Author's Note: Sorry for the delay since my last post. It's the busy season at work, and my daughter is probably a couple of weeks away from walking, so there's a lot of running after her as she moves around. It's all completely exhausting. My wife and daughter are on a small vacation visiting a friend, so I have a small weekend break to do some writing. Hope you all enjoy.
The Grotto
As they entered the great castle of Hogwarts, Harry and Lyra could feel a warm and inviting feeling permeating their mind and bodies. It was almost as if the castle was welcoming them back. Everything looked the same and familiar until they reached the entrance to the Scamander common room. Gone was the tapestry that showed a path leading off into a forest and had been replaced with a large wooden door that had an ivory door knocker that was shaped like a demiguise. As they approached, the eyes glowed blue. Whispers stood as tall as he could and looked the knocker in the eyes, and his eyes also glowed but stopped after a moment with a confused look on his face. Lyra tried using the knocker and last year's password though it still didn't open.
They entered the Great Hall last after all the other students had arrived to find a familiar setup. Floating candles lit up the hall while stars littered the ceiling as they did above the castle. The five tables of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Scamander were filled with students and stretched most of the hall. However, there was an empty sixth table running perpendicular to them at the front of the hall, just in front of the teachers' table. They had this same table last year for a few days after Lyra's hatstall that created their new house. Why it was there now seemed to be the question on everyone's minds, as could be heard through the rabble of discussions around the room.
Harry scanned the faculty table and saw many familiar faces, including Newton and Porpentina Scamander. However, sitting next to them was their son Guryon and his wife Janaína. Guryon had his father's face but was over a foot taller and built like a tank. His wife was closer to Tina's height and had a strong physique, though hers was more of a dancer. Newt's demiguise, Dougal, was sitting almost on top of Guryon, making sure his hair was straight and his clothes were free from wrinkles.
Harry had met both of them at the end of the previous year when Newt and Tina had been hospitalized after the basilisk attack. There was also some kind of cold attitude between Tina and Janaína that had yet to be explained. Lyra had read about Guryon from a reoccurring article in Teen Witch Weekly and his various adventures, tracking down various magical monsters that needed to be saved for one reason or another. After meeting his family, they found out the articles were written by his son, Rolf.
Scanning the rest of the table, there were empty spots where Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Professor McGonnagal, and Gilderoy Lockhart had sat last year. Harry assumed the latter of those three would be filled by Remus Lupin when the dementor was dealt with. Finally, at the far end of the table, almost as if the spot had been squeezed into the end, sitting sideways was a plump woman that Harry slowly recognized as Delores Umbridge. He had a brief encounter with her before meeting Cornelius Fudge at the ministry. He had initially taken a shine to her as she didn't care about his 'celebrity status,' but Brandt tried very hard to absolve him of such thoughts as he claimed she was a vile and spiteful woman.
Harry and Lyra sat down at their table between Lee Jordan and Cedric Diggory, wearing his shiny prefect and Quidditch captain badges. A cup of hot chocolate appeared before them as they sat down. Whispers began looking under the covers for the food, but none had arrived yet.
"Are you both ready to play some Quidditch this year?" Cedric asked enthusiastically.
Lyra enthusiastically replied, while Harry was a bit more stoic as he had been press-ganged into it last year but had made the commitment.
Further discussion was halted as a door behind the staff table opened, and in walked Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Remus Lupin. Harry's eyes were drawn immediately to Severus Snape, who looked at Lupin with fury and hatred in his eyes. Without skipping a beat, Lupin walked over to Professor Sinestra, who was sitting next to Snape, and spoke quietly in her ear. She stood up and moved to another empty chair. Snape looked even angrier at this move. Though before even sitting down, Lupin pulled a dark bottle from his robes and passed it to Snape, who looked at it with interest, then motioned for Lupin to sit, though he still looked annoyed at the very least.
Dumbledore approached the lectern, and the hall became silent, "I would like you all to stand and welcome Hogwarts' newest students!"
Everyone hesitantly stood up as the doors in the rear of the hall opened, and a mass of small students flooded into the hall, being herded by Hagrid. There were more than twice as many students in this class as there had been in Harry's year, which would drastically increase the school population. They all looked around in wonder, and a few of the ones he had already met waved at him. Astoria Greengrass was among them and looked around for Whispers, who had vanished seconds before. Rachel Nevitt seemed to be the center of attention among some of the first years as she retold the story of the dementor. As they reached the tables, someone started clapping, which set off a round of applause from the students and staff, welcoming the new students to Hogwarts.
Once they were at the new table, Dumbledore motioned for everyone to sit. "Welcome students, old and new! Last year, we added to the legacy of Hogwarts with the addition of House Scamander. At that time, we had a resorting of students where I noticed something remarkable. A few of the students who had been sorted the first time before it had been stopped had their destination changed just after a few short days at Hogwarts. In that regard, we will be having five days for our new students to get to know Hogwarts and its houses before being sorted. I hope this will create stronger bonds with each student's house as they continue in their time at the school."
His expression darkened, "As for the unpleasantness most of you experienced as you arrived, there will be an announcement after the meal. The hot chocolate will help ease any residual discomfort you are feeling as you are enjoying the welcoming feast."
"Nitwit!"
"Blubber!"
"Oddoment!"
"Tweak!"
"Errant!"
"Wilcim!"
Harry raised an eyebrow at the last word of power Dumbledore added, which seemed to sound like 'Welcome' but wasn't. He didn't have any time to think more about it as the tables were covered with food for the feast. A happy screech from Whispers turned his attention to his own plate as he began to gather food.
The hot chocolate bolstered his mood as he spoke with his friends about their summers. Arthur Bell and his family had gone to a Quidditch tournament in Japan, though it reinforced his desire not to play after seeing the ferocity that the professionals fought with each other and was happy that their team would be wearing real helmets. Lee Jordan stayed home most of the time but had managed to make a familiar bond with his pet tarantula, which would now come when it was called and allow him to give it silly hats to wear.
Neville became the center of attention as he retold the story of his recovery quite a bit which heaped much praise on Brandt, who many of the others knew of just for the amount of time he visited the castle for Harry and Lyra. Greg was also happy to have his friend back and even more so that he had newfound energy and enthusiasm to be social with others.
Lyra was clustered up with the girls of their house. Millicent had taken up a tutor over the summer for muggle boxing and was looking forward to knocking Harry and Greg's heads off in their muggle duels. Patricia had visited Central America, where she met a boy who attended school in El Dorado, a magical city in Columbia made entirely of gold. Luna Lovegood had gone on a safari with her father looking for an elusive creature known to her as a Crumple-horned Snorkack and determined that it did not live in the regions they visited in Central Africa.
Yuri (Lily), Megan, and Su had attended a few local Quidditch matches together in preparation for being the starting chasers on the house team. All three girls looked up to the three female Gryffindor chasers and the Harpies as role models in this regard. Daria and Meli were trying to have a private conversation, but Colin was not so subtly trying to edge in to chat up Meli.
Harry sat and listened to many Quidditch-related stories and had a bite of chocolate cake from a dessert platter. Maybe some of the dementor exposure had made him dread Quidditch more, as the chocolate was helping him feel better. To add a little energy, William Summerford leaned over and gave him a shock of electricity through his fork, then smirked and stole the rest of his dessert.
