DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you've seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$ from this…
A/N: Okay, many say this is moving slowly. Sorry. I assure you, once Harry leaves the hospital - which is soon - the pace will really pick up. He leaves for Japan in Chapter 24, more than half way to the end of this first book. The others will be faster paced…
I apologize as this is my longest chapter. But it is the last of the LONG Sensei lessons. The pace does pick up next Chapter…
(For those waiting for Chapter 28 of my other story. I hope to have it, Chapter 29 and maybe even Chapter 30 up between now and Monday. After Chapter 30, there will only be a couple left to go plus an Epilogue…)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: SCHOOLING
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1988 - ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, LONDON, U.K.
After Sensei left, the adults left the three children in the room to get to know each other better while they went for a long cup of coffee at a shop down the street from the hospital. A lot had happened and a lot of information had been revealed in a very short period of time. It seemed like a whirlwind to the Grangers and to McGonagall as well, although for different reasons.
As they talked, the Grangers went through the paperwork about their prospective third and youngest child: Clarice. The records included her school records and reports. She was as smart as her older brother, which meant she was probably as smart as Hermione. Hermione was finishing her third year in school. They already knew from Harry's teachers that he was going to be allowed to move from his second year to his fourth year. Based upon the two's birth dates, they both should be in the same year with little Clarice a year behind them. Hermione had started a year early, which was why she was a year ahead of Harry and two years ahead of Clarice. But the reports on Clarice indicated that in all likelihood, she too would skip a year.
The magical information was disturbing. There was a war coming, one that was all but inevitable and the Grangers knew all too well just how bad the last war had been. All three of these precious children were targets in the coming war simply because they had been given life. It was incredibly unfair. The Grangers wanted to agree with Sensei that the children needed to be ready for what lay ahead but were afraid that to see them properly prepared, they would have to ask the three young ones to effectively give up their childhoods.
They now had three magical children to raise. They wanted the best for all three and the best meant the best possible education. For now, that meant St. Michaels, but they knew that one day the three would need to obtain a magical education as well.
They asked McGonagall if she ever had heard about some Watanabe School that taught magic in Japan. They noted how McGonagall frowned for just a moment and awaited her answer.
"I have," she replied slowly. "I must admit, having come from Hogwarts and having taught there for over thirty years, I am biased. Hogwarts is the oldest and best school of magic in Britain, and there are others. It is also one of the best in all of Europe, although there are older schools in Greece, Italy and Spain.
"The European schools do not ordinarily accept students until they are eleven. They also only teach magic. They do not teach non-magical studies such as literature, mathematics or science. The Watanabe School is the oldest in Japan and is about as old as Hogwarts. It too taught only magic for a long time. That changed three hundred years ago. It now also teaches its students non-magical courses. Students can begin there as early as age six.
"There are, in fact, two schools. Most Japanese students attend the yearly school that runs from the middle of August until the middle of June. For the last forty years or so, it has also run a summer program that is open to students from all over the world. That program lasts for three to four weeks and begins around July 1st. As Sensei said, they use some kind of time magic on the school during the summer sessions. We have magic similar to it, but it's different.
"How so? Rose asked.
"Their magic allows the person to experience several days while we outside experience only one. We have a similar charm here, but it cannot cover an entire school and, unlike their Time Compression Charm, ours allows those within to age at the same rate as they experience time. Theirs, on the other hand does not allow the body to age at an accelerated rate.
"Why the difference?"
"Their charm was invented to allow the students to learn quickly. It was a product of the first Shogunate that needed skilled and highly educated wizards to help run the country, but was either unwilling or unable to wait the decades it would take for them to reach their full potential. The students entered young and left young, then spending a few years as an apprentice in real time before taking on their roles around age eighteen.
"Our Charm was invented for Hogwarts. It was designed so that the occupants would age at an accelerated rate."
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Arguably, to avoid certain complications associated with having a school full of teenagers and to allow students to avoid the worst of their possible mistakes."
"Such as?"
"It was installed on a suite of rooms specifically in anticipation of teenage pregnancies," McGonagall shrugged, "and your daughter is living proof of it."
