Hogwarts rumor mill was going at warp speed. Rumors about an attack on the train, humans fighting without magic and a human with rabbit ears on her head.
All these rumors passed Harry and Ginny as they made their way back to the Gryffindor common room, after being released from the hospital wing, and it's matron, Madam Pomfrey.
Three days. That was how long they had to stay in the hospital wing, being checked by Madam Pomfrey, Professor Dumbledore and an external wizard from a place they called St. Mungo's hospital of magical maladies.
Forbidden by Glynda to argue with the medical professionals, Harry and Ginny had no choice to undergo several tests. Not to mention drinking potions that tasted horrible.
So now Harry walked with Ginny to their dorm, where they hoped to get some rest, before dinner. Harry sighed, and looked down at the ever changing staircases. Shaking his head, Harry leaned against the railing that prevented the students falling from the stairs.
"You know. I'll be happy when this whole Hogwarts experience shit is over" Said Harry as he looked at Ginny.
"Yeah. I get what you mean."Said Ginny as she leaned next to Harry on the railing. "I mean, how many times do we have to tell the headmaster that it's not going to work. He may claim that Hogwarts is the safest place on this planet, but we've seen that Beacon is just as safe, if not safer."
"Plus," Added Harry, "I've looked in the library. There is no such law that says we need to return to Hogwarts after this year. I think he's playing some game, and that game seems to circle around us."
Ginny rose an elegant eyebrow, before she nodded. "Yeah. You know that night, when they thought we were sleeping?" Harry nodded, remembering that night well.
The medical staff of Hogwarts had been talking about magic, and how aura seemed to be a more stable form of it. "You think that they've been trying to unlock their aura?" Harry asked.
"Well, it's one possibility. The other is that I've heard about the 'trace' and the rules for 'underage magic'. According to the record that they left lying around in the hospital wing, both you and I have no 'trace' on us, so they might want to keep us here, until they can 'trace' us."
Harry nodded. "That may be the case Ginny. They only forgot that we've had a whole life of being trained by huntsmen and huntresses." Harry smiled with a grin on his face. "Oh, Harry. What are you planning?" Ginny asked, her face matching Harry's grin.
Harry looked around and spotted a out of the way hallway, where he led Ginny to. "You know those Goblins that we met, before we came to Hogwarts? They actually showed me a few very handy items that were passed down from my birth parents." Harry whispered, as he slowly removed several daggers from his boots. They all looked like throwing knives, and were decorated with a single shield. A small bird was seen on the shield, holding an olive branch.
"It seems that my mother was a Charms mistress and created these things that she called, re-usable portals. All I have to do, is call out the destination that I want, and throw the knife. Whatever the knife sticks into, it created a portal to that location. When someone with Potter Blood, like yours truly, walks through the portal, the portal collapses, with the knife returning to the owner."
Harry looked at the seven knives in his hand. "These are the only ones that she left, before she was killed." Harry said softly, as he held the knives tightly in his hands. It was a legacy of his birth parents, something to help him on his journey to become a great huntsmen.
"So, you mean that we can go home now?" Ginny asked he voice raising a level. Harry looked at her. Ginny was clearly not looking forwards to staying at Hogwarts, He couldn't blame her. "Yeah, we could." Harry said, as he placed the knives in his boots. "But we're not doing that."
"What? Why?" Cried Ginny as she looked at Harry with pleading eyes.
"It's because of Dumbledore. If he found out what I have here, he would certainly try to get it from me." Harry said as he looked around. The area was abandoned, and a thick layer of dust was on the floor. But what caught Harry's eyes were some footsteps on the floor, leaving a trail deepening inside the castle. "Ginny" Harry said as he pointed to the footprints.
Ginny looked and frowned. Looking up at Harry, she nodded and grabbed Hammer from her holster, just as Harry grabbed his Hammer from his. Switching their weapon from their left to right hand, both huntsman and huntress in training slowly moved forward, following the footsteps.