As all the students began to slow down eating, Dumbledore approached the lectern and garnered silence from the student body. He gazed out over the students and smiled.
"Now that you are all fed and watered - as I mentioned before, our new students will have time to get to know Hogwarts before being sorted. The prefects have already been made aware of this, and each house will be hosting the first years for one day to extoll the virtues of their house upon them. They will visit Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Scamander in that order. Use the other days to organize clubs, Quidditch, and prepare for the new year."
"We have three new staffing changes this year. The first is because Professor Kettleburn has retired." This announcement was met with many noises of sorrow from the hall. "After the incident with the basilisk, he decided that now would be a good time to spend his later years with his family and remaining limbs. He managed to nominate his own replacement, Mr. Guryon Scamander!"
The very large and strong man stood up at his place at the table and waved. His robe either did not fit very well or fit very well, depending on how one looked at it, as it was exceptionally tight around his chest, whereas most others would have it much looser to hide their physique. After accepting the applause from the students, he sat back down, with both his mother and wife smiling kindly at him and then daggers at each other.
"After Professor Lockhart's untimely and heroic demise, we have found a replacement in a distinguished alumnus of Hogwarts. Mr. Remus Lupin joins our staff for the position of professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
As most of Hogwarts had seen his skill, defending them from the dementor, Lupin received a roaring welcome and applause. The man looked shocked at the attention and smiled bashfully back as he stood and waved.
When the noise died down, Dumbledore continued, "Professor Binns was unable to be revived following the incident at the end of last year and is still bouncing around the hallways of this institution. It was impressed upon me by the ministry that we needed someone who is able to get everyone up to date on world events quickly, and they assigned one of their own to fill the seat for Magical History." He didn't look happy at this announcement. Many of the older students also looked worried at his use of the word, 'Everyone.'
With a deep sigh, Dumbledore gestured to the roundish woman in fuchsia robes at the end of the table, "Please welcome Madam Delores Umbridge to Hogwarts."
There was a scattering of applause around the room. Harry looked and saw quite a few students who looked a bit sick at Dumbledore's proclamation. Behind him, at the Ravenclaw table, Hermione was cheering the loudest of anyone. The pink woman stood up and looked like she wanted to walk forward, but her feet wouldn't move. She glared quickly at Dumbledore, who had his wand poking slightly out of his sleeve with a grayish spell glowing on the tip. She growled slightly, then smiled, waved, and sat back down. The reactions of everyone around him seemed to solidify Brandt's impression of her in Harry's mind.
"Welcome to all our new professors!" Dumbledore said with light applause of his own. "One of the reasons for the need for so many worldly teachers is next year, Hogwarts will host a monumental event. Originally the plan was to revive the fabled Tri-Wizard Tournament, but that has been scrapped for an even greater spectacle, a Wizarding Olympics!"
This announcement was met with shock, disbelief, applause, and confusion.
"This great Tournament of the Ages will put all of you in competition against students from at least ten magical schools from across the world. Every student will be welcome to test their mettle in various feats of strength and skill, both magical and mundane. You will get to explore new cultures, learn new magics, and make new friends. There will be a wide range of events to compete in, and even seventh-year students now will be welcomed back to try their hand against other recent graduates outside of the general tournament."
"Over the next year, the castle and grounds, along with the town of Hogsmeade, will undergo many changes. The castle will be hosting many people that will be working on incredible projects to prepare the castle for these events. All of you will have the chance to earn house points and gain real-world experience in your magical studies by helping out."
"Additionally, our class schedule will change. Mondays will be spent learning world history, having optional lectures from our staff, and training for the various events should you wish to compete. As a result, the rest of the week will have a heavier workload."
This announcement was met with a mixed response as lighter Mondays would be balanced with heavier weeks.
"Finally, to address the incident on your arrival. A dementor was dispatched from Azkaban prison as a high-security prisoner escaped ministry custody. Many of the older students here may remember the name of the prisoner from years ago. His name is Sirius Black."
The effect around the room was worse than saying Voldemort with a sonorous charm. Professor Snape's face darkened on instinct, and Lupin crushed the metal goblet he was holding with his bare hand. At the Scamander table, every glass within three places of Harry exploded, causing students around him to dive for cover.
When people stared at him, he mumbled, "That idiot, Fudge, couldn't hold him for a single week."
Dumbledore took in all the reactions before telling them, "For whatever reason, the dementor has determined that Sirius Black may be coming to Hogwarts. Know that all of you are safe behind these walls and that your professors and I will protect you. The prisoners accompanying the dementor are an unknown situation and appear to be acting as scouts or guards of some sort. They will not enter the grounds, and all of you are to stay away from them. They are not fooled by disguises, disillusionment, or invisibility cloaks. Aurors will be on patrol as well to make sure that students do not run into the dementor."
"On that note, please return to your dormitories for the night. Professor Burbage will take the first-year students to their temporary dorms. Sleep well."
Students began pooling out of the hall. Cedric corralled all the Scamander students and led them toward their dormitory. Probably by magic, the four adult Scamanders, plus Dougal, met them at the entrance. The demiguise was on Guryon's shoulders, making sure his face was clean with a cloth napkin but he jumped down when he saw Whispers greeting him with one hand on his shoulder, but no dominance contest. Whispers was now the same size as the much older demiguise.
"Welcome back, students," Newt greeted them. "For those who don't know, this is my son, Guryon, and his wife Janaína Silva Scamander. Tina and I will be spending most of the year at our home overseeing our menagerie of magical animals, so Guryon and Janaína will be acting Heads of House in our absence. On that note, I will turn things over to him."
Harry was a bit stunned. He liked Newt and Tina, and now they were leaving? His emotions seemed to reflect on the faces of many of his classmates as he looked around the hallway.
Guryon stepped up, towering over his father, and placing a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, my mom and dad will be back often. I hope to live up to them as much as possible, though he is Newton Artemis Fido Scamander, so I hope I at least get close. I've made some changes to your common room. Let me show you."
Harry and Lyra bristled at the idea that he had made changes without consulting them and gripped each other's hands tightly while biting their tongues.
Janaína stepped up and used the knocker on the door while saying, "Welcome to The Grotto."
The door swung open and revealed a flight of stairs downward. She led the way down to a large bronze door that opened into a cave. Across a stone floor was another large bronze door but to their right was a shock to everyone. There was a crystal lake nearly thirty feet across, surrounded by plants and rocks, with a waterfall on the far side. Harry and Lyra rushed to the side and dipped their fingers into the water. It wasn't a hot spring, but it was comfortably cool. Many other students also tried the water and showed their delight.
"My husband and I spent the summer building this grotto as the new entrance to your common room. The door opposite the entrance will lead to your project rooms, the dueling arena, and our quarters and office. If you had a project room, a key has been delivered to your belongings. If you want to give others access, let us know later."
With a grand gesture of her wand, the surface of the pool turned to ice and then to stone.
"Over the next month, I will teach all of you the charm of walking on water. Until then, you will need to walk around to reach the waterfall entrance."