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"Your daughter was born September 19th, 1979. That was a Wednesday. Her mother found out she was pregnant on September 14th. She decided to give the baby up rather than quit school. She was less than two months pregnant when she learned yet Hermione was full term days later."
"The time charm?"
McGonagall nodded. "Mother goes in, barely pregnant, comes out a few days later having given birth. To the rest of the school, she was just sick or injured. In almost all cases, the time she spent in the room with the Midwife is erased from her memory. Erin was the exception, as was her boyfriend for they were allowed to be together."
"Why?"
"She was my great-granddaughter," McGonagall shrugged. "She was a decent person, not one of the usual patients who are simply promiscuous and careless. Eric was a decent young man as well. It was my job to erase the memories of the young lovers. I've done it before and since, but I made an exception in their case and I do not regret it."
There was a long silence as the Grangers considered this information. As it was not relevant to the schooling, they decided not to continue.
"So, if we were to send them to this school, they won't come back years older?" Rose asked.
"No," McGonagall said. "They'll have years of education and training, but physically they will age at the normal rate - they will only be three weeks or so older."
"But the babies," Rose began.
"Once they are out of the womb, they age at normal time. It's only when they are in the womb that they age at the accelerated rate."
"Oh," Rose said. It made no sense, but no one said magic had to make any sense. "Back to that school," she added.
"It has an exceptional reputation," McGonagall said, "although I knew few details about it until a few years ago. I was at a convention in Milan, an international convention for magical educators and met a few members of the faculty there. 'Mind, Body, and Magic' is the school motto. They teach non-magical subjects from primary school through university. They teach more magic and more types of magic than we do. And they emphasize physical fitness and training in sports and the martial arts. At that school children have more opportunities in reality than at any magical school here in Britain. It was embarrassing, really.
"You know or you should know that once a child enters a magical school here, their non-magical education stops. They can never go on to university for they have only five years of qualifying education. Not there. There, you can get a full magical education and a university degree, if you want."
"What are you saying, Minnie?" Rose asked.
"She's my Great-granddaughter," McGonagall said, "and the other two are very bright as well. Given what appears to be in front of them, if it were me and I could, I'd send them."
The two Grangers merely nodded for now.
_____________________________________________________________
Clarice was moved into the room with Harry, although she never really left. All that happened was that a nurse came in with a clipboard which she placed in a holder on what had been the empty bed and then told Clarice it was time for her to have a lie down, helping her into the bed. Clarice went to sleep until supper and Harry and Hermione read books so as not to disturb her. The three ate their supper together in the room. The Grangers and McGonagall went to a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, the Grangers returned and stayed with the children as Hermione and Clarice introduced Harry to Star Trek on the television. Harry thought it was amazing.
When the program was over, the Grangers told everyone it was time for them to take Hermione home for the night. Hermione protested, but Harry and Clarice could see that she was very tired. She soon relented and hugged each of her new friends and kissed Harry on his cheek, promising them both she would be back first thing in the morning. Not long after the Grangers left, a nurse came in and turned out the lights. Harry was already asleep.
Something woke Harry up sometime later. It sounded like someone trying hard to cry quietly. It seemed very close to him and as he slowly regained his senses, he felt a wet weight on his chest. In the darkness, he could just make out long, dark hair on the head resting against him.
"Clarice?"
He saw a small hand seeming to wipe the nose of the head. He heard a sniffle.
"Clarice?" he asked again.
"I'm scared," she whimpered. "I'm so scared."
Absently and without thinking, Harry wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "You don't have to be," Harry said.
"But I am! I've lost everyone! Everything!"
"Hey," Harry said soothingly, "yeah, but you found your brother and - and your real family. Besides, don't you like the Grangers? I do."
"I never had a brother before," she cried quietly, "nor a sister, nor a friend. Mum," her voice hitched, "and Daddy liked me but no one else did. No one else will!"
"Shhhh, that's not true. I like you Sissy and Hermione does too. You'll never be alone or friendless again. I promise."
"You can't know that. You and Hermione said you never had friends either!"
"That's why I know it's true, Sissy. With everything that's gone on, and it's all weird and confusing, I think we were meant to meet and for us to become a family again."
"Are you sure?"