"Size nine. Must be male" Harry said as he examined a footstep in the dust. Looking up, he saw Ginny's smile. She always liked how he could find tracks. It wasn't that much of a surprise, as Harry had learned from Ozpin, and Ozpin was the best. Before dreaming of being a huntsmen, Ozpin wanted to go into the police force and be a detective. Several books, and actual experience taught Harry everything he need to know about tracking and hunting down his prey. Nodding, Harry started to move forward, followed closely by Ginny, both holding their Hammer gun ready for anything that they might find.
Harry spotted a door, where the footprints seemed to go to, and motioned Ginny to be quiet. Both Harry and Ginny sneaked forward, their steps making barely a sound. They had to be quiet, if they wanted to play a small prank on their parents or the other professors at Beacon, and so they had trained hard and long in silent movement.
The door wasn't completely closed, as they could see a faint crack, with light shining though the door. Listening closely, Harry and Ginny could hear two voices talking to each other.
"I don't care if he is in the hospital wing. Hogwarts needs Harry Potter and we must keep him here" Said one voice that sounded like it was arguing with the other. "If Harry Potter leaves the wizarding world, and choses to be other there, then the whole magical world will see that as a failure."
Then Harry and Ginny heard another voice, one that they heard one before. "Calm down Cornelius. I'm sure that when we tell Potter of the truth, that he will happily stay in Britain. After all, one wouldn't want to abandon the only link to his family, now would he?" Said a voice that sounded a lot like Draco Malfoy's father, after he had visited the school, after his son was 'late' for the sorting. "Listen to me Lucius. We need to keep Potter down. If he found out about his sister, then there would be hell for us to pay."
Harry couldn't keep still anymore. He kicked the door open and pointed Hammer at the two full grown wizards, who looked surprised to being discovered. Harry recognized the long blond haired wizard, who had came to school after his son 'missed' the sorting. Lucius Malfoy was standing there, his hand on his cane, ready to draw something. "Ginny" Harry said as he pointed to Lucius. Ginny nodded and as she pointed her empty hand at Lucius, she unleashed a small amount of semblance, enough to give Lucius first-degree burns on his hands, causing him to drop his cane, and his wand that was inside of it.
"Talk" Harry said as he pointed Hammer at the other man. That man looked like a ministry official, with a fine stripped three pieces suit and with a bowler heat his his hands.
"Do you know who I am?" the man started to shout. Harry shook his head.
"No, but I know enough to know that I have a sister somewhere, and you are telling me right here and now, where she is, or your friend there will feel how it is to be covered in third-degree burns." threatened Harry as he pointed at Malfoy, who held his hand close, trying to remove the pain.
"I don't have to listen to school-going children" The man in the suit shouted, but his voice was drowned out as Ginny used his semblance again to create a third-degree burn on Malfoy's head, causing a piece of his blond hair to fall out. Malfoy screamed out loud as he felt the burn being crated.
"Fudge, just tell them" Lucius screamed out as he tried to cover his whole body with Ginny still holding her arm out, fingers pointed at Lucius.
"Where is my sister?" Harry demanded as he stepped forward, his gun pointed at Fudge's bowler hat that Fudge had in front of his stomach. Fudge paled, enough to see that he was scared. He never had someone threatening him before, and now there was someone who pointed a gun at him. He did the only thing he could do. Fudge fainted.
"What the fuck." Harry swore softly. Looking at Malfoy, Harry pointed Hammer to the father of one of his most annoying year-mates. "Tell me where my sister is, or I'll happily empty this mag on you" Harry said.
Malfoy looked around. Nobody came here in this hallway. He had agreed to speak to fudge about some 'important' business, concerning the school, but that was just a ruse. His real purpose was to get Fudge to cooperate with him to place Harry Potter with him in a 'proper pure-blood home' and to steal all of Potter's gold.
"Your sister is at Hogwarts" Malfoy said, pain in his voice. "Where is she exactly? Harry asked again. "Third floor. Behind the locked door" Malfoy said as he looked around. Harry nodded and pointed Hammer at Malfoy, before he walked slowly towards him. Touching Malfoy's head, Harry released a small pulse of his aura. Malfoy blinked shortly, and collapsed on the floor. Harry smiled and did the same to Fudge, who merely responded with a small moan.
Harry looked up at Ginny and she followed him silently out of the room, before they closed the door. "Harry. Did you do, what I think you did?" Ginny asked, and seeing Harry nodding she released her breath that she didn't knew she was holding.
