When Harry arrived in the library, he walked over to his favorite spot where he always studied during those free times during the week. Madam Pince nodded when she saw him walking towards the table, causing Harry to wave at her and sit down on his chair and took his books out for the homework they had to do. As he was sure that it would not take long, he also took out a list with other books he would need to study a bit more, which were he only could find them here in the many shelves of this library. Over the summer, he tried to find some books about dangerous creatures, as his mind was still a bit occupied form the warning that Dobby gave him back in Kear Mohen. He was glad that Dobby kept his word and did not interfere with his journey back to Hogwarts, but while he watched Geralt while he grew up, he noticed that a Witcher always prepares himself before he would track and kill his pray with information about said prey. Even John could see the benefit in this, as he once told Harry that while on the battlefield, wrong information could lead to a sudden death. As Harry wanted to prevent anything in this school which he attended, he was now browsing the magical creature section of the library, taking some books whose title sounded promising. One book did tickle his curiosity, as it was about dragons and their subspecies, like Wyverns and big Lizards. When he flipped the pages, he even saw some mentions about breeding some species and even how he could tame them. While he flipped another page, he heard someone coming closer to the spot he was sitting and looked up to see a blond girl in the Slytherin colors grinning at him with her friend Tracey just behind her.
"Hello Daphne, how did you like the Defense class? I would say it was a complete disaster for Lockhart. If someone like him could get an Order of Merlin, I think Merlin himself would turn in his grave or even would show up as a ghost and hunt them." Harry closed the book after telling Callie to save the page so he could continue later after they did their homework. The girls snickered as they had to hold back their laughter as Madam Pince would come to them and tell them to be quiet in her realm. Luckily, they were disciplined enough to keep silent and after sitting down taking out their books for the homework they were assigned. Soon afterwards Hermione walked over to them with as many books she could carry, proving to Harry that she was already here before he entered the library.
"Ah, Harry, I have your present with me right now, sorry that I could not give it to you on the train, but if someone would have seen me give you a belated birthday present, the rumors would fly around, and we wouldn't have a quiet moment for months. It is not much, but I hope you like it regardless." She handed him a parcel wrapped in red paper and a golden bow placed on it.
Harry opened it carefully, so he would not damage whatever was inside. It turned out that it was a book about Quidditch and brooms, and as it was an updated copy it even featured the newest brooms that were just released to the public. Daphne told him that she had to wait until this version came out and wanted to give her first present in person. Harry thanked her and placed the book in his bag, as Hermione was now pleading that they would begin with their study session.
Lavender and Parvati soon joined them, with Neville in tow who brought Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones to their little study group. On the question pointed towards Parvati where her sister was, she told them that they had an afternoon meeting in the Ravenclaw common room, and she had to attend it. Harry wondered what this could be about, but it may be something that house Ravenclaw did in the beginning of the year for all the students. He would ask Parvati's sister or Luna on another day, as Hermione was now sitting beside him and begun her homework, reminding him to get started on it too.
Meanwhile, John was walking through the corridors on his patrol to make sure that the school was still secure. He listened for any strange noises as he passed the entrance to the Slytherin common room, and it opened as Malfoy exited it together with Crabbe and Goyle.
"Out of my way, you half-wit. I have an important letter to send." Malfoy tried to get past John, which did turn out to be difficult, as John blocked his path with his arm. While John could not demand to see the letter, as students had their right to privacy, he could still demand respect for his position as an PE teacher and as the security in this school. And before Malfoy and his friends did not give that to him, they could likewise just turn around and wait for him to go on his way again. While some older students understood this by now, these second years were still green behind the ears to see the sign on the wall, so to speak. Because of that, Malfoy looked up to John with a stubborn look on his face and tried once more to push past John, again to no avail. Even with the help of his two bodyguards he could not get past the Spartan.
"I said move, you oaf! Do you know who my father is? He will have you removed from this castle for this." Malfoy tried to intimidate John, but this strategy did not work either.
