Beside the Headmaster stood the Potions Master, Professor Snape. As usual, the potions master was wore his usual scowl.
Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick stood nearer, but to the opposite the side that the Headmaster had chosen. Both Harry and Hermione were pleased to note that Umbridge had positioned herself away from anyone.
Hermione gently nudged her husband when she had spotted the toad enter the pitch, forcing Harry to follow her not-so-subtle gaze. The Duke and Duchess watched as the toad stood away from the three groups, but casting occasional glances towards the direction of Professor Flitwick. Obviously, the toad had learned her lesson.
Students from the four houses occupied the seats at the stadium. Although this was not an official event, word had somehow spread that the mysterious bodyguards of Harry Potter and his new wife are coming to Hogwarts and everyone wanted to see them for themselves.
Rumors were already rife, especially among those who believed the ministry's opinion that Harry's bodyguards are nothing more but the core of the army that he is building to take over the ministry. Unfortunately, no one would comment on that, even if technically, it was the truth.
"He sure is taking his time isn't he?" Professor Snape commented after a few minutes of watching the pitch.
Harry glared at the potions master, but he did not glare at the said man for long because the moment that his wife realized that he was glaring at the most hated professor in the entire castle, she gently slapped his arm, forcing him to turn his attention to her, and then back at the pitch.
At that exact moment, those with very good sense of hearing heard something that they had never heard before near Hogwarts.
For the muggle-born and half-blood students, they were familiar with the sound, though they did not really believed that they would hear those sounds near Hogwarts.
For the purebloods, they had no idea what that sound was.
"Well that explains why he took his time" Hermione commented when everyone in the pitch can already hear the approaching sound.
Harry nodded, he turned to his wife and smiled, "I told you he wanted to make an entrance" he said.
Hermione was forced to concede that and nodded.
Two minutes later, the pureblood students of Hogwarts, and almost all of the muggle-born and half-blood students, were treated to a sight they never expected to see, or at least, not in Hogwarts.
Four AH-7 Lynx helicopters, two of them, Harry and Hermione saw, were armed with anti-tank missiles, and four SA330 Puma helicopters appeared on the skies over the Quidditch pitch.
The four Puma helicopters landed first, their pilots executed a perfect four ship short landing roll, their side doors opening at the same time. Each helicopter unloaded twelve fully armed men, all wearing battle dress. The helicopters from where the men had dismounted did not stay in the ground for long, as soon as their dismounts had left the cabin; their pilots executed a perfect four ship short take-off roll and took positions slightly away from the pitch, but within firing distance.
From his vantage point, Harry was able to easily discern the features of Al York. It also helped that at the moment that the helicopters had left the pitch, the battle wizard had made his way towards where he had earlier spotted Harry and Hermione.
As Al was walking towards their location, Harry and Hermione studied the head of the Potter family bodyguards. Al was wearing the same battle dress as his men, though in his case, he was also wearing a boonie hat with a camouflage pattern matching those of his battle dress.
Harry and Hermione also both noted that Al was wearing his usual P226 sidearm at his right side, and had a P-90 sub-machinegun strapped over his torso.
Harry turned his attention towards the rest of the men that had accompanied Al and he nearly hit himself when he realized that all of the forty eight men that had accompanied Al for what was supposed to be only a visit were all fully armed, most with the same P-90 sub-machinegun as Al, but with two or three men sporting their heavier Minimi general purpose machineguns.
When Al reached the spot where Harry and Hermione were waiting, he did not wait for Harry, Hermione, or anyone else, to greet him. Instead, he removed his hat, made a show of studying the gathered crowd, and then turned towards Harry and Hermione and smiled, "Quite a turnout you have here, my lord" he commented dryly.
Harry nodded. The Duke of Gryffindor automatically assumed his business posture and replied, "I imagine that this is what you had wanted when you selected to make use of attack and tactical helicopters to make your entrance."
Al smiled, "Perhaps" he conceded and turned his attention towards Hermione, inclining his head towards her, greeting her with, "My Lady".
"Hello Al" Hermione replied, gracing the battle wizard with a smile, "Always full of surprises" her smile grew broader as she continued; "it is good to see you again".
"Likewise, my lady" he replied, he again inclined his head towards her and then turned his attention back towards Harry, "By your leave, my lord, I would like to signal the Puma's to return to base, and have the Lynx helicopters land".
"You are not leaving those muggle contraptions in this school!" an enraged voice from behind the staff said.