The group followed her across the solid surface of the pool till they reached the waterfall. With another wave of her wand, the water cascading down turned purple. She gestured for everyone to walk through. Newt, Tina, and Guryon led the way, disappearing after going through the water. When it was Harry's turn, he hesitantly walked through. It didn't feel wet, and when he got through, he was back in the common room, which looked almost the same as it had before.
The most obvious difference was there were now multiple hammocks and swings of different types placed throughout the balete trees in the room. Whispers saw this and scampered up his favorite tree and into one of the highest hammocks. The other thing that was different was that the dormitories were not as they were. Instead of stairs connecting the levels, there were only two hobbit doors along the bottom, but also many others higher up the walls with various climbing holds, ropes, and bars leading up to them.
"The lower dormitories are separated for boys and girls, regardless of year," Guryon explained. "If you want more private accommodations, take your things up to a higher room which can be singles or for up to four students."
"How do we get up there?" Millicent asked.
"Exactly how it looks," Guryon replied with a smile. Harry, Lyra, and Neville smiled along with him. He added, "Your housemate, Neville, has a brilliant climbing gym that I've also improved if you need help building your strength to reach a higher dorm."
"One last thing," Janaína added, gesturing to one of the hobbit hole dorms on the ground level.
She opened the door and led everyone inside. Gone were the luxurious beds, oak dressers, and comfy chairs for their desks. Each spot had a basic cot for a bed, along with a very basic desk, dresser, bookshelf, and an unpadded wooden chair.
"Occasionally, in the evenings, I will be teaching you all basic transfiguration and enchanting to improve your environment," Janaína told them. "You are all wizards and should use your skills as often as possible. The upper dorms have nothing in them. Anything you make for them needs to be done down here and moved up there. This was how I was instructed by my grandmother during my summer vacations, and she lived at the top of a five-hundred-foot-tall tree."
Students looked on in disbelief, but Guryon said, "The first summer I spent with her, she didn't tell me I could use magic, and I carried all our things up by hand with Janaína in a backpack harness giggling the whole time."
Most of the students laughed at that.
Tina spoke up, "Go find your things and settle in for the night. Girls are in the other dorm."
Harry found his things quickly enough and laid down on his cot. It was stiff and uncomfortable. Grabbing a blanket, he headed outside and saw that Lyra had retrieved her kitten, Silvy, and beat him to the hammock where the two of them and Whispers were sleeping. So he climbed the tree and claimed a nearby spot between a few wide branches and curled up to go to sleep.
The walls and ceiling of the Scamander common room displayed the sun, moon, and stars by the time of the day. So when the sun rose over the mountains on the east side of the room, Harry began his day. They had nearly an entire week before classes began, and he probably had enough things to do to fill the entire time. The first and most important of them was he needed to check on the Usurper.
Brandt had set up some kind of alert to let him know when the great serpent awoke from the cocoon it put itself in at the end of the last term, but it hadn't been triggered yet. Regardless, he wanted to check for himself. Walking down the empty hallways of the school,
Harry walked by sections of walls and floor that had freshly installed masonry from places the basilisk had destroyed during its battle with Newt and Tina Scamander.
Finally turning the last corner to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, he found that it had also been changed. Instead of the entrance to a bathroom, there was a large wooden door with the Slytherin crest on the door in solid silver. He approached the door, but it was locked. An unlocking charm also didn't work.
§Kingabane§
There was a soft click, and Harry opened the door. It swung open to reveal a small potion laboratory. The walls were stocked with various colored bottles, and there were brewing stations where the bathroom stalls used to be. It lacked the frightening motif of the classroom in the dungeon and instead was replaced with one of extreme professionalism. The large marble sink had been replaced with a lecture podium and chair, which currently held Severus Snape.
"You couldn't wait, could you?" he told Harry with a bit of a smile.
"No Se-. No sir, Professor Snape," Harry corrected himself.
"The Usurper is still cocooned, though there is something that you may like to see. Come," he instructed Harry as he stood up. "Kingsbane," he spoke to the lecture podium.
The lectern and the chair melted into the ground along with the floor below it to reveal a set of stairs leading downward. Snape led the way down, which lasted only two minutes, before reaching another door. It opened into the room where the disgusting pool of water had been previously. Now it was well-lit, and there was a narrow bridge through the middle of the clean, serene, blue waters.
Harry looked around at the changes and smiled, then got a thoughtful look in his eyes and said, "You could have left the cleaning for students in detention."
Snape chuckled, "That would have been fun. Send a bunch of students into the eerie, disgusting, and fabled Chamber of Secrets for the night, with no way out, and tell them to clean everything."
They both laughed before Snape led the way down the long corridors, spotless and lined with torches holding bluebell flames until the main chamber was opened. Inside the large room, a sunlight charm lit up the room from the top of the domed ceiling, and there was no evidence that a basilisk had died there, nor had half the room been covered in Phoenix fire. The entire floor of the room was covered in a thick layer of fluffy moss with small flowers sprouting randomly out of it.
On the far side of the room, at the base of the statue of Salazar Slytherin, the cocoon of the Usurper was entrenched. When they left, it had been a glowing yellow, made of a pus-like substance the snake had excreted from its body after consuming most of its mortal enemy. Now it was darker brown and contracted closer around the body of the colossal snake. Though it still grew and shrank with a soft glow like the breathing of a hibernating animal.
"Part of the cocoon broke about three weeks ago," Snape explained. "As it covered the floor, plants started growing, and I've even seen a few fairies that have somehow gotten in here that we're attracted to the new magical growth. Mr. Guryon Scamander and Professor Sprout are both fascinated by all of it."
Harry looked at the sleeping sheep that Brandt had preserved as his alert for when the Usurper woke up. It was still dozing in silence under the red glow, keeping it unconscious and preserved. He walked as close as he could to the cocoon and whispered.
§Can you hear me?§
He gave a shrug to Snape when he received no response. The potions professor gestured to him, and they left the room. They walked in silence until reaching the stairs.
"I was told you had an interesting summer," Snape told him casually.
Harry thought back, "I guess. I met some mercenaries, killed a bunch of balbal and crocodiles, another two sigbins, Lyra got to play with a vulkatross, saw some dragons, met with the minister, and attended a wedding."
Snape skipped over nearly all of it and asked with a scowl, "The meeting with Fudge. The one you were training your intimidation skills for. Was it about Sirius Black?"
Harry stopped mid-step on the stairs. Of course, Severus would figure it out.
Harry nodded, "I wanted to see his face. I wanted to know why he betrayed my parents. Fudge found out he never got a trial and was setting one up for this weekend."
Snape looked shocked, "I would have liked to see that too. But now he's loose." They walked another half minute in silence before he spoke again, "What do you think of the new teachers?"
Snape hadn't cared about anything regarding the answer to the question of how he spent his summer except the meeting with the minister. Harry was pretty sure this was another such question. There was nothing scandalous about Guryon Scamander, and everyone seemed to dislike Umbridge, so his professor was asking him about his thoughts on Lupin.
Without stopping, Harry replied, "You can just ask me what I think about Remus Lupin without dancing around it." Snape didn't stop walking either and just smiled, so Harry continued, "I know he was friends with my parents, just like Sirius Black was. He's in an album that Hagrid got me. He might not have betrayed them, but he abandoned me all the same. He looked me in the eye on the train and said nothing. He does look incredibly strong, as he fought that dementor and crushed a goblet with his bare hand when Dumbledore announced the news about Sirius Black."