"Mr. Malfoy, this threat was issued against me so many times I lost count. Some were even going as far as trying to kill me, and still, I am standing before you. I do not care who or what your father is, I told you all in the lesson last year that I demand respect from you all, even the teachers. So, ask nicely and I will let you pass." John's voice was like always stern, like his look that he gave to the heir of house Malfoy.
Malfoy was getting angry that he did not get his will across, but he also knew that whatever he did he could not get past John while he stood still. So, Malfoy walked in the other direction and would take a detour to his target, the owlery as he had to send this letter with the news to his father, just as his father asked him to do. Malfoy asked himself why his father would need this insight in the school, but he thought that his father wanted to know what was happening faster than Dumbledore would report them. Malfoy would of course write if favorable for him and his friends, so in this letter he wrote that Harry did show aggressive behavior after putting Professor Lockhart to the ground unprovoked, even if it was stretching the truth almost to the breaking point, but he did not care.
John was watching Malfoy leave, waiting for him to turn around a corner before he walked to the entrance of the Slytherin common room and opened the door with the appropriate password, of which he knew thanks to Snape giving him the privilege to enter when he wanted to fulfill his duty. He soon found himself in the common room where some students studied for their classes and did their homework dutifully. He was of course noticed by them, the first years looking at him in awe before they looked away ashamed with some older students looking at them with poorly hidden anger for John. He of course did not mind, as none of the students could hurt him while he was in his armor.
Cortana recorded all the reactions for her database, just in case they would need a psychological analysis of all the students inside the castle in the future. It was one task that Captain Lasky had ordered her to do with the behest of the ONI. She surmised that it was to look out for certain behavior early before they could cause damage to their peers, as it was common knowledge that some Death Eaters escaped prosecution from the law of magical Britain and had children they would raise to be almost as dangerous as them. The UNSC did class this organization as terrorists, just as Cortana told the others all those years ago, and decided to observe them with their resources, that included her and John as well the other Spartan's. For now, John had to play the waiting game, as there was no evidence that those children were in this group at all.
The next few days passed without incident and now it was the first weekend of this term, which meant that the first years had to go to the obstacle course for their obligatory class with Chief Wulf. As Harry had his practice scheduled before breakfast, Harry asked Colin if he was alright to skip it so he could see if he could take decent pictures while they were flying. The younger boy was almost jumping in anticipation and told him that this would be no big issue, as he had some light snacks he could eat while they walked down to the Quidditch pitch.
"Sorry Harry, but could you explain the rules to me? It would be my first time seeing Quidditch being played, even if it is only practice." Colin checked his camera while putting another cereal bar in his mouth, while Harry explained the different rules and players as he carried his Nimbus 2000 on his shoulder. Callie already told him that John would excuse him for today's training as Oliver was known for the long training sessions he wanted to do, so Harry would not have to stress about time before he would go up and do the afternoon sessions. But he reminded Colin that he would have to look at the time so Colin would be on time at the course, which Harry showed him where it was.
When they arrived at the pitch, Oliver and the rest were already present, and Colin looked up the stands for a spot to take some pictures while they flew on their brooms. As they had won the last year's Quidditch Cup, Oliver only told them that they would just practice as early as possible to keep their advantage over the other houses. Soon they were in the air, with Colin snaping some pictures with his camera, hoping that they would work out well.
While Harry tried to get his top speed back up as he was used to, he noticed that Colin was now standing up and looking at his watch in shock. Harry stopped to and looked at his watch, noticing that it was time for Colin to go, but that was not what he wondered about now. Down on the ground, Harry could see seven green clothed students and Oliver rushing down to them.
"FLINT! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? I HAD RESERVED THE PITCH FOR THE WHOLE DAY!" Harry cinced as heard his captain yell from the ground and decided to fly closer to see what was going on. When he landed, he saw that Oliver was holding a note while reading it.