Everyone turned towards the source of the voice and was unsurprised to see Dolores Umbridge walking, much like a toad, towards the party. She made a move to draw her wand but, unfortunately for her, Al was faster and had already drawn his sidearm, had already pulled the hammer, turned the safety off, had chambered a round, and had already set the toad at his sights by the time that the Senior Undersecretary had removed her wand from within her robes.
Al, however, was not the only one who had aimed their weapons. The forty seven other men that had accompanied Al had formed a firing line and, as one, they had their P-90's aimed at the toad. Harry imagined that Umbridge only had to twitch the wrong way before the men let loose with everything they had.
"Are you the toad that I am replacing?" Al suddenly asked.
The effect on Umbrdige was exactly as Al had hoped. Having been informed that the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister had a temper but no skills to match, Al had resolved to get to her bad side as soon as possible.
The Battle Wizard had two purposes in doing this, the first was to show to the assembled Hogwarts staff that he was a much better alternative to the toad, and second, to show to the toad that she was nothing more but a bully who cannot even back up her claims.
"I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, you insolent mudblood, I would not have you insulting me" Umbrdige replied.
A shocked silence followed the statement of the Senior Undersecretary, with the many students of Hogwarts looking at her, a few openly expressing their shock at her for using the tabooed word. Al, however, merely looked at her and sighed.
The battle wizard used his peripheral vision and caught sight of the two youngest Weasleys, both of whom cringed when they realized that Al had set his gaze upon them, though Ginny cringed more.
The reaction of the youngest and only Weasley female actually brought a smile to Al's face, though he quickly wiped off this smile as he looked at Umbridge, "Why doesn't anybody realize that I am a pureblood who can trace his bloodline back to the time of Merlin?" he asked, it was obviously a rhetorical question since he did not wait for anyone to answer this.
Even if he had waited for someone, however, there would still be no answer.
Al then stared at Umbridge, the power behind his eyes visible for all to see as they actually flared around him, and said, "As the Weasley family has recently learned, the insult that you had perpetrated upon my person would be more than enough for me to claim your life, or anything else for that matter" he made a show of looking at her before he continued in a disgusted tone, "You have nothing I want, at least the youngest Weasley is attractive, you, on the other hand, well, let's just leave it at that".
Umbridge was speechless, because even a toad like her knew when she was being confronted by someone who was far more powerful than her. After Al had spoken, however, the toad-witch was back in the game.
"How dare you!" the senior undersecretary said.
"I would dare whenever I want" Al replied, he again fixed the toad his powerful gaze, and this time, Umbridge visibly faltered, "I would, however, give you a chance to prove me wrong, duel me here and now in front of all these witnesses, and if you can even land a curse at me, then I would gladly step away from the castle".
That was the proper incentive, and soon, Dolores Umbridge was falling over herself in an attempt to accept the proposal.
While all the attention was focused on Al, Harry used the momentary shifting of attention from him to cast a quick glance at the Headmaster, and the Duke of Gryffindor confirmed that the Headmaster was actually rooting out for Umbridge, though Harry supposed that that was to be expected since Dumbledore would not want Al, or any of his men, inside the castle.
Five minutes later, Dolores Umbridge and Alvin York were facing each other in a dueling arena that was conjured in the middle of the pitch. Between the two of them, there was a ten feet distance, which was the maximum range of most spells.
"The rules of this duel are as follows" Professor Dumbledore, acting as the adjudicator, said, "The duel ends when one of the participants is down, has surrendered, or is otherwise incapacitated. Neither serious dark spells with the aim to seriously harm the other party, nor unforgivables, are allowed."
Al acknowledged the rules with a slight inclination of his head towards the Headmaster, though his attention never left the witch in front of him. The more experienced wizard knew that he could easily win this duel, he could even do it without having to pull out his wand.
For her part, Umbridge knew that she was screwed. In her mind, she knew that she could win a duel if it was against a half-blood or a muggle-born, but having been informed that the wizard that she is now facing is not only a pureblood, but also a pureblood who can trace his blood to the great Merlin, she knew she was screwed.
She needed an equalizer.
"The duel begins at the count of three, one….two…."
And the equalizer that she chose was to jump the count. Umbridge leveled her wand and sent two quick stunners towards her adversary. She was hoping that the stunners would end the duel even before it began, but she seriously miscalculated the background of one Alvin York.
"You may be a great toad, having mastered reverse animagus transformation, but I guess that you still do not know how to count" Al said as he easily evaded both stunner using deft footwork.
For the next few moments, the entire assembled crowd was stunned as Al easily evaded every single stunner that the Senior Undersecretary was sending him, until Harry broke the silence by asking Al, "What are you doing Al?"