They reached the opening back into the potions lab, and Snape replied, " A valid assessment. I know you give people the opportunity for second chances, like with Draco and Narcissa. Is there any message you want me to pass on to him?"
Harry thought for a moment, then said, "Not yet."
Then he left Snape's lab to head to breakfast.
Snape entered the Defense Professor's office to find Remus Lupin at his desk with an unhappy look on his face.
"Did you find whatever you were looking for that could find Black?" Snape asked the scarred man.
He shook his head, "Filch took the thing I can't talk about during our seventh year. It could be anywhere now, as he doesn't have it now or remember anything about it. Did you talk to Harry?"
"Just as I predicted, he made a beeline for that monster under the school."
"I don't know which is stranger, that James's son is a parselmouth or that he likes you," he wondered while shaking his head. "I'm sure Dumbledore has some long and complicated explanation for both that will only have half of the real story. Did he say anything about me? He looked at me on the train like he knew who I was."
"He has his mother's intelligence along with his father's ridiculous hair. He does know who you are. He has a photo album that Rubeus put together for him last year. He sees your absence as a kind of betrayal but has moved past it. I would recommend treating him just like any other student for now."
Lupin put his head between his hands and lowered it down to the table. After a moment, he brought it back up, "So, do we still have a deal?"
"I was always going to supply you with the potion. Dumbledore's orders. However, it will be good to have you out in the forest during the full moon looking for Black. In exchange, I won't reveal your condition to anyone in the school, especially not the Toad."
"I lost three friends. You lost one. I want him dead more than you," Lupin growled with his teeth bared. One of his teeth grew slightly for a moment before retracting.
"You might not want to kill him yet," Snape advised to Remus's shock and mild confusion. "Apparently, Harry is part of the reason for Black's escape. He bullied the minister into a face-to-face interrogation with Black to demand answers for his betrayal. Before that could happen, it was discovered Black never got a trial. He was out of Azkaban to get one, and that's when he escaped. If you kill him before Harry speaks to Black, I would imagine he would be quite put out."
"But The Prophet said…" Lupin started holding up the paper.
"Since when has that rag been truthful?"
Lupin thought for a moment before asking, "He doesn't need his legs to testify, does he?"
"No, he doesn't." Snape smiled, "I don't think he does."
The paper arrived as Harry briefed Lyra at breakfast about his encounter with Snape.
Sirius Black Escapes Ministry Custody!
Late evening yesterday, alarms went off through the ministry, putting every active Auror on high alert for the escape of a prisoner from holding inside the Ministry of Magic. The prisoner in question was none other than the fabled and infamous Sirius Black.
Black was a double agent for You-Know-Who, who had snuck his way into Dumbledore's vigilante group and passed information from the inside to the Dark Lord. There is no way to confirm how many people died because of the leaks he made, though the most notable is that of James and Lily Potter. His actions to cause the end of the lives of his former friends also ended the war as Harry Potter was able to deflect the killing curse from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on that fateful night.
Following the demise of the Dark Lord, Black went after another former friend, Peter Pettigrew, cornering him in South London. The two traded spells in a fierce duel that ended with an explosion that decimated Pettigrew, most of the street, and thirteen muggles. All that remained of Pettigrew were two fingers.
Minister Fudge released a statement that they were bringing in Black to provide testimony in an undisclosed trial, and he mysteriously vanished from holding. There is no information being released now on how the escape was done, and no informants in the Auror office have been able to provide further enlightenment.
In addition to the Aurors, a dementor was dispatched from Azkaban. For unknown reasons, it went to Hogwarts to search for him. While there, it encountered a large group of arriving students and demanded they hand over Black. Aurors and the new Defense Professor corralled the dementor to provide safe passage to the children and then assured the guard that Black wasn't with the students.
We will continue to provide updates as more become available.
"They left quite a bit out," Harry mumbled.
"Fudge is covering himself," Lyra explained. "Probably doesn't want to cause a panic either."
Just as Harry was about to reply, a raven swooped in and dropped a letter for him. He opened it and found a quick message.
Don't do anything rash. I will see you on Saturday.
-Brandt
"Were you about to do something?" Lyra asked.
Harry was about to make a denial but was betrayed by the arrival of Hermes, looking at him expectantly.
"Not anymore, I guess." He pulled a dead mouse from his pouch and tossed it to the owl. "I was going to send my disapproval to Fudge," Harry explained as the owl flew away.
They each had quite a bit to do before school would be in session, so after breakfast, they tracked down Professor Flitwick to test out Lyra's vulkatross feather. The tiny man was quite interested in testing out what would happen and took them to their old knife training room to perform the tests. It took him quite some time to enchant the room with what he felt were an appropriate number of fireproofing spells, and then asked to see the feather.
The red feather was over twice the height of their diminutive professor, and he admired it closely.
"There is a significant amount of magic contained in this," he told them with a toothy smile. "I can't wait to see what it does."
Not wanting to use the entire feather, Lyra pulled out a dozen of the vanes and gave the rest to Harry to hold onto. In the corner of the room, Flitwick placed numerous shields around himself, Whispers, and Harry and then told Lyra they were ready.
Whispers's eyes glowed for a moment, and then muttered, "Haaaawt."
She focused on the parts of the red feather, and after a moment, heat spread through the room. There was no fire but even behind the shields of the Charms Professor, Harry could feel himself begin to sweat. They could see the distortion in the air from the heat for a second before a stack of papers in the corner of the room burst into flames. Lyra immediately stopped the exercise, and when the room had cooled down, Flitwick put out the fire.
"Well, Miss Black, that was most interesting. Did any of the heat disturb you?" Lyra shook her head. "Regardless, I trust that you won't do that again without proper supervision?"
Lyra nodded her head in response to their teacher.
"This year will be challenging for the two of you. While you are still learning the basics, the Headmaster wants all the professors to push the students so we can make a good standing in his tournament next year."
"We are already working hard," Harry told him confidently.
"Good," he told them with a smile. "Warn your friends; there will be no room for complaining about the course load."
After lunch, Harry spotted another argument forming between Ron Weasley and Hermione.
"Why can't we just do it in the common room?" Ron was complaining.
"Because it's your common room, idiot. You don't get a home-field advantage. That's why I suggested the study room on the 6th floor," she countered.
"Sure, because a study room isn't your turf," he replied with an eye roll.
"So anywhere you can study is out? This is a school, you know. It makes sense that you want to use your common room, as Gryffindors must never study.
Harry edged in, "Why not do it here?"
Both participants shared a look, daring the other to say no to the proposal.
"How do we keep other people from messing with it?" Hermione asked.
Out of nowhere, Lupin appeared, "I can take care of that. Do you have the chessboard?"
Harry scrutinized the man who must have been listening in on the conversation from across the room before him before heading back to the common room to grab the board. In the grotto, he walked around the small lake, and the waterfall changed color to purple as he got close. Stepping through brought him back to the common room proper.