"As sure as I can be."
"Thanks Harry." She soon fell asleep in her big brothers arms and he soon followed.
_____________________________________________________________
No one was there in the Headmasters office at Hogwarts to notice. Dumbledore was attending a conference on the Continent and had left that afternoon not long after his meeting with McGonagall. When he was away, no one entered the office for any reason.
Moments after he left, the various instruments on the bookshelf slowly came back to life. Their movements announced a change that he would have taken particular interest in had he been there. But the change went unobserved. The movements became more lively throughout the remainder of the day, slowly returning to their original motions, ones they had exhibited for years. Shortly after midnight, the instruments stopped abruptly.
At the same time, seemingly throughout Britain, witches and wizards of all ages forgot something. They would not remember that they had forgotten something or what that something was for years. It was a name for most, two names for a few. Harry and Clarice Potter had become lost to memory. Only two remained who remembered they had ever existed. Minerva McGonagall was unaffected by the magic that had just occurred and was in her study coming up with a list of questions she had for Sensei. Far away, in a dark cell in a prison, a large black dog also remembered. It was the memory of that boy and girl that kept him sane.
_____________________________________________________________
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 1988 - ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, LONDON, U.K.
Hermione arrived the next morning bright and early just as Harry and Clarice were finishing their breakfast.
"Morning!" she sang out as she all but burst into the room. Harry and Clarice were seated a small table and Hermione took another chair at the table. "So, Harry, what did you think of Star Trek?"
"It was brilliant," Harry replied.
"Good."
"Why?"
"Because it's the one show on the telly that's not educational that my Mum and Dad let me watch - well that and re-runs of the original series."
"Me too," Clarice said with a smile. "It's my favorite!"
"So, how was your night?" Hermione asked.
"I was very sad and scared," Clarice said. "I was crying and Harry was asleep and, well, when I was at home my Mum would hold me when I was sad so I - er - I held Harry. He woke up and held me too and I wasn't sad or scared anymore. Then he called me a sissy." Clarice pouted.
"You didn't!" Hermione scolded.
"Th-that's," Harry tried to defend himself, "that's not what I meant! I called her Sissy…"
"So you did! You were picking on your sister when she was hurt and…"
"NO! Hermione that's not what I meant! I meant Sissy, as in sister or little sister! Clarice I am so sorry!"
Clarice started to giggle and Harry knew he had been pranked. He had known his sister less than a day, and she was already pranking him. Deep down, he knew this was a good thing, but he couldn't let her get away with it. "You're so going to get it one day," he growled, not really meaning it. Clarice stuck her tongue out at him and when it dawned on Hermione that Clarice was having Harry on, she could not help but giggle too.
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the morning telling Clarice everything they had learned over the past few weeks right up until Clarice had arrived. Neither of them thought they were anywhere near as good at telling the saga as Sensei had been, but they felt they did a good job of hitting all the major points. By the end, it was clear that Clarice was in a bit of a mood. She was pacing the floor, or trying to as she still had a noticeable limp, favoring her left leg. She had a very serious expression on her face and seemed to be thinking. Several minutes went by after Harry and Hermione were done talking before she said anything.
"So," Clarice said, "let me get this straight. We're all magical and all descended from very important magical families?"
"Yep," Harry said.
"And there's this evil wizard out there who killed most all of our families and tried to kill Harry and would have tried to kill Hermione too?"
"So it seems," Hermione said.
"And he had loads of followers who were almost as nasty as he was and they're either in jail or hiding because they think he's dead but he really isn't and so long as those horcrux thingies exist he can come back and will probably try to kill us again?"
"Yup," Harry said.
"And sometime in the next six to eight years he will come back?"
"According to Sensei," Hermione said.
"But you have no reason to doubt it?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know what to think, Clarice. Honestly."
"But it's better to assume that Sensei is right than to assume everything is fine when it isn't," Clarice said.
"That would be prudent," Hermione nodded.
"And right now the one person who can help Harry and by that help us all thinks Harry must die?"
"Unfortunately."
"And if we do nothing, we'll learn nothing and be killed as well!"
"Fair assessment, I think."
"You mentioned some school in Japan? What about that?"
