Harry slowly woke up from a slight tap on the floor. Then again, and again. Opening his eyes, Harry lifted his hand to wipe the sleep from his eyes, but before he could do that, his hand was held back.
"Easy Harry. Take a breath to wake up" A voice told him, a voice that he knew very well. Blinking several times to clean his eyes from the sleep before he looked the person who was holding his hand in her own hands.
"Auntie Glynda?" Harry asked as he looked at Glynda Goodwitch, his voice parched with disuse. "Yes Harry, I'm here. Ozpin wanted to be here as well, yet he needs to run Beacon. So he sent me instead." Glynda informed him with a smile as she gently gave Harry some water.
"What happened? Last time I checked was when Ginny and I were fighting that troll." Harry said as he crawled back under the blankets of the bed in the hospital wing. While not the most comfortable beds in the world, and surely a whole lot worse that his own bed at Beacon, the warmth of it drew Harry back under the sheets.
"A Troll?" Glynda asked as she looked at Harry.
"They never told me about that. They said that you had an incident. Wait till Ozpin hears about this" Glynda mumbled, her riding crop already in her hand.
"Auntie, what day is it?" Harry asked as he looked back at his aunt, a small ray of hope that she would curb some of the professors more 'pompous' acts, and hoping that Snape would be in the hospital wing for a long time. Harry really didn't like the man.
"Get some rest Harry." Glynda said as she stood up from the chair she had been sitting in and walked out of the hospital wing. Harry sighed, and looked around. On the other side of his bed, Harry could see a small table that was filled with several boxes of what seemed to be candy. Berty bott's every flavor beans, Licorice wands, Chocolate frogs, and a whole lot more. There were also a lot of letters from his house-mates, wishing him good lick and a speedy recovery. Harry smiled as he saw several drawn pictures of him, Ginny, Dora and Hermione at the Hufflepuff table, playing 'Remnant the game'.
"Harry" A voice yelled and as Harry turned, he connected to a bright pink haired witch, followed by a brunette and a redhead. Harry smiled as his friends held him in their arms. Dora, Hermione and Ginny kept hugging him, until he started to go blue in the face.
Ginny, who was furthest away from Harry saw what was going on, and gently removed Hermione's stranglehold on Harry. Dora slowly stood up and looked at Harry, before she gave his arm a punch.
"Ouch. What was that for?" Harry asked as he rubbed his arm, where Dora had punched him.
"That was for landing yourself in the hospital wing, when we needed you the most" Dora said as she sat on Harry's bed near his feet. "Fine, I'll try not to get to much in the hospital wing" Harry said as he looked his three friends in the eye. They all nodded, and Ginny sat in the chair Glynda had vacated recently. Hermione took a second chair and sat down on Harry's other side, near the small mountain of candy.
"Are you really going to eat that all, Harry? Hermione asked Harry, as she glanced at the boy in the hospital bed.
"Maybe, I don't know. Perhaps I'll give some away. I'll probably get hit a lot if I don't share with Ginny" Harry said and the young redhead nodded, a grin on her face.
"Hey, what is today's date? Aunt Glynda didn't told me that" Harry asked as he looked around. "Well, to day is the third of November. You've been asleep for a couple of days, since you defeated the troll." Ginny said. She slowly slipped out of the chair and knelt at Harry's bed, looking him straight in the eyes, while getting a little red in her face.
"Well, I guess I've slept through Snape's classes. He must have been pleased" Harry said softly as he looked at Ginny.
Ginny shook his head. "I don't know what is going on with him, but he didn't leave his office, or came to the great hall to eat. We've been ordered by Professor McGonagall to do some self-study, until he is back again."
Harry shrugged his shoulders. As long as Snape was out of the picture, Harry was a happy boy.
"So, when can I get out of bed?" Harry asked as he looked around, trying to find Madam Pomfrey.
Within second said Healer came to Harry and gave him a full bill of health, with the warning that Harry needed to keep it cool for the next few days. Nodding to the healer, Harry quickly dressed and placed Hammer, Grabber and Child's-play in their respective holsters, before he left with his friends. Each one of them had their hands full of candy and other sweets that Harry was gifted for his stunt with the troll.