When he got back to the Great Hall, Ron and Hermione were staring daggers at each other across a podium that had been set up. Before taking the board, Lupin carved a number of runes into the top of the podium and then took the board and placed it on top. Once it was down, he tried picking it up again, and it didn't budge.
On two of the squares of the board, on opposite sides, he carved more symbols with a glowing wand tip. Ron started tapping his foot while Hermione looked on with interest. When he was done, he asked them both to put one hand over each rune set. Hesitantly, they both did, and their defense professor conjured two ultra-thin needles, drawing looks of concern from both of them.
Stashing his wand, he took one in each hand and addressed the competitors, "Don't worry. These aren't for what you think they are for. Just for the purpose of theatrics… Hey! What's that?"
Both of them looked where he gestured and missed the moment when he jabbed both needles straight through the top of their hands into the chessboard. By the time they both screamed, he had pulled out the needles and vanished them.
"Don't worry," he said with a smile. "No damage done. Now the two of you are the only ones who can touch the table, and you need to take turns doing so."
They both examined their hands to see no blood and then took turns touching the table. When it wasn't their turn, they got a small shock. Lupin showed that it always shocked him when he tried. Satisfied with the setup, they flipped a knut to see who would go first. Ron won but chose to go second.
The first ten moves went quickly, then slowed when it was clear that neither would win right away. At fifteen moves, they both left the board to do other things. Ron seemed disappointed that it wasn't going to be over as quickly as he wanted it to be.
After dinner, Cedric called for a meeting in their common room. He already had a fire going when they all arrived, and the Scamander family was sitting to the side in the kitchenette as observers. When they had all gathered around, he began to speak.
"I've been thinking about what we should do when we have the first-year students on Monday. All the second-year students remember what they got to do last year, and that's the same thing that the other houses are going to do for them this year as well. For Sunday night, we are going to host all of them for a sleepover. Campfire, sleeping bags, stargazing, the works."
"S'mores?" Colin asked hopefully.
"Those marshmallow sandwiches? Sure. Does anyone else have an idea?"
"Ghost stories?" Daria asked.
"I guess we could get one of the ghosts to tell some stories," Cedric replied with a confused tone. "I don't see why, though."
"No!" Daria and a few others laughed. "Like scary stories… For fun!"
"Leave it to me, Cedric," Lee told them with a sinister smile, reminding Harry of one of the twins.
"Ok, that's on Lee. Does anyone have ideas for the next day?"
There was silence throughout the room. All the other things to do we're being taken care of by the other houses. There wasn't anything left for them.
"Why not take them into the forest?" Guryon suggested from the side of the room.
"Because it's dangerous?" Cedric replied questioningly.
"So is everything else in this castle," he answered back. "Janaína and I can join you all, plus the groundskeeper. They should be shown that danger does exist and why they shouldn't play with it."
Harry and Lyra nodded along. Children did need to be exposed to danger to teach them to avoid it or how to deal with it. That was a daily experience for both of them. It also gave Harry another idea.
"We can take them to the Chamber of Secrets," he suggested.
That was met with complete silence.
Guryon broke the silence with a happy laugh, "Excellent idea Mr. Potter. You can do the Chamber after breakfast and the forest after lunch." It looked like his parents were unsure of the whole thing, so he added, "Mom, Dad, the two of you should come along for extra security." They seemed to sigh in acceptance of this.
"As there are way too many firsties for me to handle on my own," Cedric began, "I'm deputizing Patricia and Millicent to help me look after all of them."
"Because we are girls?" Patricia asked incredulously.
"Because you both kick ass and won't let some little brats push you around," they smiled at his comment. "Though we will, of course, need Harry to go to the Chamber, and any of you are welcome to come with to both."
A trip to the legendary Chamber of Secrets as well as one into the forest, interested everyone, so it appeared as if the full house would accompany them. Cedric ended the meeting by informing them that they had the Quidditch pitch booked for two hours every day from 10 am to noon the next three days, and The Harpies were coming to help with their training on Saturday.
Cedric and Lyra were the only ones smiling when they finished Quidditch practice on Friday. The whole house was there to watch, even if they weren't on the team. However, even as spectators, they looked on in terror at the ruthlessness that Cedric employed to train them.
They barely got any time to play in the air and spent most of the time on fundamentals. Harry, Greg, Neville, and Millicent just hit bludgers at each other until their shoulders were burning. Harry switched arms every now and then to keep them from being overtaxed, but his friends didn't have the luxury of being ambidextrous.
All the chasers and reserves played against each other, trying to make steals from each other and shooting at Cedric as Arthur refused to play. They would need to find a new reserve keeper now.
Lyra had four training bludgers hunting her as she searched for a snitch throughout the whole practice. She and William were searching for different colored snitches, hers blue and his green, while being pursued by the iron balls that would just mark them if hit. William was doing well with just one hunting him and started getting tagged when they increased to two. Lyra, on the other hand, did fine with three and would occasionally get hit with four chasing her. Just watching her fly so effortlessly made Harry feel a lot more comfortable with the sport.
At the end of their practice, they all moved like a herd of tortoises to lunch, groaning all the way from the massive workout. They all arrived back to the common room after lunch looking to find some rest but instead found Guryon and his wife Janaína in the middle of a sparring match.
Guryon outweighed her by at least two times, though he was completely outclassed by her speed. She moved with superhuman speed, jumping in close to deliver hits to his torso before leaping back to avoid a grapple. The whole house of students stared in awe at the brawl taking place. Despite the blows he was taking, Guryon didn't seem phased; he just smiled and made motions for her to keep attacking.
In response, she dashed forward and made two feints to either side before jumping and delivering a spinning kick straight to the side of Guryon's head. A bit of blood flew from his nose and mouth as his head bent to absorb the blow. Most of the students reacted with horror at the sight. However, instead of getting knocked down, he grabbed her entire leg with a meaty hand, then threw her bodily into the air like a rag doll.
As she reached the top of the throw, they could see her looking and trying to regain control of herself, but on the way down, she shifted her whole form into a large black panther, landing on her feet without issue.
"Ha! I win!" Guryon cheered himself.
His wife shifted back as the students applauded.
"You're still behind by three matches," she replied smugly. Then she looked at the students, "You all look exhausted."
"Quidditch practice," Cedric explained. "That was an incredible fight. The two of you do that often?"
Guryon smiled, "Once every few days. The first one to submit or shift into their animagus form loses."
"You're an animagus too?" Harry asked expectantly.
He smiled and fell forward, immediately turning into a large and regal lion. As soon as his paws hit the ground, he let out a mighty roar. After the students finished applauding, he jumped up and changed back to his human form.
"It's really the best thing a wizard can do with their magic," he told them. "It benefits you in so many ways."
Millicent raised her hand, "What if your form is going to be lame? My father took me to a seer when I was six, and he said I would probably be large and fat, like some kind of pig." She looked immensely sad at that and a bit embarrassed.
Janaína came close and gave her a hug. When she let go, she told her, "And I assume you associate pigs with being fat or gross?" Millicent nodded. "They are also smart, quick learners, immensely strong, and can eat through bones like butter."
She took a step back and addressed the class, "Seers can be wrong. As soon as someone tells you the future, it changes. Sometimes it is inevitable, and you may take a different path to reach it, or it may change completely because you know about it. Or it might happen exactly the way they predicted, but they didn't see the whole picture."