"Donno," Harry said. "Sensei mentioned it in passing. Sounds like it's better than waiting. No idea how much better."
"I say we go!" Clarice declared. "Too many have died for nothing! We go! We learn as much as we can and hopefully when the time comes we won't be killed!"
"I want to, you know," Harry said. "Not sure it's that easy."
"I want to too," Hermione said. "It's up to my parents, I think."
"So," Clarice said, "worst case is we don't go and Sensei teaches us what he can, right?"
The other two nodded.
"But, if we all want to go, maybe we can go."
"It's got to cost a fair bit of money," Hermione began.
"Sensei said something about Clarice and I having a fair bit," Harry said. "When the grownups arrive, I think we should tell them we want to go. What's the worst that could happen?"
"They could say no," Clarice said.
"Story of my life," Harry replied. "If we don't ask…"
"We'll never know," Hermione finished. "Right then, we are going to beg them to send us to this school!"
"Agreed," the other two answered.
_____________________________________________________________
The Grangers and McGonagall arrived just as the three children were finishing their lunch. The door opened and the adults entered already engaged in a conversation and, as the children noted, Sensei took this time to make his appearance.
"It was the strangest thing," McGonagall said. "I mean the news of Harry's supposed demise was huge! I've been teaching at Hogwarts for well over thirty years and when stories like that hit the press, the students and faculty - well, it's all they can talk about for weeks. This morning at breakfast? Nothing. It's as if Harry never existed! I've never seen the like! It's as if Harry never existed at all!"
"Maybe they just forgot about it," Rose suggested.
"I doubt it. News like that? Harry Potter is - well - he has childrens' stories and comic books about him and such. It's all rubbish and goodness knows who's making money off of his name. Still, he was huge news and suddenly he's not? It's not normal even for us."
"It's not all that surprising," Sensei said.
"What do you mean?"
"It's the blood wards forming, Minerva. Moreover, it means they are forming properly unlike before."
"I still don't…"
"The wards do two things, they protect the family and they hide them. The protection wards will not fully form until after Harry starts living with the Grangers, but the hiding Wards do not require a geographic anchor. The first sign that the Wards are working is that those whom Harry does not trust will forget he exists. Only certain kinds of magic can see through that ward. One is Harry's trust, which he has for you as you can see me and that part of my magic is similar. Another is blood relationship, which would allow Petunia Dursley to remember Harry had she lived and will allow Clarice to remember him. A third is the relationship that is forming between Harry and the Grangers. The final is the bonding between Harry and his Godparents.
"So Sirius Black will remember him?"
Sensei nodded. "Speaking of that, any progress with the rat?"
"Haven't had time yet. You only mentioned him yesterday."
"I understand, but I assume you cannot stomach a clear miscarriage of justice any more than I can."
"This week. I promise."
"Um…Mum? Daddy?" Hermione asked.
"Yes Sweetie," Rose Granger answered for both of them.
"Um, well you see, um, well…Harry and I told Clarice everything we could remember about what Sensei has told us about - er - Voldemort and the magical world and stuff and - um - well, we talked about it and - er - well, there's danger out there and we think we need to be - um - ready for it when it comes and… Well, Sensei said something about a magic school in Japan? One we could go to like this year? And we were talking about that and - well - we would like to."
"To what, Dear?"
"I mean if we can. We would like to go there so we can start learning as soon as possible."
"You all feel this way?"
All three nodded.
"Funny you should mention that," Rose said. "You see your Daddy, Minnie and I were discussing that very thing just last night."
"And?" the three asked.
"Well, we don't know what it costs or how to apply, but we think it's the thing to do."
"Y-you do?" Hermione asked.
"If Sensei is right," Robert added, "then this Voldemort nutter is coming back about six years from now and there will be a war and you three will be involved whether you want to be or not. Neither your mother or I am thrilled with the idea, but there it is. We would prefer that this could be put off until you are all adults and such, but it doesn't look like we'll get our wish.