"An aura memory wipe. You're better at it than me" Ginny said as she gave Harry a small hug.
"So, what do we do now?" Ginny asked as she and Harry made their way back to the staircases, and the common room of Gryffindor tower. "Now, we prepare." Harry said as he looked down the changing staircases.
They did prepare. Their training started with a lot more aggressiveness, cuts, bruises and even some minor broken bones that were healed soon. Harry and Ginny included Hermione and Dora in the training, as they believed it would do well to have some extra help. Besides schoolwork, extra training and Quidditch practice, Harry had barely enough time to socialize with his classmates.
Most of the time, Harry spent his free time outside training, or inside in the library, where he looked for anything that could tell him about the Potter family. Books, Journals, old newspaper clippings. Everything he looked at had that purpose. Eventually, Harry had to agree that he needed to search in a more narrower line. Instead of looking through the entire library, Harry started to look thought the library files with the date 2001. His birth-parents death year.
Harry wasn't convinced that Malfoy had spoken the truth, if his son was any indication. So he asked Ginny and Hermione to look through the birth records of the year before his birth and his parent's death. After searching for an hour, they made a few discoveries. Malfoy had lied about Harry having a sister. Harry was an only child, but the Potter house was a very wealthy house, with a rich history in it. Although the Potters had been wealthy, they were regarded as nothing more as 'normal' witches and wizards. Again, Harry had to shake his head, when he found out that the Potters had lost their seat on the Wizangamot to another house, because they didn't want to be a part of the pure-blood movement that swept through Britain. Harry sighed deeply.
"Do wizards and witches always do the things the hard way?" Harry asked Dora one night as they went back from Quidditch training. Oliver Wood, Gryffindor Quidditch team captain had asked, if not ordered that at least one member of Harry's close friends group would move with him, to 'protect their star player'. What that meant was that Harry was a frequented target of either the Slytherins or Hufflepuffs, who still were trying to ignore Harry, or attacking him in small groups.
His only friend in Hufflepuff stayed away from all the fighting, as she didn;t want to be seen to much with Harry. Only in self-study hours, did Susan Bones sit close to Harry, while they worked on their homework.
"I don't know Harry. You'll have to ask a 'proper pure-blood' that." Dora said as she imitated Pansy Parkinson, a particular nasty piece of work in Slytherin house.
"Hey Hagrid" Harry called as they saw Hagrid coming out of the third corridor, wiping somethings from his brown overcoat.
"Hello Harry, and Hello Dora" Hagrid called and as he waved, Harry and Dora could see something red on Hagrid´s hand.
"Hagrid?" Harry asked, as he pointed to the large hand of the tall but friendly man. "Is that blood?"
"Ah, well. You see." Hagrid started to look around, trying to change the subject.
"Did you by any chance went in the door, where Dumbledore told us a dangerous creature is sitting, waiting for it's new home to be ready?" Harry asked innocently. Hagrid looked at Harry with surprise. "What do you mean, what did Dumbledore told you about Fluffy?"
Harry and Dora blinked, then blinked again. "Fluffy?" Dora asked, as she looked at Hagrid.
"Yeah. He's mine. I bought him from a Greek chap and loaned him to Professor Dumbledore to help guard the Ehh..." Hagrid stopped right there, as if he was about to tell what Dumbledore had hidden in Hogwarts. "Fluffy?" Harry asked, his face lighting up, as if he had heard something funny. Harry started to laugh.
"Oh Thanks Hagrid, I really needed that" Harry said as he stepped past Hagrid. "See you tomorrow for tea?" Harry called and he smiled as Hagrid lifted this thumb up. Harry nodded and continued towards Gryffindor common room. "What do you think?" Harry asked.
"Well, he's hiding something there. That's for sure" Said Ginny as she came from Harry's invisibility cloak. When Dora would walk with Harry and Ginny under Harry's cloak, Hermione would sit in with lessons with McGonagall, trying to control her new wings.
Whenever Dora had her lesson, Hermione would walk under the cloak, while Ginny kept him company.