"She's right," Guryon told them. "It's actually a very common practice for some seers to predict a child's animagus form before they bother attempting it. One of them predicted my form as being cute and fluffy."
"They were right," his wife smiled. "Just it needed the right person to think so."
"The other thing you can do is work on yourself," Guryon supplied. "Maybe I was going to be something more cute and fluffy, but then I started to train myself, my body, and my magic. When I felt I was fully grown, that's when I performed the ritual. All of you are still children. You're still growing, and while it is possible to do the ritual now, you don't have to. You can wait until you're fully grown and not likely to change more."
There was a bit of silence before Lyra broke it, "I still want to do it with Harry this summer."
"I've signed up with Professor McGonagall this year," Cedric added.
"Excellent," Janaína smiled. "I'm sure all of you will have wonderful forms. Though if you ever feel like you have unused potential, you have the opportunity to work on it between now and whenever you need to be the best wizard you can be."
"Now, I bet you all want to get some rest," Guryon told them.
Harry massaged his shoulder, "What I really want is a hot spring."
"You've got one," Guryon pointed out the door, back to the waterfall.
"That water is too cold," Lyra objected.
"Wizards," Guryon pointed to himself and his wife. "If you've got swimming clothes, grab them. If you don't, just wear something that you don't mind getting wet, and come out to the grotto."
Harry and Lyra sprinted ahead of everyone else to get their swimming clothes, quickly changing and heading back out.
As he came out, Harry called out to the balete trees, "Whispers! Hot spring!"
There was a noise of confusion followed by a silver monkey dropping to the ground and scampering after Harry, still with a confused look on his face. His small kitten companion plodded along after him with a curious look. When they got out to the grotto, they were the first ones there, and Whispers wasted no time jumping in.
As soon as he touched the water, he screeched and swam back out, "Coooold!" he yelled at Harry, who was dipping his toes in. The water temperature hadn't changed yet. Silvy waited patiently and watched Whispers and the children with interest.
Whispers stood there shivering as the others came out, some in swimwear, others in clothing that they didn't mind getting wet. Eventually, Guryon and Janaína joined them, each carrying a golden ball covered in runes. When they got to the edge, they each tapped the orbs, which began to glow, and then tossed them into the water, letting them sink to the bottom.
"It's hard to create an active enchantment that heats water so you can swim in it but doesn't boil you like an egg," Guryon explained. "So, in this case, we used two enchantments linked together. One orb heats the water, while the other one monitors the temperature and stops the heat if it gets too high. It's not possible for reasons I won't get into for them to be part of the same object to enchant."
As he was explaining, steam started to rise from the surface of the water.
Janaína added, "You all shouldn't stay in more than thirty minutes; we will deactivate the enchantment at that time."
Whispers was still shivering, and Harry gave him a nod to go in as the steam started to get thick. As he got in, he gave a sound of contentment as he floated across the surface. The rest of the house joined him and made their own relaxed noises as they settled into the hot water. The kneazle kitten didn't get in but just lay down at the edge and soaked in the steam.
As they relaxed, Harry reminded his sister, "We need to talk to Professor McGonagall and Snape about the quartz we received from The Giver and the animagus ritual."
Their transfiguration professor was very against them doing the ritual outside the school environment but saw no reason why making their own container for the potion would cause an issue with the process. She warned them that they should have someone on hand who had gone through the ritual themselves to monitor the process to make sure that everything was proceeding correctly.
Snape was very interested in the idea of creating their own receptacle for the potion. Throughout his entire career as a Potions Master, he had always purchased vials, containers, and mixing receptacles for his use. There were certain situations where you needed to make sure that the vials had no impurities or were a certain shape but not sculpted any on his own. He let Harry and Lyra know to give him at least a month to research if they needed to make them in a particular style or if all they needed to do was to hold liquid.
He also informed them to keep a hold of any fragments or dust from the quartz as they would work as they were used in many other rituals and potions. If The Giver was correct that their method would strengthen their future forms, then it would also make what they saved into more potent reagents in whatever they ended up being used for. With such a large block of quartz for each of them, there was certainly going to have a lot left over.
When Saturday rolled around, Brandt met them at breakfast. He looked different, but neither Harry nor Lyra could figure out what it was. He always had good posture, though now it looked like he stood even straighter, prouder, and with more purpose. It was baffling that nothing else was different, just that small change.
When he got them into a private classroom, he started, "So, I have quite a few things to go over with you. First is the Sirius Black situation. We will find him and capture him. Lord Black has hired people who will bring him in alive, though probably very heavily wounded. As long as he can speak, that's all that matters."
"Why is the dementor here?" Lyra asked.
"That took a little more investigation," Brandt sighed. "Apparently, he tended to mumble, while in Azkaban, quite a bit about you, Harry. So when the dementor was dispatched, it headed to the one place it would be able to find you for certain, Hogwarts."
"It's trying to protect me?"
"Certainly not. It will do whatever it takes to recapture Sirius, and if he is coming here for you, he will watch after you to accomplish that. They know not to actually target children because dementors have been killed in the past for that. It just takes a full moon cycle of keeping it corralled without any magic or human presence nearby for them to starve to death."
After a pause, he continued, "Neither I nor Lord Black knows about how it is manipulating the kissed prisoners that it arrived with, but he will be looking into the archives of his library for more information on it. I will not be around for the next few months as I will be out of the country."
"Where are you going?" Harry asked curiously.
"To the Balkans, and I won't tell you why," he told both of them with a note of finality. "I do come today with good news, though. The purchase of the Mongolian Iron-beak was successful and is on its way to the Romanian dragon reserve. It has to be taken over land as dragons are highly resistant to magic and will not respond to portkeys."
They both smiled broadly, and Lyra asked, "Can they send pictures?"
"I will make sure they do," he assured them.
"The next piece of information I just got a hold of is about the Harry Potter children's books," he told them.
"So apparently, the author had them published when you were very young and later died. They had requested that all the profits be sent to different charities. The publisher was under the impression that your guardians gave permission for your name to be used and were startled to hear that they didn't."
"So what now?" Harry asked.
Brandt pulled a card out of his coat and passed it to Harry.
"This is the contact information for the publisher. If you show it to Hermes, he will know how to find them. They were very ready to repay any debt they could. You essentially have an endless amount of minor favors you could ask from them or one or two very large ones. Unless you want to take any of the future profits away from the various charities they were assigned to."
Lyra quickly whispered something in Harry's ear. He smiled and nodded.
"We would like some of it to go to Narcissa's project helping the squibs," Harry told Brandt.
"It will be done," Brandt told him as he handed the business card to Harry.
Harry took the card and dropped it into his pouch.
Brandt looked a bit annoyed at his action and said, "You both will eventually have many such contact cards. Make sure to get a proper cardholder. Do it yourselves, I'm sure you can figure it out if you need to."
There was another bit of silence before Lyra asked, "When do we start knife training again?"
"Tomorrow. Though in the future, while I am away, Stevens or Lord Black will come when you need to be escorted outside the castle. You will always be with someone capable of driving away a dementor."
"Can we learn the Patronus charm?" Lyra asked hopefully.