Turning a corner, Harry and his friends paused in their tracks, as several meters away the blond boy stood who seemed to hate Harry with a passion. With him, Harry recognized the four others who had placed Hermione in a trunk and locked her in there on the Hogwarts express. The same students who seemed to be responsible for Dora's state at the start of the year. Harry stepped one step forward, shielding Hermione and Dora.
"Can we help you with anything?" Harry asked, as he looked at the blond boy. A smile appeared on Draco's face.
"Yeah, you can give me all that candy, and stand aside. The mud-blood, blood-traitor and the whore are in for some proper training." He said as he placed his wand in his hand.
"Harry" Ginny whispered as who stood behind Dora and Hermione, as several other students from Slytherin house came to spring the trap. All of them had wands with them, and several seemed to be older, and more experienced with magic.
There was one thing to it, and Harry had to suppress a smile, as he saw each and every one that came, looked like a troll, like the one he had faced a couple of days ago, only smaller.
"Throw the candy to them" Harry whispered to Ginny, Hermione and Dora. The girls looked at him as if he had lost their mind. "Throw it to them, and then run away. Ginny and I will take care of it"
"You want it?" Harry called out very loud, hoping to attract the attention of several teachers. "You got it" Harry shouted as he threw his whole stack of candy at the Slytherins.
Ginny, Dora and Hermione did the same, and while the candy was still falling, Hermione's and Dora's feet dashed through the line of Slytherins. They never noticed them as they wanted the candy that was falling on the ground. "NOW" Harry shouted as he and Ginny jumped out of the way, Ginny reaching back to grab Hell's date. The submachine gun unfolded and Ginny was firing ice Dust enhanced bullets that froze several Slytherin students before they even knew what was happening. Harry went for Hammer and shot three times before he had to dodge the spells that were sent by Draco and his goons. Twisting and turning, Harry reached for Child's-play, and unfolded him as he threw Hammer to Ginny.
"Ginny" Harry yelled. Ginny's left hand reached down and unlocked her own Hammer piston, while at the same time, placing Hell's date back in it's holster. With her right hand, Ginny's caught Harry's thrown Hammer gun and started to fire the guns. The fire enhanced Dust bullets collided with the protego shielding from the Slytherin students, creating several small explosions.
Harry was firing Child's-play at his opponents, taking them down with a three round burst charged with yellow Dust, causing the bullets that his their targets to shock them with electricity. Seeing several students taking the weapons from the armors of the wall, Harry finished of his last opponent, before he transformed Child's-play into it's Guan Dao form. Holding it inverted in his right hand, Harry invited the waiting students with a 'come here if you dare' signal.
Several students charged with their weapons. Harry could see swords, halberds, axes and even a mace coming towards him. Harry started to swing his weapon, cutting through several weapons and causing others to bounce back.
Ginny was still firing her and Harry's Hammer guns, slowly progressing forward, making sure to switch between her own Hammer and Harry's Hammer. After all, Harry's Hammer gun was filled with fire Dust, while her own Hammer gun was filled with Yellow Dust. So instead of giving her enemy burns, she shocked them. But she found out that Harry's Hammer was more effective with the fire Dust to collapse the protego shields. So she sticked with using Harry's gun to bring down shields, and her own gun to defeat the enemy.
Seeing several students animating statues to fight for them, Ginny holstered her own Hammer gun and shifted Harry's gun from her right hand to her left. Reaching back, she unfolded Hell's date and activated it's secondary function. Activating her own shield on her left arm, Ginny stood ready to attack the statues with her saber and shield. Seeing a large spear coming towards her, Ginny jumped upwards, avoiding the spear and blocking a second attack from a student who wielded a sword. Pointing Harry's Hammer gun at the student's face, Ginny pulled the trigger, causing terrible burns to the student's face. His sword falling on the ground, Ginny sent him flying with a double kick to the chest, while blocking a second attack from the statue with the spear with her saber. Following up her block, Ginny followed the spear and broke the statue's hands, causing it to drop the spear, and a half second later, lost it's head as Ginny bashed her shield against it. Following with a blast from Hammer, the statue fell down on the ground, while Ginny still stood straight, ready for the second opponent.
Two statues came running towards her, but as Ginny was about to roll out of the way, several shards of a glass like substance pierced the statues to the ground, causing them to fall forward.