"'I, Severus Snape, allow the Slytherin Quidditch team to use the pitch for today, the reason being as they had to train their new seeker.' You got a new seeker? Who is it?" After Oliver asked this question, the Slytherin team parted away from each other to let the others see their newest addition to the team.
Malfoy smirked as he saw the faces the rival team made, while he put on his robe that was handed to him by his team. Malfoy decided to rub it in the Gryffindor's faces when he declared "And this is not all. We even got new brooms from my father. Against these, yours are ancient." The Slytherin held their new brooms up so everyone could see the black shine of the handle with the engraved Nimbus 2001 written in golden letters on them. Flint even put more salt into the wound by telling the Gryffindor team that even a bludger could not touch them anymore at full speed.
Harry let out a laugh, what surprised the others on the pitch, as even Oliver had to acknowledge that these brooms were faster than what they had, even Harry's Nimbus 2000 was not as fast in their top speed. When Harry was finished, he took a deep breath and told the others that he would tell them later after he watched the first years on their obstacle course, as today's training would have to be postponed after the official note of a professor. To his surprise, Harry saw that Hermione and Daphne walked up to them accompanied by Neville and Ron, as they had also watched their practice.
"What is going on Harry, why did you stop with your practice? And what is Malfoy doing here?" Ron's angry voice could clearly be heard over the Pitch, as the redhead finally saw the new brooms of the Slytherin team. Hermione also noticed them, but before she could say something Daphne did cut in and asked Malfoy if he was seriously thinking that he could buy himself a place in the Quidditch team, as it was obvious why Flint replaced the other seeker with Malfoy.
Malfoy, getting a bit angry for being called out like that, was saying to her that she was a blood traitor for befriending those lesser then herself. "I mean, look at those half-bloods, if they were decent, I would say nothing against them, but Gryffindor are bottom feeding scum. Not to mention this mudblood…" he could not talk further, as the reactions from the present Gryffindors were immediate, cursing Fred and George's case even almost attacking Malfoy if Angelina and Katie had not held them back. Harry had Callie looking for the meaning of this term, only to almost lose control of his temper as she explained to him that it was a slur word for those witches and wizards without magical parentage, just like Hermione was the first witch in her family according to their knowledge.
"Well Malfoy, you are dumb. Calling someone who is better than you in any subject last term, without proving that you really are better just shows that your upbringing was lacking in almost every aspect of decency. I would suggest that you refrain from calling my friends like that ever again, even when I am not around, I will hear about it. And if you, do it regardless, I hope you will be prepared for what will happen. For now, we leave you the pitch so you can train, but I will promise you, in our game I will not hold back. Daphne, Hermione, Neville, Ron let's go to the first years and watch them doing their training." Harry's anger could be felt by almost everyone who would care to look into his eyes, so Hermione just nodded and walked behind him with Daphne glaring at Draco while she was walking backwards. Ron and Neville brought up the rear with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. As they were walking up to the castle, Hermione asked Daphne if they should meet later so they could also train a bit before they would go to the library once more to study. The blond girl nodded to her, telling her that she would wait in the entrance hall of the castle until she would come down. Ron only said something about that he wanted to go back to sleep while Neville was thinking if he should also return to the training ground later for some rounds.
As Harry would not have to change his clothes, due to that they are almost the same as he always wore during practice, he walked over to the training grounds where the obstacle courses were placed to watch how the first years were doing. Arriving there, he walked up to John who stood still on the side of the course and watched the students, Harry noticed that some had already left.
"Did some already finish? How fast were they?" Harry looked up to John's face, warming himself up so he could go some rounds. John answered him that some had to go to the infirmary as they did not warm up properly as he told them. Nothing serious, just some small cuts and bruises when they did fall on the ground after an obstacle.