"Forgive me, Your Grace" Al replied as he continued to evade the spells being sent against him, "The headmaster said that the duel should start after he counts to three, unless I miss my guess, he still hasn't said so".
Harry and Hermione looked knowingly at one another and smiled, though in the case of Harry, the smile came with a rolling of his eyes as he wordlessly conveyed to his wife that Al was showing off.
Dumbledore, having been pressured by Flitwick and McGonagall, finally said "Three" and the duel was over even before the headmaster had closed his mouth.
Upon hearing the number that was to signal the start of the duel, Al sent eleven stunners straight at Umbridge, only, he did not use his wand, and not one of the stunners came from his direction, rather, they dropped down from the skies like lightning bolts.
Umbridge managed to evade a great many of them, but that was all according to the plan of Al. Since she was busy evading said lightning bolts, she did not notice it, and indeed, no one did, when the lightning bolts of stunners confined her to a small space.
Once she was confined to said space, the eleventh and final lightning bolt struck true, taking down the toad. From the time that the headmaster had pronounced the final number to the taking down of Umbridge, barely five seconds had passed.
Slowly, the cheering started. Most of the audience was still too stunned by the implied declaration of Al that he would not fire unless the duel has officially started, so they were taken aback when they realized that the duel had already ended. The applause was certainly louder than the one that Umbridge had received after her welcoming remarks to the students though.
Al jumped down from the dueling arena, leaving his stunned opponent behind. With a pleasant smile on his face, he walked over to the Headmaster and asked, "I trust that that is a good enough job interview?"
Not many people could claim that they have ever seen Albus Dumbledore shocked. In the more than one hundred years that Albus Dumbledore had been alive, there was perhaps less than two dozen of them, but after the duel between Al and Umbridge, however, close to a thousand students and professors could now claim to be in that number.
"Excellently done, Mr. York" Professor McGonagall commented loudly, she turned towards her now former colleague and said, "I am sure that even the Ministry would not endorse a failure like Dolores Umbridge now that we have a much more qualified person to teach DADA".
Al allowed himself a smile as he made a show of looking at the assembled crowd before him, most of whom were still applauding his victory, and then he turned his gaze back towards Professor McGonagall, and his tone of voice took a more serious tone, "While I am more than honored to accept the DADA professor position, Professor, I am afraid that the first reason that I am at Hogwarts should take priority".
"I concur" Dumbledore suddenly said. The Headmaster was aware that the students were going to support Al, so he hastily added, "I think that we should have this conversation in my office".
"Much obliged, Headmaster" Al replied with a smile.
A few minutes later found Harry, Hermione, the rest of the Hogwarts senior staff, Al, and a member of his entourage that Harry recognized as his nominal aide, a German by the name of Hans Reingroffer, found themselves sequestered from the rest of the school inside the Headmaster's office.
Al had left four of his men to the front entrance of the office to better secure the facility, while two more were positioned just outside the door to the office proper. The rest of the contingent was already at work setting up their camp, for Al had pointedly refused to have his men bedded in the castle. His excuse of 'it might set off the students' was accepted by everyone, though Harry and Hermione recognized that this was a coded message that basically stated that Al wanted his men close to the back-up team of Hector at the bottom of the Black Lake.
Needless to say, Dumbledore was pleased that Al had insisted on having his men outside, the Headmaster thought that that would allow him to continue with his plans without interruption.
The Headmaster was not happy with the arrival of Alvin York and his men, he was far from pleased by their method of arrival, and he was irritated that Alvin York was now the DADA professor, but he was willing to take all of that in stride if he could separate Harry from his obviously protective bodyguards.
"Tell me where you intend to set up your camp, Professor York" Dumbledore said as soon as Al had made it clear that he and his men were building a camp.
"Near Greenhouse Eleven, which we have requisitioned" Al replied easily. The battle wizard noted the shocked expression on the face of Dumbledore and Professor Sprout, though the shocked expression on the face of the Herbology Professor was quickly cleared when she realized that no one had used said greenhouse for years.
Al nodded and continued when no one thought to interrupt him, "We are transforming Greenhouse Eleven into an exercise facility of sorts" he attempted to explain, he smiled as he added, "Most of my men are more intimate with their rifles and sidearm than with their wands, and a great many of my men that I left behind at headquarters are non-magical" he smiled, "I intend to turn said greenhouse into an indoor firing range and a dueling arena for wizard duels"
"Surely the sounds of the guns firing would wake the children and disturb our classes" Dumbledore attempted to comment, he looked at Al and said, "I cannot allow this".