"It's not worth trying," Brandt said with a shake of his head. "Maybe when you're older, but neither of you has enough power for anything more than a bit of mist."
"Anything else?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but I want it to be a surprise for tomorrow. You have Quidditch practice now, and I'm told that the Harpies are going to be there to help you train."
When they arrived at the Quidditch pitch, the team was already there, along with the starters for the Harpies Quidditch team. They also had two photographers there who were moving around the outside, occasionally taking photos.
Seeing them coming, Gwenog Jones marched over to Brandt and clocked him straight across the jaw with a vicious punch. It was so hard he spun halfway around before hitting the ground.
"Fuck!" she cursed while shaking her hand. The professional beater reached down and pulled Brandt to his feet. "I just wanted to test that out."
Brandt massaged his jaw, which had a small bruise forming, "Looks like I got a better one than you," he smiled. "I'll be repaying that favor sometime."
"What was that?" Harry asked but somehow knew he wasn't going to get a straight answer.
Lyra, on the other hand, marched straight up to Gwen and said, "You're Brooke. Brandt wouldn't let anyone else hit him like that."
She just started laughing, throwing her head back and continuing until she choked.
"Yeah, I'm going to marry this handsome devil." She marched over to Brandt and tried to grab him, only for him to jump away. "Come on, sweetie, give me a smooch. At least let me kiss where I punched you. It will make you feel better."
"Back off, harlot. I'm not even your type" Brandt smirked as he backed away.
Harry looked at his other housemates, who were watching what was going on in confusion while the rest of the Harpies women were falling over themselves in laughter. Even their stoic manager, Loma Gerbles, was smiling a bit, though after a minute, she clapped her hands twice, and all her players jumped to attention.
"Enough! We are here to turn these kids into a professional Quidditch team! Let's get to it!"
Each player seemed to have an assignment as they herded different Scamanders toward different ends of the pitch. Harry, Greg, Neville, and Millicent got snagged by Gwenog Jones and Madeleine Gorgon. They were led over to a corner where they had stacked a number of larger-than-average beater bats and metal weights.
"Being a beater is the hardest position in Quidditch," Madeleine told them. "You need to keep your head on a swivel at all times and protect everyone on the field. You need absurd levels of strength and situational awareness that rivals a seeker."
Gwenog whistled toward a man on the other side of the field, and he started to jog over. "This jolly man coming over is Stewie. He's the best healer in Quidditch. He can turn devastating injuries into something that will take you out of a game for only ten minutes. That's the other thing to worry about. If one of your beaters isn't permanently taken out, you don't get a replacement, and then you have to fight and protect on your own until they come back."
Stewie arrived as she was done speaking, wand drawn, "Injuries already?" he asked.
"Grab a seat and wait," Gwen told him.
He conjured a chair and sat down.
"You will all be getting hurt today," Maddy told the children. "You need to know what it feels like to be hit by a bludger in practice so that you don't act like virgins when it happens in a game."
Neville looked a bit scared but nodded along with the others, who understood exactly what she was talking about. Harry was no stranger to pain but wanted to be able to protect everyone like they were telling him. If that meant taking a few hits now, it would be less jarring later.
"Good. You all understand," Maddy smiled. "Go grab a bat that feels heavy to you and go stand in a marked circle."
There were several marked spots on the ground. Harry went through the bats until he found one that felt heavy, but he could still swing it in either hand, then walked to an open spot. Maddy took them through a number of drills on swinging motions for nearly ten minutes straight. As his arms were feeling tired, Harry noticed a bludger flying straight at his side.
Using a quick backhanded swing, he swatted the bludger away with a loud *GONG.* This startled the others, but Maddy just continued her drills as if it never happened. On the side of the field, Gwen was standing there with eight bludgers floating in front of her, waiting to be hit. The one that Harry deflected turned back to make a pass at Millicent, which she swatted away as well, putting all of them on high alert as they continued being directed through the types of swings by Maddy.
After another minute, Gwen released another bludger toward the children giving them two to deal with. When it became three, they had their first injury as Neville got hit in the back of his shoulder while focusing on one coming from the front. As soon as he hit the ground, he started floating over to the medic, who began healing the damage. Gwen activated another bludger.
Millicent went down next with an iron ball to her wrist, and Neville was sent back at the same time. He didn't even bother to start the drills again and just stayed on high alert for an incoming bludger. When they got six swarming them, Harry got hit in the thigh and was levitated over to the medic. The healing felt warm but like ants crawling under his skin. His was more minor than the others and was back up in half a minute. On the way back to his circle, he grabbed a second bat to defend himself with two hands.
Maddy called out, "You can only have one in a game, but it's fine for training. Anyone else can grab a second one next time you're out."
They kept going until Gwen had all nine balls chasing them. Any time one of them went out, it would increase the pressure on the others, and they would drop like flies. There were stretches of time when none of them were up and moving, either because they were all undergoing healing or they refused to face all nine iron balls on their own.
After a full hour, the team manager called all the adults and children to the center. She smiled when she saw how battered the group of beaters were, as even if their wounds were healed, their clothing was still in great disrepair and their hair was as messed up as Harry's was normally.
"Look at your beaters," she told the others. "They will be protecting you. Take care of them, and they will take care of you." She paused as the students in the other positions looked them over. "Now we will have a practice match. My girls against your starters."
Many of the students vocally decried the unfairness of such a match. Though the manager told them, "We will be giving you our brooms, and they will be flying on some old Comets to even things out. You all will have better acceleration, top speeds, braking, and turning, and your brooms are more durable."
"I still think it's completely mismatched," Cedric commented.
"You're right," his Keeper counterpart, Rue Gnu, commented. "We have years of experience not just as players but playing with each other. Though this is to get you to build that same experience."
"I'm the youngest on the team," Gigi Rivers added. "It took me a while to become meshed with them but the best way to do that is to keep training and keep playing, winning and losing all build character and team bonding. Being in the heat of battle will teach you things about yourself that you never knew."
"But it's not a battle," Lily Moon objected.
"How is it not?" Gigi challenged her. "The only thing that makes it not a real battle is that there are rules. That and when it's over, you should be friends with the other team. Rivalries are fine; being enemies is not."
Cedric gathered the team together to discuss strategy before they started the game.
"We are all on faster brooms, but we still need to play smart." He addressed the chasers first, "Girls, keep a tight formation, they will be looking to pick off long passes of the quaffle. Greg, your first responsibility is protecting them. Harry, I know you don't want to, but your first responsibility is protecting me. Lyra is brilliant on a broom and probably won't need a lot of help, she is your second priority. Watch to see if Greg needs help too. Lyra, you just learned quite a bit about search patterns from the woman who is going to be your rival. Don't do things exactly like she taught you or you'll never be able to beat her."
He took a deep breath, "Any questions? Good. Do your best out there."
The team lined up at the center of the field with the Harpies. Their manager took out a box with dozens of small holes in it.
"Wands," she said simply.
The Harpies started to fill the box on their side up with all the wands in their possession. One of the chasers, Golda, had two wands, while Gigi and Rue didn't have theirs on them. The Scamander team hesitantly added all their wands to the box. There was a clicking noise when they finished. The manager opened the Quidditch chest where the balls were and left the wands in a designated spot.