"As parents it's our job to raise you: to see to it that you learn as much as you can so you can achieve your full potential in life, to see to it that you are ready for what's out there when the time comes for you to be adults. We want you to have full, long and happy lives and one day to have families of your own. Normally, we would want to shelter you from all the bad that is in this world until you are ready to face it - and that means until you are adults. It seems that time is not on our side, so then it is our job as your parents to try as hard as we can to make sure you are ready to face what's out there as soon as you have to. We do have one concern, though."
"What's that, Daddy?"
"We don't want you three to miss out on your childhoods, and we pray you will not. Still…" Robert turned to Sensei. "Okay, how do we make this happen?"
"First things first," Sensei said. "Does Hermione have a magical guardian?"
"She does indeed," McGonagall said. "I was so designated at birth."
"Excellent! One down, two to go. Right now, as I understand it, Dumbledore is in effect the magical guardian for Harry and Clarice. Fair bet, should he be asked about this, he would never grant permission or allow any trust funds to pay for it. Then again, he is only the magical guardian because he saw to it that the Will of James and Lilly Potter was ignored. If challenged, in a fair court he could be in serious trouble, but…"
"As head of the Wizengamot," McGonagall said, "he is in effect the Chief Justice of our courts. A case against him for that would never see the inside of the courtroom."
"Doesn't he have to step aside if his interests are at issue?" Robert asked.
"Not under magical law," Sensei said. "As head of the Wizengamot he holds a lot of power and influence. The Wizengamot acts as both the magical Parliament and the Courts and he is head of both. He has significant control over what laws are passed and, to a degree, which ones are enforced. And, as head of the Wizengamot he is in effect the magical guardian of all magical children without magical parents or guardians, until someone else accepts the position.
"Under the Will left by Harry and Clarice's parents, that was to have been their Godfather. But the Will also named others who could be appointed if the Godfather was either unable or unwilling to serve. Among those it named was you, Minerva."
"Why that means…" McGonagall began.
"If the Grangers consent of course."
"Consent to what?" Robert asked. "What does that mean?"
"To understand the nuances of British wizarding law, you must recognize a few simple yet disturbing truths," Sensei said. "The entire structure of the current magical government and entire body of law derives from the International Statute of Secrecy. This statute really is not a statute so much as a treaty between independent wizarding governments to uphold certain values and standards, most notably the need to keep the magical world secret from the non-magical world.
"The statute was passed at an international convention of witches and wizards in 1690. The signatories were representatives from all over Europe, with the exception of Luxembourg who refused to sign because they felt it failed to provide any standards of conduct or even general principles and left too much to each country to decide. The Luxembourg delegate had a point. Each country was able to draw up its code of laws to comply with the statute as it saw fit with only minimal oversight from the other signatories. Thus, the laws vary throughout Europe to a major degree and Europe is more conservative than say Japan or North America.
"Britain is the most conservative. Whereas in places like Japan the magical peoples hide in plain sight, that is they live and work amongst their non-magical countrymen and have forever, Britain just hides. Our entire nation and economy is separate and hidden from the rest of Britain and Ireland. While there are some interconnections, they are minimal and for the most part hidden from both worlds. Most witches and wizards raised in the magical world know absolutely nothing whatsoever about the non-magical world. Few comprehend such things as television, theaters, telephones, automobiles or airplanes, for example. Oddly, it is much easier for a person from a non-magical upbringing to adapt to the magical world than the other way around."
"Why?" Clarice asked.
"Several reasons. First off, non-magical fairy tales, stories and works of fantasy fiction, while not totally accurate, do describe aspects of the magical world such that the average non-magical person has an idea of what it is like. The same is not true for the magical world. Few stories are written that even discuss the non-magical world and the few that do are totally inaccurate to put it mildly. To say that the average magical person raised in the British magical world has no understanding of the rest of humanity is an understatement. They are clueless.
"Lack of understanding and communication leads to fear, fear leads to distrust and distrust to contempt and even hatred. This insular, isolationist and xenophobic attitude is reflected in the laws and the culture to a distressing degree. The one example I will use for illustration - and I use it because it is relevant - is the status of magical children from non-magical families and their parents.
