Chapter 12
12 Grimmuald Place
February 9th, 1996
As Chief pulled open the door, he was met by a thin middle-aged man. It seemed that his bright tomato-colored hair was beginning. From the way he was gawking at him, Chief knew he wanted to say something but couldn't get the words out of sheer astonishment. A few seconds passed, then the red-headed man finally extended his, "Arch-Arthur Weasley at your service," He stammered.
Cortana began to recognize his name instantly, "Arthur Weasley? So, this is who was mailing us!"
Chief began to recognize it too. After the interview, Master Chief had gotten plenty of mail from many folks. However, he noticed that much of the mail had come from the man standing in front of him.
"Sierra 117 at yours," Chief responded. He then pulled out his chip so that Cortana could greet him too, "Pleasure to meet you Arthur,"
Arthur's face of astonishment further increased at the sight of Cortana, "Fascinating, I knew muggles were capable things but this... I must say it's like a magic of its own!" He remarked, "I wonder do muggles in the future still use eckeltricity? How is all this possible? And what are you? And what about your friend? I've heard he can lift astonishing amounts."
Cortana smiled at his childlike wonder, "I am a UNSC Smart AI construct designated CTN 0452-9 but as you already know I go by Cortana, and yes, "muggles" still use electricity, though perhaps a lot more." She answered, "As far as my friend here you wouldn't believe the stunts he's pulled off," She began showing footage of Chief throughout the war.
"Amazing, I have so many que-,
"Hey, new guy! You better go downstairs the meeting's starting in the basement kitchen, and did Arthur ask you a storm?" said a young pink-haired woman.
"Right, I suppose we should do that..." Arthur said embarrassingly.
"The name's Tonks by the way."
Chief and Arthur both walked toward Tonks as she accidentally knocked an umbrella over with a loud echoing crash.
"Ah hell..."
Suddenly the portrait to the right of the Chief began opening her eyes, took one hard look and a sniff, and opened her mouth, "A muggle! Filth! Scum! The creature of mud and scum! Primitive savage! Begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers-"
A dark-haired man had come down the stairs rapidly and grabbed a cloth and covered the portrait, "I'm sorry about my pleasant mother, you must be John. I'm Sirius," he said as he extended his hand.
Alongside Sirius, a small, wrinkled, old elf had come bounding down. He looked up at Master Chief and pointed accusingly, "Filthy mud creature, Kreacher knows that mistress would never allow such vile despicable creatures to come into our home, oh if poor mistress saw this, what would happen!"
"That's enough Kreacher, go back to your disgusting corner," Sirius scolded.
Kreacher left grudgingly looking back at Sirius and Chief with utmost disgust.
"I suppose we should all head to the kitchen?" asked Chief
"Yeah, that'd work fine," he said tiredly
After a little while of waiting Dumbledore came into the basement kitchen. Snape was the first to talk, keeping general tabs on the schemes of the Death Eaters, other than that there wasn't much known except where they planned to attack. Chief presented modified satellite scans from Cortana but again no new information on the table. It seems Voldemort and his cronies were keeping low from the public eye. Still, after the meeting it allowed Chief to greet all the members of the Order. Mad eye Moody to Chief seemed paranoid to Chief but he reckoned he was a fine soldier. Tonks was young but had passion. Lupin seemed unwell and raggedy, while Sirius just seemed bored with everything. They all parted from the house except Sirius who remained and shut the door.
Hogsmeade.
February 14th,1996
Despite being a presence at Hogwarts, Chief didn't go out to Hogsmeade much. Since it was Valentine's Day some of the professors (Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall) decided to get a drink and asked the Chief to join. He wasn't too keen on it, but he had nothing else to do and went along. They all entered the Three Broomsticks Inn.
"What do I get?" asked Chief
Professor Sprout turned embarrassingly, "Oh I'm sorry, I should have acquainted you with the drinks. Let's see, there's the Butterbeer which I recommend if you don't drink much and the Fire whisky which is a little on the heavy side."
Master Chief decided to order some Butterbeers and brought some to the table. Sprout was the first to raise her glass, "Cheers!" as all the glasses clinked
John took one long swig of the drink. He immediately noticed how sweet and smooth it was, like a butterscotch cream. It went down warmly in his throat. The other Professors looked at him expectingly. "It's... different than what I've had before but I like it," he answered.
They spent the time chatting about various things, the state of the ministry, lives, etc. Flitwick and Chief talked about the repair of the Dawn. The difficulties and trials had the two professors interested. After a while, all except McGonagall and Master Chief were knocked out after a couple extra rounds of Fire Whisky. McGonagall and Chief both had to haul the sleeping professors outside. John had to smile, it was a long time since he hung out or had any fun. McGonagall had a small question for Chief. Everything she had heard of the Human-Covenant war but it was all vague, with no specifics, even in the Daily Prophet, they had only interviewed him on life in Hogwarts.
"Chief, what exactly happened back with your Earth? And I mean with the war," McGonagall asked.
Chief simply pulled out Cortana somberly. Cortana showed the footage. Good men tore open. A Sergeant was betrayed by a Monitor. A loving and innocent family holding each other as a plasma rifle raised. The impending doom of the extinction of humanity. Then the undead. Mutated corpses, chaos on all sides. Elites and Humans working against the greater threat. McGonagall's face paled at the genocidal Covenant and lost all color at the sight of the Flood.
"It wasn't the UNSC or me who saved humanity. We were only saved by luck, spite, and resilience," he said.