Another two boxes were opened to reveal brand-new helmets. For the Scamanders, theirs looked like demiguise heads with blue eyes on the visors. Everyone quickly put them on and buckled them to allow for perfect vision.
As soon as the game started, there was a flurry of motion as everyone went flying. The quaffle was shot into the air and grabbed immediately by Sallie Gulls on the Harpies. Harry tore his eyes from the quaffle and focused on a bludger making its way toward him. Trying to figure out a target, he swatted the iron ball toward Arleen Green, though she dodged it with practiced ease.
The Harpies managed the Quaffle with practiced efficiency. Even with their much slower brooms, they were able to complete nearly all of their passes because they could just throw blindly to where they knew their teammates would be. The biggest difficulty came from Gwen and Maddy who were destroying the Chaser formation with the bludgers. Even with Greg intercepting the iron balls, blocking them still disrupted the formations constantly.
Harry ended up staying with Greg for the first twenty minutes of the game, making sure their chasers were not hit. Harry occasionally got a look towards Lyra, high in the sky, searching for the golden snitch. At one point, he saw Gigi searching lower down and swatted a bludger toward her. She leaned out of the way at the last second, the bludger missing her helmet by inches. He couldn't tell if that was luck or skill.
By thirty minutes in, the score was 40-0 in favor of the Harpies. When he was near their goalposts, he could see that Cedric was getting a bit frustrated. It didn't matter that he had saved another seven shots, it was that they hadn't managed any of their own yet that was probably annoying him. Harry took it upon himself to try and rectify the situation.
After another two goals were scored, Harry spotted an opening and swatted a bludger straight at Gwen's back. She managed to turn in time, but her bat was in the wrong hand to hit it, and it impacted her right in the chest, knocking her off her broom for a fall of nearly forty feet. She managed to twist herself in mid-air so she landed on one knee while punching the ground with her offhand in an amazing pose that seemed to cushion the impact. Then she totally collapsed.
Healers rushed to her as Cedric was screaming at his team to keep playing. Brandt was cheering like a madman from the stands which made Harry think she was going to be fine. Cedric managed to yell loud enough that with one beater down, they would switch strategy. Greg was assigned one bludger and Harry was on the other and try to take out everyone else on the Harpies.
The team rallied under this small advantage and within five minutes had scored their first goal. Greg had Madeline distracted defending the chasers and Harry managed to get Rue to dodge the other bludger away from the goalposts which gave their girls the opportunity to score. Ten minutes later, they scored another with the same strategy.
Thats when Gwen got back in the game and she came for blood. She swung up right next to Harry and told him, "Looks like you came to dance, and this time, no one is going to save you."
Greg spent the next twenty minutes defending Harry more than the chasers. Harry had taken to switching hands with his bat every few swings to keep from tiring himself out as the Harpies rained the two iron bludgers down on him. Their attention away from the chasers allowed the Scamanders to score another goal, while the Harpies scored three.
Harry had taken to dodging the onslaught more than assaulting back as his faster broom allowed better dodging of the balls though he wasn't used to the speed and turning so he nearly fell off many times taking sharp turns to avoid the attacks on him. When he was just about exhausted he heard his sister laughing and looked up to see her plummeting to the earth from above the top of the stadium.
She was neck and neck with the Harpies' seeker, Gigi. Following their line, he spotted the snitch two feet above the grass, just sitting there. There was no way either of them could pull up in time after catching it to stop and no way for Harry to hit a bludger at them without the possibility of hitting his sister.
Lyra seemed to realize that there was no way to grab the snitch if it stayed that high off the ground and pulled out of her dive to bank around and grab it from another angle. Gigi continued the dive without stopping. When she was thirty feet above the ground she performed a forward somersault off the front of her broom so she was holding to the tip of her handle by just her fingertips as the broom came to a halt and she swiped the golden ball from the spot it was hovering, then let go over her broom and touched down on her feet, holding the snitch in her fist, skyward.
There was a whistle blast and everyone came down to congratulate each other. Maddy and Gwen approached Harry, took off their helmets and grinned at him.
Maddy called out to their manager, "Hey boss! What do you think? Harry was the player of the game, right?"
The stout, older woman marched over, "You two are horrible. He's definitely got more potential than the two of you ever had." She looked to Harry, "I haven't seen them go that hard on someone since Jeremy Gills of the Wombats copped a feel on Rue before a match. That poor boy lasted ten minutes and then was out for the rest of the season."
Harry was about to respond before Lyra started yelling at Gigi loud enough to distract him, "How did you go as fast as me? Your broom is slower! What was that move you did at the end? TELL ME!"
She chuckled and snorted a bit at Lyra's antics as the rest of the Scamanders gathered around to hear.
"Do any of you know what terminal velocity is?" she asked. Daria and Patricia raised their hands. "Well to describe it simply, just falling would make me go faster than using the top speed of my broom, so after pointing myself towards the snitch, I deactivated the broom and just fell."
"That's insane!" Cedric commented. "What about that move at the end?"
She smirked, "Made it up myself. I call it 'The Mary Poppins.'"
The muggleborn students laughed at the name.
"I've never seen anyone else pull it off," she added. "One idiot on the Tornadoes broke his ankles and knees trying it."
Brandt took that moment to approach and slapped Harry on the back, nearly knocking him over.
"Oops, sorry," he told Harry as he stood back up. "Amazing game! All of you!"
Loma Gerbals gathered them all together, "Ok, good game everyone. We are going to take pictures before we head out, though first, Arlene has a special treat for all of you."
One of the chasers, with strawberry-blonde hair and fierce look on her face, addressed the students, "You have your first match at the end of the month against Gryffindor house. However, I've arranged an exhibition match between you and the students from my old school in the Wye Valley. It should be a pretty good match and prepare you for the level of competition against other kids your age."
"Does that school have a specialization?" Su asked. "I've heard most of the day schools do."
"Architecture," Arlene replied. "Though also quite a bit of design and art as well."
There was a bit more chatter and discussion about their exhibition match before they were all gathered together for pictures, each team separate, together, with the different positions, some action shots, and some promotional photos with their helmets. Finally, they said farewell and the Scamanders trudged back to their common room where Guryon and Janaína had the Grotto steaming and ready for them. Dougal was lounging on the side while Whispers floated through the middle with Silvy on his stomach.
After soaking away all the pain of the match, Harry swam over to Lyra who had her head resting on the side, next to Dougal, with a towel over her face.
"It's one of them," he told her. "One of them is definitely Brooke."
"I figured that much out myself," Lyra replied without moving.
"Not because of the punch," Harry told her. He went on to explain Gwen's comment about dancing.
"Oh, I was thinking something else," Lyra told him, lifting the towel from her eyes. "Brandt is going on his mystery trip. He's leaving them to baby sit us. I'm guessing it will be more than just that exhibition game. They'll be here all the time. It's because he trusts them… One of them more than any other."
Harry looked at his sister thoroughly impressed at her deduction. He hopped out of the water and walked back through the waterfall to the common room. As he shivered shirtless, he prepared a plate full of cut up fruit and candy, returned to place it next to her, and then back to his post-game soak.