Harry and Ginny looked up from where they were, and saw several students from Hufflepuff watching them, including Hermione and Dora. What really gave them a breath, was that they also had brought with them, Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Sprout. But they had eyes only for one person, who was holding her riding crop above her. Glynda Goodwitch, deputy-headmistress of Beacon Academy.
"Mum" Ginny shouted at the same time as Harry's "Auntie Glynda."
Placing their weapons back in their holsters, Ginny and Harry ran towards Glynda who lowered her riding crop and knelled down to hug both Harry and Ginny.
"I'm so proud of you, you held your own against a numerical superior enemy. You stood up for your friends and you didn't hurt them to bad, concerning that they have no aura" Glynda said she she let them go.
"However. That you found yourself in this state, and fought them is not an excuse to escape punishment. Since I need to return to Beacon, I've asked Professor McGonagall to give you proper detentions. She'll also give me further reports, in cooperation with Professor Sprout."
Harry and Ginny looked at he two professors. Professor McGonagall was easy to read. She always wore a stern expression and her eyes never shone with sparks of laughter. Their own head of house, Professor Sprout was also easy to read. Sprout was wearing a relieved face, happy that her own students were safe and sound.
"Now, before you both receive punishment, I'd like to be shown around and learn more about this school, then the small information brochure that was given when Professor Dumbledore came to Beacon." Harry and Ginny took both a hand and started to show professor Goodwitch around in Hogwarts, followed by Hermione and Dora.
Goodwitch followed Harry and Ginny through the whole of Hogwarts. She learned about the charmed ceiling of Hogwarts Great Hall, the classes they had to take and the professors who taught them. Finally, they came to the doors that led to the grounds around Hogwarts.
"I'll have to say that Hogwarts is impressive, but if I have to be honest, a little outdated. You learn more at Beacon than at Hogwarts, yet it does present certain opportunities."
Glynda took her riding crop and waved it for a moment. Harry and Ginny spotted something flying towards them and couldn't be happier. Glynda had brought with her a traveling case full of dust. Harry and Ginny gave Glynda a hug each before she waved her hands and walked away from Hogwarts. As Harry and Ginny looked on, they spotted Glynda moving towards the small city of Hogsmeade and vanishing in the air.
"She must be using a port-key" Harry said as he took the case full of dust with them to Professor McGonagall's office. It took them a few minutes to find the office, but a friendly chat later with Fred and George Weasley pointed them in the right direction. Knocking on the door and receiving permission to enter, Harry and Ginny walked right in the office of the head of Gryffindor.
"Mr. Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch. While I understand what you have done, it is not done. When a student is being bullied, you are to find a teacher, who will give the proper punishment. While all students will recover from your scuffle, there will be several who will find this as an excuse to hurt anyone that you are friendly with. Do you have anything to say, at the moment?"
Harry looked up at McGonagall. "I do have some to say and to show something. Is your pensieve empty?"
McGonagall looked at Harry with questioning eyes, but nodded that it was empty. Harry slowly placed his wand to his temple, and removed a memory before he put it in the pensieve.
"I've learned from Professor Sprout about pensieves and have been reading about it. In it is a copy of my memory from before the fight until aunt Glynda ended it." Harry stepped aside, giving Professor McGonagall the go-ahead to look through his memory.
Taking a seat, Harry watched as McGonagall's eyes became glassy, giving the telltale sign that she was viewing his memory. Opening the case, Harry started to unload several canisters filled with Dust and started to refill his weapons. Child's-play needed a new fire Dust and ice Dust crystal and Hammer needed some extra fire Dust. Feeling movement next to him, Harry looked up as Ginny started to refill her own weapons.
Five minutes passed since McGonagall was watching the memories. Harry and Ginny had continued to clean their weapons. After all, they did see more action that they had thought. Then Harry's scroll began to vibrate, causing him to jump slightly. Ginny smiled at Harry's jump, what caused him to give her an evil glare, causing her to blush slightly. Harry's scroll vibrated again and Harry opened it up, before looking at the message.
"Hey, it's Coco" Harry said as he started to read the message to Ginny.
'Dear Harry and Ginny.