"It must have been horrible, the number of lives... I can't even fathom," She whispered softly.
"We made it though, broken, but whole." Chief said as they entered the train.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was almost a couple weeks later when Chief was teaching a lesson when he heard a "Hem, hem?"
The Chief turned around as he saw Umbridge. "Oh, it's her," Cortana said with disdain.
"What do you need?" Chief asked
Umbridge walked around Chief looking at the Hangar Bay, "I'm sorry for not checking up so often, I was busy with the other teachers. It has come to my attention that you've been hosting these 'wargames,'"
"What about it?"
"Well did you know that any student teams must be approved by me,"
Chief knew what she was getting at right away. Given the Ministry's position on teaching students Defense Against the Dark Arts, they wouldn't like what Chief was doing behind their backs, "I'm guessing you aren't approving"
"No, because these games prove useless to students and as High Inquisitor, I demand you stop with these simulations and teach real proven subjects."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I'll have to sack you and remove you from your ship. So, what will it be?"
She was starting to get on Chief's nerves, it was about time he got on hers, "No,"
"What?!"
"I said no, I'll stop the after-class wargames, but you can't stop my lesson plans"
Umbridge's eyes were full of fury, "Well, well I-I-"
"You and I both know you can't do anything to me,"
Umbridge opened her mouth but closed it. She knew that at this point he would remain on campus just like Trelawney, especially now with his functioning ship. The only thing she could do was prevent any students from attending his class. She left in silence, and the very next door a paper was posted on the Chief's door. He was now officially sacked.
The Great Hall.
February 28th.
Almost everyone hated the closing of the MDA classes. They were a decent bit of fun for Harry and his friends. It was like taking Quidditch off. Still, the news spread like a fire of how Master Chief stood up to Umbridge.
"It's about time she got her words handed back to her," Remarked Hermione
"Yeah, still it's a shame we can't have the games anymore," Ron said
"Why don't we ask the Professor to come then," Luna Lovegood said dreamily.
Ron took five seconds to stare at Luna who had just appeared out of nowhere right beside him, "Are you mad? We let students in but a teach-"
"Ron, I think she might have a point," Hermione interrupted.
Harry decided to join in, "Hermione's right, we all saw how he stood up to her. The ministry can't do anything to him right now, not while Dumbledore is around."
"Right, and a lot of the stuff we were doing in those competitions connect with what we do in the you-know-what," Hermione added.
"I guess you're right, so should we ask him?" Ron said
"We'll head over to the Dawn, okay?" Hermione answered.
After walking a considerable distance to the Dawn, the trio and Luna headed up to the Chief and asked him to join. After a while Chief spoke up
"And in layman's terms you want me to host secret lessons for your group?" Professor 117 inquired.
Hermione began talking, "Yes, it would be very good for learning...um teamwo-"
Ron interjected, "Look, you can really shove it to that toad if you-"
"Where is it?" Chief asked.
"Room of Requirements, on the 7th stairs, walk past the wall near the portrait three times and think where you want to go" Hermione answered instantly.
"Take the Warthogs, I'll go check it out later,"
"One last thing, what is that in the corner" Hermione noticed. In the corner was a rack of equipment, such as a suppressed SMG, ODST helmets, and a BR.
"That is an equipment rack, I had it hidden to prevent any theft," Chief elaborated.
Hermione edged close to the rack and to the surprise of everyone she pointed to a metal ODST backpack, "If you wouldn't mind, could I take... whatever this is,"
"I don't see why not, go ahead," Master Chief replied.
Hermione happily returned to the rest of the squad they all thanked Sierra-117 as they rushed toward the cars.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When the weekend came around Chief decided to pay those students a visit. He walked for a bit until he spotted the portrait that the student mentioned.
"Is this it?"
"Well, my scans show that there is something behind it. I suggest you follow those student's instructions," Cortana instructed, to which Chief followed to a t.
Soon a big stone arch appeared with a large door. Master Chief pushed it open and entered inside. He had arrived early at the meeting so only the trio and a few others were there. Immediately Hermione requested the Chief to give his signature onto a parchment that was essentially a confidentiality agreement. He complied as there wasn't much harm in doing so. Master Chief set up some of his equipment and waited. An hour passed, and more of the DA members arrived. Many were surprised to see Professor 117 in the room, but Hermione explained everything quickly. This club he was teaching was surprisingly efficient, and many who were there happened to be his top students. The lesson/simulations had gone fine and at the end of the day, Master Chief's name was put alongside the membership list.
While everybody left Hermione, Ron, and Harry stayed behind to thank Master Chief.
"It's all right, just doing what I can to improve you students," 117 said
"Well, if you wouldn't mind Hermione has a gift for you," Harry informed. As Chief nodded, Hermione pulled the ODST backpack from before.
Chief looked at Hermione and tilted his helmet in a confused look, "Um...thanks?"
"Oh, my bad I should explain! I figured that you tend to need to carry much. What I did here was apply an Undetectable Extension Charm on it," Hermione explained.
"I'm guessing this expands my storage magically?" Chief guessed.
"Correct," Hermione said
Chief held the backpack and inspected it as Cortana began her scans, "It appears that this newly modified tactical backpack has nearly infinite storage space. At this point it is the armory!"
Master Chief nodded in agreement and equipped the backpack, "Thank you, and it was a pleasure working with your group,"
And so Chief left the Room of Requirement back unto the Dawn.