Harry was now looking again to the remaining students and saw that Ginny was almost flying over the course, showing him that his lessons on the basics did pay off, something that John also noticed and asking himself if he should give her the same invitation as he had done with Harry and his friends. She showed promise as she was almost as fast as Kelly, a member of his Spartan team before she undertook the augmentations. He would have to keep an eye on her either way how she would decide if she should join them.
After Harry had done his warmups, he decided to go to the second obstacle course and walked over to its starting point. In comparison to the beginner course, this one had one part where you had to crawl underneath some wires for a small distance before you had to climb up the wall with a rope.
Just as he wanted to start, he saw that Neville was coming running towards him, already in his training clothes. It seemed that he did change them out, as last year he was still in his school robes during their training sessions with John, but now the clothes were like Harry's only that the color scheme was red with golden highlights, while Harry's was just black.
While Harry explained how this course had to be run, Hermione and Daphne arrived and listened to him before they would warm up themselves while the boys would tackle this one. John was still watching the first years, as he was now used to that the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs did more rounds then obligatory requested. When he was sure that they could go through it without any accidents and that the head boy was also present, he walked over to Harry and his friends to watch them.
While he watched them and explained how they could do better, Triss was walking out of the castle in anger as Lockhart would just not take the hint that she was not interested in him. After the third try for the day, she told him that she would need some fresh air and would take a break from preparing for the next class while he tried to find a date for his next interview. When Dumbledore told her that she would have to be an assist for Lockhart, she did not think that she would do all the work required to be a teacher in this school. She just hoped that Yen would soon find enough evidence to expose him, as she was now sure that he was a fraud. Soon she saw the students on the obstacle courses and was in awe how disciplined Harry was here in Hogwarts in front of his friends and pulling them with him. Whether Dumbledore was thinking was true and Voldemort would return one day, they could use every able person in this war. She just hoped that they would live in peace until they were grown up before deciding that they had to fight.
In space, Captain Lasky took a tour of his new flagship, the UNSC Infinity. With its size, it was the biggest ship ever built by the UEG and even had 10 frigates inside it to escort them or scout ahead. It also had different decks for the different branches of the Military, but most notably was the Spartan Deck, a whole section just for the most elite soldiers in the UNSC and their equipment. Right now, there were 2 Spartan IV and newly formed gold team combining Red team with the Master Chief and Noble Six on this ship and ready to fight, but today it was not his destination to visit them. Lasky grimaced remembering how he became the new commanding officer of the Infinity.
*Flashback*
Lasky just arrived on the bridge of the newly arrived UNSC Infinity and was looking for Captain Del Rio, the commanding officer of the Infinity. Finding the man looking over a display of the planet with a sneer on his face Lasky frowned at this look. "Captain Del Rio, is there a problem?"
Del Rio spun around and scowled at Lasky for sneaking up on him. "Why have you wasted resources on this planet, it appears so backwards compared to our Earth. We should be taking this planet and its resources for the UNSC. In fact, I'm about to recall all assets on the planet to reevaluate and reassert our presence here. That includes the Spartans. Why the Master Chief would lower himself to be a lowly security guard and a PE teacher is a complete waste of UNSC resources!" Del Rio ranted at Lasky as if he took it as a personal insult to himself to use the Spartans this way.
Lasky shook his head and sighed. "You do realize HIGHCOM gave the order that we are to keep a low profile? What you suggest, not order, but suggest is that we expose ourselves to the point that would affect the natural development of this planet. Are you aware of that?"
Del Rio waved his hand dismissively. "It will be just another colony world for us to pacify. Look at how broken it is! It needs us to keep it from falling apart. HIGHCOM will understand when I bring back results." Del Rio turned back to the display ignoring Lasky's deepening frown. "You are to be recall back to our space to debrief HIGHCOM on your failure. It's time someone took this situation in hand and showed them what the UNSC is made of."