Here's a new message from your favorite team at Beacon. First, we all miss you. Second, show those wizards and witches there that they can't mess with you. We hope to see you soon, as we have so much stories to tell. Vel sends her love to you both and Fox and Yatsu hope you are well. There is nothing going on at Beacon, except from the small scuffles here in the dining hall. A bully called Cardin whatever keeps pulling Velvet's ears. Tomorrow I'll be showing him a lesson.
Attached is the design you asked for a mini-gun. You can't build it there, I believe, so you might want to come home during the holidays and we can build it together.
Cheers Coco and the rest of team CFVY.'
Harry and Ginny smiled at Coco's message before they looked at the design that Coco had created. It looked awesome, but Harry and Ginny were very attached to their weapons, and designing and creating a new weapon when you don't need one felt a little bit overkill.
"Ahem" Harry and Ginny looked up from the scroll to see McGonagall standing again, having returned from the pensieve.
"Well, what did you find?" Ginny asked as she placed her weapons back where they belonged.
"True, I would have never expected to see such despicable behavior from Slytherin. It seems that they had come out in force to subdue miss Goodwitch and your friends. However, the rules must be applied. Therefor I am removing fifty points from Hufflepuff for fighting, twenty-five points from Slytherin per person who was there, and all Slytherins who were present will be helping our caretaker Mr. Filch with cleaning the castle clean. You two however, will serve detention with me on Saturday morning until you go home for the Yule holidays. Now, please return to the Hufflepuff common room."
Harry and Ginny nodded and waved goodbye to McGonagall as they left the office. Harry was carrying the case of dust with him, and slowly walked towards the Hufflepuff common room. What they saw, at the entrance chilled their blood, as they saw all of their things including clothes, books and potion ingredients laying outside, torn apart. The entrance to the common room opened up and their house-mates marched out of it. Some of them had guilty faces, but the most of them had sneers on their face, or cruel laughing faces. "What's going on?" Harry asked as he placed the case down on the floor.
"We have agreed with the rest of the house that you have shown Hufflepuff unworthy behavior, by fighting several times in these last two months. You also broke the Hufflepuff code by accepting the Gryffindor seeker post." said Justin Finch-Flechly as he stepped forward. Two older Hufflepuffs stepped forward and threw two bodies on the floor, who appeared to be Hermione and Dora Tonks. Both seemed to be covered in bruises and small cuts.
"Hermione. Dora" Harry called as the two were slowly crawling towards them. Ginny was already moving towards them, holding her hands out for them to reach and pull them up.
Harry watched with pained eyes as both Hermione and Dora wobbled and started to lean on Ginny, who was using her aura to help them heal the most of the scrapes and cuts. Nodding to Ginny, Harry slowly removed a knife from his pocket and brought it to his neck. With a swift motion, Harry cut his necktie, letting the Hufflepuff tie falling on the ground. Going to Ginny, he did the same and snapped his fingers. Whatever could be salvaged from their possessions, rose in the air and landed in Harry's trunk, that was also outside the common room.
"With this action, my friends Hermione Granger, Nymphadora Tonks, Ginny Goodwitch and I, Harry Ozpin, have removed themselves from the house of Hufflepuff. We will find another family that will accept our talents."
The whole time that Harry and Ginny had been busy with Hufflepuff house, Fred and George Weasley had watched from a secret entrance how they were treated by the Hufflepuffs. Looking at each other, they nodded and sprinted towards McGonagall's office. Bursting through the door without knocking, they started to explain what happened between Harry, his friends and the rest of Hufflepuff house. McGonagall paled. Cutting of your tie, was an old tradition that removed yourself from the house. Now four students, two who were injured, needed a new house. As agile as a her animagus form, McGonagall jumped over her desk and called the Twins to follow her. Running to the Great Hall, they saw as Harry was speaking with Dumbledore and Sprout and refusing to return to Hufflepuff. "They may be fine with each other, but our talents are not wanted at Hufflepuff house" Harry said as he watched Pomfrey healing any injuries that Hermione and Dora had received. "But where will you stay?" Pomona asked as she tried to cope with the emotional loss of losing four students.
"Gryffindor will accept them" McGonagall called as she stepped down the grand staircase, Fred and George following her.