Al actually smiled, "It actually does not matter whether or not you allow it to happen, Headmaster" he replied, he inclined his head towards Harry, "The Duke of Gryffindor" and then he inclined his head towards Hermione, "and his spouse, have already given their provisional nod of the head, the conversion has already began"
"This is an outrage, this is not a military facility, this is a school" Dumbledore replied.
"And you are either an idiot or have chosen to ignore realities, which would still make you an idiot" Al replied, shocking everyone in the room. Now that the attention of everyone was on him, he continued, "Hogwarts is a castle, and we are at war, this might not be a military facility right now, but if I have to bring in a division of engineers and soldiers to turn it into one, that is what I would do" he looked at Harry, who nodded.
Realizing that he would be outmaneuvered anyway, Dumbledore finally surrendered the fight. He was, however, not yet out of the war.
"I have no objections over you being the DADA professor" he continued, "but I cannot have you as head of Harry's bodyguards at the same time, this would reek of favoritism".
Al again laughed, "This worries you because…?" he began.
"Students would cry 'unfair' at the top of their lungs" Dumbledore replied. He actually sounded shocked that the battle wizard in front of him did not make the connection.
Al laughed, he glanced at a seriously angry Snape, who somehow had managed to keep his tongue inside his mouth, and then laughed again before turning his attention back towards Dumbledore, "Headmaster" he began, he controlled himself and then sighed, "The best way is to announce to the student population that I am biased when it comes to Lord Harry, Lady Hermione and their friends" he smiled, "It is actually a good thing that they are the only ones that I am biased for, unlike a certain someone who is biased for an entire house".
Snape attempted to reach for his wand, but before he could do so, he suddenly found himself staring at the business end of two SiG-Sauer P226 9mm. Handguns, one held by Al and the other by his aide, "Do not think" Al began, his voice had strangely taken a more dangerous tone, "that I am unaware of the part that you played in the fall of Voldemort, do not think that I am unaware of the part that you played in the sacrifice of Lord James and Lady Lily".
Snape stared at the younger man in front of him, the potions master clearly wanted to grab his wand and blast Al into oblivion, but the combined factors of being face-to-face, literally, with a handgun, and the obvious power that was being reflected in the glowing eyes of Al had effectively neutered the Potions Master.
Snape continued to glare towards Al, but he eventually sat down. Al and his aide kept their sidearm pointed at him for a few moments after he sat down, but then returned them to their shoulder holsters a few moments later.
"As I was saying, Headmaster" Al continued, he again turned his attention towards Dumbledore, "I have no intention of hiding my blatant favoritism" he sighed and added, "Given the wording of the prophecy that your Divination Professor has given you that night fifteen years ago, I would have expected that a little favoritism may be in order".
Harry and Hermione watched as their Headmaster visibly paled as he realized that Harry was now aware of the prophecy. The aged Headmaster of Hogwarts mentally cursed himself for letting his guard down, but at that moment, there was nothing that he could do, he would have to retreat for now and try to find the best way to get Harry back into his fold.
"As such" Al continued, this time, he turned towards the Deputy Headmistress and the Head of Gryffindor House, "Lord Harry, Lady Hermione, and anyone else that they deemed worthy, would be joining me and my men for morning exercises, and I have promised your father, my Lady" at this, he inclined his head towards Hermione, "that you would at least be capable of holding a FAL when you go home for the Yule holidays".
"How come she gets to use a rifle?" Harry mocked complained.
"Well," Al replied with a smile, "Don't worry, I'll get you a Minimi to play with, maybe even give you one of those big mini-guns aboard one of the Puma's if you want".
Harry smiled, "I'll hold you onto that Al" he replied.
Al turned his attention back towards the Headmaster, "One last thing, Headmaster" he said, "A strip of land near the Black Lake would also be taken over by my men, we need it to construct our make-shift airstrip," he smiled, "You do realize that those helicopters cannot stay in the air forever right?"
Dumbledore merely nodded, aware that he would not be able to object even if he wanted to, though the next part of Al's demands had seriously made the Headmaster think if he should object, "In addition to the airstrip, we are also going to build a secure facility to store petroleum and our more dangerous weaponry, like the TOW missiles on the Lynx, the Stingers and the Hellfire's"
Dumbledore blinked, he had no idea what a TOW missile was, or what a Stinger or a Hellfire was, but he knew that whatever they are, they would not bode well for him and his plans.