Lasky stood up straight and with a loud voice issued an order that had Del Rio turning back to face Lasky with a scowl. "By order of the UNSC I am relieving Captain Del Rio of command for misuse of power, disobeying HIGHCOM orders and treason. Marines, arrest him and place him in holding cell to be taken over to *In Amber Clad II* as he will be sent back with my report." Turning back to Del Rio Lasky pointed out to his inability to see the big picture. "I'll only say this about your views: The Master Chief is in an undercover position that allows us to directly see what is going on and what you suggest would blow our operation that has been ongoing for over 6 years to the dust. Get off my bridge." Lasky watched as the Marines handcuffed Del Rio and escorted the man out.
Lasky looked over to the holo tank where the ship AI was watching him and waited for him to introduce himself. Lasky smiled at seeing the WWII era flight uniform on the AI.
*Flashback end*
On the end of this tour, he would arrive in the ONI quarters for a briefing, as they finally had new information about those terrorists on this earth and how this situation they were in now could occur in the first place.
It was still a mystery how this was happening, but the most plausible theory was that they were in a different galaxy and this special Slipspace point was made by the Forerunners to escape the Flood back in their home. But this was debunked, as this Ciri on this planet told them that she had to travel between dimensions to get to their realm, but all the scientist on board were working on an answer. But at least they had all the power that would ever be needed to defend themselves on the planet or in space, as next to the Infinity was also the biggest ship the Sangheili could ever built, it was a force that could obliterate a planet in just a few hours. He just hoped that they would never have to use all this power.
When Lasky arrived in the ONI quarters, he was greeted with the sight of people working on their desks, writing report after report for the ONI Headquarters on their Earth. But Lasky was looking for one individual and found him soon. As he walked over to the bespectacled man, he saw that he was looking over a map of a building, on the corner of this map was written Malfoy Manor
"Mr. Smith, did you find something new?"
Back on the planet, Harry and his friends were finished with the training session and walked back up the castle, as they would need a shower before they would relax for the rest of the day. In the entrance hall, Daphne had to part from the group and walked down to the dungeons, while Harry and the rest walked up the stairs. When they arrived in their common room, the Gryffindor Quidditch team were waiting for Harry, as they wanted to ask him if he finally could explain why he was laughing down at the pitch as the Slytherin showed their new brooms. Harry told them that he would first take a shower, but he would return again shortly.
When he came back, he sat down with the book that Daphne gave him a few days ago and opened it by a bookmark. "Now, the first reason why I laughed at the Slytherins was, that according to this book, a Nimbus 2001 is a fast broom, no denying that. But the handling is subpar to others, as the main goal in its development was the aforementioned top speed. So in order to make tight turns that would be necessary in a Quidditch match, they would have to slow down to make them, and also on a Quidditch pitch where the space is limited, the top speed can only be used for a really short time. There are just too many drawbacks to use this kind of broom efficiently and I am sure that Fred and George would hit them in no time at all with the bludgers as soon they would see how far ahead they had to aim for a hit. The second reason why, my foster father always told me that the best weapon is worthless if you would not have enough time to get used to it. Now on this point multiple scenarios are happening, like for example that the whole team would have to get used to the fast brooms and their handling and as all have the same one, not one of them would see the drawback's I mentioned before when they would not pay special attention to that. On another scenario, not only has Malfoy to get used to this broom, but he also has to learn to play as a seeker, something I am not sure he has prior experience on. So, now you know why I laughed down at the pitch, as with this situation, they almost gave us the win in the next game, if we keep our heads in the game and finish it quickly." After this explanation, Harry saw the grinning faces of his teammates as they now also understood.
"Blimey Harry, when I am gone, you have the making of a Team captain." Oliver looked at their youngest member, as he took out some parchment to make a training regime so Slytherin would not catch one on the blunder they just performed.
A/N: and here is the next chapter of this story. Thanks again HowInMadeHowie for his great work and also for his added Flashback scene, i myself could just not think of a good one to show how Laskey took control over the Infinity in this fiction. Hope you all have a great time and stay safe.