"Yeah. Let's see how Hermione is doing." Said Harry as he knocked on the door of the office of McGonagall. After a small wait, they heard a "Come in" from behind the door, and opened the door. Entering, Harry closed the door, seeing Hermione with her wings fully extended. Smiling, Harry nodded to one of his best friends and nodded politely to McGonagall.
"So Hermione. How goes the training?" Harry asked as he sat down next to McGonagall.
"It's going great. I can now control each feather with my mind, and if I need to, can separate them, and make them a defensive shield. Here, I'll show you" Said Hermione as she stood up, and stepped a few feet away from them all. Extending her wing, two feathers floated away and started to circle around her at a fast pace.
"Interesting. Do you mind if I test it?" Ginny asked, both to McGonagall and Hermione. "What would you mean with this test, Miss Goodwitch?" McGonagall asked, as she looked at the little red-haired witch.
"I think that Ginny means that she's going to shoot some low powered blast at Hermione's shields, to see how effective they are" Said Harry as he watched Hermione's wings spinning around her. Ginny nodded and took out Hammer and activated the lowest setting on it.
"Okay, do it before I lose my nerves" said Hermione. Ginny stood up from her chair and stepped several feet away from Hermione, with still her feathers spinning around.
"Here it goes" Ginny warned as she fired a first shot. Ginny's shield collided with the shot and absorbed it. "Nice" Said Harry as he watched the test taken place. Ginny's shots were increasing, with Hermione slowly being driven in a permanent defense mode, until she summoned two more feathers from her wings. The four feathers formed an almost unpenetrable barrier around Hermione, spinning around at enormous speeds. Harry smiled and jumped in, releasing his own barrage of bullets coming from his Hammer. Then, Hermione blasted her feathers away, aimed directly as Harry and Ginny. Both students jumped out of the way, before they looked at Hermione. She was now holding one feather, that slowly became a shield, shaping from a rectangle, to a square shield. Another feather that was still with Hermione flew to her hand and folded together, to become a sword.
"Wow" Said Harry as he looked at Hermione's new weapons. She still had two feathers on her wings. "Enough" McGonagall shouted, breaking all silence in her office. All looked at her.
"While this may be a new discovery, my office is certainly not a place for you to spar. Now, I'm giving ten points to Miss Granger for finding out her melee combat form, and both Harry Ozpin and Ginny Goodwitch five points for helping to find out how well Miss Granger's defense is." The students cheered.
"But if this happens again in my office, I'm going to remove so much points that Gryffindor will be in the negative when you all leave school." Said McGonagall, making all the four students in her office looking like angels. "Don't give me that look. It won't work on me, Mr Ozpin, like it did with your father." McGonagall said.
Harry looked up. "What do you know about my birth-parents, Professor?" Harry asked.
Of all the questions that Harry might have been asking, she never expected to hear that one. "What do you mean? Did nobody ever told you about your birth-parents?" She asked. Harry nodded.
"I only know that they were called James and Lily, I look a lot like my father, with my mother's eyes. They were in Gryffindor, but that's all I knew." Harry said, a she lowered his head.
"Harry, tomorrow is the match against Hufflepuff. You need a good night rest. If you win with more than a fifty points tomorrow, I'll tell you everything I know about James and Lily, including some of their friends."
Harry looked at his head of house. "I'll hold you to that" Harry said as he and his friends left McGonagall's office. Minerva McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house locked her door and moved to her bedroom, where she looked at a painting of a giant stag and a slightly smaller doe, standing next to a black dog, a wolf and a cat, that looked just like her animagus form.
"Oh James, Lily. Please forgive me for failing your son."She prayed as she looked at the stag and doe.
(A/N 1) We all know Lucius Malfoy loves to cheat and lie. So I made him lie to Fudge about Harry having a sister.
Harry will have no sister in this story. He is a single child.
(A/N 2) Yeah. If you know Dead Fantasy from Monty Oum, then you probably known where I got the idea for Hermione's weapon from. If Not... Then I'll tell you. Hermione's weapon is actually inspired by the Nanimé form from Kairi, with all the key-blades on her back, creating the image of wings with feathers. (For me at least)
Also, Ginny's shield is actually very much inspired by the shield that Rinoa Heartilly wears, called Silenced tear.
P.S. Check out my new Poll.