"Education in magical Britain is what might be termed quasi-compulsory through the age of seventeen. It is not-compulsory for children from magical families - in other words children whose parents are both magical. They have the option to send their children to one of the magical schools, usually the one they themselves attended, although there are exceptions. They may also home school their children if they so desire. Most families send their children. However, in the magical aristocracy, there are notable exceptions. The custom is that all boys do attend school. Girls not so much. The Pureblood aristocracy will only send their daughters to school if they have no sons or if they have not managed to arrange a suitable marriage for the girl by the time she is eleven."
"Sounds almost medieval," Rose commented.
"Arguably it is," Sensei agreed. "Now the rules are different for magical children raised in non-magical families. Attendance at a magical school is compulsory and in reality, their parents have little or no say about it. Under the law, all such children have a magical guardian who acts in loco parentis - that is as the parent at law. In cases such as Harry, as he was deemed a ward of the Wizengamot, that is Dumbledore. In Hermione and Clarice's case, it would be Dumbledore as well, because once invited to a magical school, the Headmaster becomes such child's magical guardian, unless…"
"Unless," McGonagall said, "the child already has a magical guardian, one selected by the child's parents."
"One whom they trust," Robert added.
"One whom they know will act in the best interest of the child and the child's family," Rose said.
"Let me guess," Sensei said, "Minerva is Hermione's magical guardian?"
The other three adults nodded.
"She was from the day we adopted Hermione," Rose explained. "We had a long discussion about what to expect with Minnie and Hermione's birth parents. If we allowed the system to run our child's life, as I understood it we would lose Hermione to the magical world - forever. With a more sympathetic guardian, while that still can happen, it will not happen because of the system. It also means that if we disagree with the system, we have the right to send our child where we want - through Minerva. I take it you're suggesting Harry and Clarice need a magical guardian?"
Sensei nodded.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Well," Sensei answered, "for one, you all want to go to the Watanabe School in Kyoto, right?"
Harry and the other children nodded.
"And the Grangers and Minerva want to be able to send you there. Under our laws, the Grangers cannot send you, it must be your magical guardian who applies and gives you legal permission. Likewise, the school is not free and I doubt the Grangers can afford to send all three of you, but you two, Harry and Clarice, have trust funds. The Grangers cannot access those funds as they are in a magical bank. A magical guardian can. Finally, I've told you a fair bit about your current magical guardian. I wouldn't trust him. The Grangers, as your legally designated foster, parents have what's called 'power of attorney' over you and until they are contested, they have the autority to consent to a reassignment of magical guardian."
Minerva Constance Abigail McGonagall was already the magical guardian over her great-granddaughter Hermione Jean Granger. A short magical ceremony later and she became the magical guardian over one Harry James Potter and his sister Clarice Lillian Jameson.
Soon thereafter, Robert Granger frowned.
"Something wrong Dear?" Rose asked.
"While I agree that this Watanabe School seems like a good idea, ever since I've heard of it I am forced to wonder what Sensei's agenda is. I mean this whole time we've been discussing it, we've also learned that a magical war is coming and Harry will be in the thick of it - and that the girls are prime targets for the enemy. And here's this school where over the next four summers they'll finish university and get more magical teaching than they can here? What is it? About four years per summer? Sensei?"
"Yes?" Sensei replied.
"Are you trying to turn them into weapons? I probably know more about what they may be facing than you think, and from where I am standing it seems that you're trying to turn these kids into powerful warriors who can stand and fight before they even enter puberty. Just how powerful will they become with all that preparation?"
"Ah," Sensei said. "It would appear that way, wouldn't it? The time spell on the school does not allow them to age any faster than they would if they just stayed here and played in the local park. That spell prevents both accelerated physical and accelerated magical aging. By the time they finish, magically and physically they'll be ten and eleven years old. Mentally and from a standpoint of magical and physical skills, they'll be in their mid-twenties or so."
"That's my point!"
"Let me ask you this then. If a ten-year-old child is a master at a martial art, do you think he or she could win against an equivalent master who's in their mid-twenties? Even if there is no difference in their level of skills?"
"No. Not without their opponent making a mistake."
"Why not?"
"All else being equal, the older one has a decided advantage in size and strength."
"The same thing applies to magic. They might well have the skills and knowledge of someone who has trained for up to twenty years, but their magic will not have grown twenty years. Magically, while their training will probably leave them at their maximum potential for their age, they still will be kids. Just like their bodies, they will not really begin to grow into their full potential until they are adolescents and not reach their full potential in terms of power until their early to mid twenties.
"Magic is not unlike your muscles. You exercise it and train it and you increase strength, speed and agility. But there is a limit to how far you can go at any point in your life. They will be in exceptional 'magical shape,' and may well maximize their potential, but they will still be like the eleven-year-old martial-arts master and still be at a disadvantage to a similarly trained adult."
"So what's the point then?"
"Assume the same eleven-year-old is facing an untrained arrogant street thug. Who will win?"
"Hard to say," Robert said.
"Ah, but who has the advantage?"
"The one trained. A lucky blow cannot be discounted, but the trained combatant would be in a better shape to take out the thug or get away unscathed. Same's true in the military. Training usually trumps brute force even where the enemy has a sizable advantage in numbers."
"Exactly," Sensei smiled. "While Voldemort is someone they won't be able to face at his full strength for some time - and fortunately he's not going to be a factor in combat for years - most of his minions are your untrained arrogant street thugs. Fortune is still a factor, but the advantage lies in training. And remember, I never said and will not say they have to fight. They can prep the battlefield, and they will be encouraged to do that. But so long as the battlefield is prepped and an army is in the field, they may not be required to actually engage. The training I recommend through that school and will offer if that is not in the cards is to keep them alive and safe so they can at least lay the groundwork for success."
"That's it?"
"I came back much earlier than expected," Sensei said. "My tasking in that event was to help Harry here save lives. There are many whose lives were ruined before I even started school who they may be able to help and many others who died needlessly because I was too ill informed to help in my timeline. My first task if I came back early was to save Harry from the Dursleys and take him out from under Dumbledore's thumb. I have succeeded if only by a strange twist of fate. My next tasking before Hogwarts was to help Harry help some others."
"Why should they even go to that place?" Minerva asked. "I mean, if they complete four summers in Japan, there's nothing for them there."
"Harry needs to be there," Sensei said. "I do not trust Dumbles at all. But Harry will be beyond his ability to control by the time he's supposed to begin his education. Harry will already have his NEWTs, and you know what that means."
"He'll legally be an adult in our world."
"And will be intellectually and from a skills standpoint. Not physically, magically and maybe not in terms of emotional maturity, but he'll know more than most which I hope would tend to overcome his other disadvantages inherent in one so young. Hogwarts is the key to everything! There are two of those vile Horcruxes there as we speak and a third will be there in time. By the time he starts, three others should be either secured or destroyed. Thus, not long after he starts, only the one we cannot get to yet - the one in the Gringotts vault - will remain.
Harry and the others will most likely have to face the same challenges I did when I first went there. In fact they must! If they don't, Dumbles will allow conditions that assure Voldemort returns much sooner. But they will not be the true challenges I faced because of their training. But there is another reason why they should go there."
"And that is?" Minerva asked.
"If they are friends with the Hufflepuff Heir when she starts, what can they find there?" Sensei asked.
"Sweet Merlin! You're talking about the Founders' Tower! That's just a myth!"
"So is the Chamber of Secrets, but I can assure you that is quite real."
"But the school has been searched!" Minerva protested. "Countless times."
"Only one versed in the ways of the Serpent can ever find that Chamber, Minerva," Sensei said. "I have that ability, as does Harry and quite possibly Clarice. The only other one who has ever set foot in Hogwarts with that ability - and used it - was Tom Riddle, now known as Voldemort. Hence, should the magical heirs of the Founders return in fellowship…"
"The tower can be restored," Minerva said. "My word! Do you know what that means?"
Several voices said "No."
"The tower was supposedly the residences of the Founders," Minerva continued. "It is said to have vanished when the last of them passed away and has never been seen since. It is said it cannot reappear unless the founders' lines come together again as friends. But if they do?
"There are libraries of ancient knowledge there - supposedly - long lost to our world. It would be like finding the Library of Alexandria intact with all that was said to have been lost!"
"Indeed," Sensei agreed.
"Cool," Hermione said.
"Why?" Harry asked. And Hermione then explained what the Library of Alexandria was.