A week later
September had passed into October and the mornings had become chilly. It was not raining everyday but the muck and mud never really dried out, making it too slippery outside for students to run. Harry found an alternative by having the students run through unused corridors in the dungeons of the castle. For this purpose, he had erected two heavy duty 'notice-me-not' wards in the corridors to keep uninvited witnesses from stumbling across them while they were running. They had spent a day scrubbing down the corridors to remove the cobwebs, dust and make sure that there was nothing unsavoury lurking in the corners for them. The corridors were not wide enough for many students to run through at once so Harry had limited them to no more than two side-by-side at a time. That still left enough room for them to practice dodging while Harry and Neville fired spells at them. Most of them were getting better at running and dodging at the same time however at times, Harry would surprise them by casting in a different direction than the students thought he would. That way, he was entirely unpredictable and kept them on their toes. The sessions usually lasted for an hour but the changes were visible for the students to see. They were getting better at casting, their endurance was increasing and that meant it increased their chances to survive. Harry realized that it was time to put his next plan into action which meant making battle plans and making them follow it. It was necessary for the students to know what to do if Hogwarts was attacked so they would not be clueless and could effectively deal with any threats.
The mystics had taught him about formations one could adopt in battle and fine points about making strategy. It was part of this strategy which he had discussed last week with Dumbledore.
-Flashback-
Harry entered the Head Master's office to find him trying to enter Neville's mind. Neville was doing a good job of keeping him out however it was clear that he was struggling. He took a chair and waited for them to notice him. After about 5 minutes, the head master noticed him and said joyfully, "Harry, my boy. What brings you here?"
"Head master, I wanted to talk strategy with you. My friends taught me about the importance of strategy in a battle and the foremost of those things is to know the battle field. Another is choosing your battle field. While Tom Riddle can attack at any place he wishes, I want to force him to attack here at Hogwarts where we know every inch of the castle and can better prepare ourselves".
Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling as he thought about what Harry was saying. "You make a good point, my boy. How do you suggest we go about it?"
"When we have found those objects which keep him tied to this astral plane and destroyed all of them except one, I propose to leak news to him that all the prominent personalities of the wizarding world are congregated at the school and we are planning to launch a counter offensive against him. With the blows that we would have delivered to him by that time, he will have no option but to attack here where we will have all our resources gathered. When we receive confirmation as to his movement, we will put the castle in emergency lockdown mode, empty the owlery of all the owls and stop all communications from the castle to the outside world. We evacuate the students out of the castle to our safe houses where they will be looked after. We send the children of dark families to one safe house where they will be kept but not allowed to send any communications to their families or friends until the battle is over".
Dumbledore beamed, "Ingenious, my boy. I believe the plan can work but it will need a little fine tuning".
As a rough sketch of the plan was drawn and Harry was satisfied that this would culminate in a better plan with all the little details in place, he turned to Neville. "Mate, do not try too hard to oust him. Just think of your worst possible memory when he is in your mind and let him see it. While it may not be as horrible as the ones I have, they would buy you a second or two. In that moment, throw him out with all your strength".
With that Harry took his leave of the duo leaving them to practice occlumency.
-Flashback ends-
He had also snuck out of the castle once in the past week for an impromptu date with Susan, who had the ability to charm him. She would give him the big eyes or glare at him, depending on the situation and he would often rush to do her bidding. Being with Susan made him feel like an ordinary teen despite everything going on which was a welcome distraction. She had also given him a tongue lashing a week ago a day after he had pummeled Neville in sword practice.
-Flash Back-
Harry had arrived outside the Hufflepuff Common Room with Neville who was still wincing with all the bruises he had received the last night. He had a tough night and he had spent a major part of it wincing and turning in bed but true to his word, had not complained about pain.
Susan was standing there with Hannah and as she saw him, she scowled, "Harold Peverell, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Harry had no idea about why she was so worked up, so he asked her straight forwardly, "What is the matter, Sue?"
She gave him the evil look. "Please tell me why Longbottom is walking like someone beat him black and blue and wincing with each step? Then tell me what made you think it was a good idea to teach sword fighting only to Neville and not us?"
"It is very simple, Sue. Neville here has requested to learn how to wield a sword under my tutelage and one of the rules of the lesson is that he cannot magically relieve himself of all his bruises and pain. That will teach him to not make the mistake he made the first time. In response to your next question, I did not choose him specifically to teach him sword fighting but when he pestered me about it, I put forward a proposition that he had to obtain a sword and a place if he wanted to learn sword fighting. The same goes for everyone else. He fulfilled the conditions and I had to keep my word".
"And you are going to teach us too". A voice said from behind him and he turned to find Hermione and Ron there.
"Sorry Hermione but the same goes for you. Find a sword and a place to practice".
Susan turned him towards her by his shoulders. "Then I will join your next session. Auntie is not going to refuse me anything I ask of her".
Hannah raised her hands as if to stop them. "Hold on Susie. You cannot abandon your friend".
Susan smirked, "You heard the gentleman, Hannah. Bring your own equipment or rather ask your charming boy friend to find one for you". Neville was blushing heavily or perhaps wincing in pain. It was hard to tell with the facial expressions he made every now and then.
Harry turned to Hermione, "Sorry Hermione. It looks like you have to employ your resourcefulness elsewhere".
-Flashback ends-
In the next session, Susan had turned up with a goblin silver sword in the shape of a falchion. It was one-handed, single edged with a slight curve at the pointed end. Unlike the blades which Harry and Neville had, this one had most of its weight toward the tip of the blade, giving it balance which was suitable for chopping, more like an axe than a sword. The blows delivered with this style of weapon could be devastating, but it was not meant for subtle work. The hilt was wrapped in dragon hide for a better grip. It was also affixed with a quilloned cross-guard on the hilt which contained intimation of the house animal of House Bones- the Common Welsh Green Dragon. The pummel ended up in a lobe and on it was the Bones crest. The metal was goblin silver and the sword had been crafted in one piece. Harry of course knew about the popularity of Falchions and how very few original falchions had survived from the medieval times when they were popular.
Neville had given her the Fidelius Secret to his sanctuary and she had brought Hannah along. Hannah claimed to not like sword fighting one bit. Harry told her that she was not under any obligation to join in the lessons. She had however agreed to stay and watch Susan getting trounced. The practice session had been brutal for Neville and Susan. He had told them of the stance that they needed to achieve and left them to practice it for 30 minutes while he sat and watched them. After they were done, he told Neville to take a walk while he sparred with Susan with wooden swords. When she asked him why they were practicing with wooden swords, Harry had to ask her if she had a death wish because practicing with real swords and no skill would almost certainly end with serious injury or death. In the ten minutes that they sparred together, Harry had to stop his hand before he struck her. She had noticed it after he had not hit her for the tenth time and she had told him to treat her as he would treat Neville. Reluctantly Harry gave her an impressive collection of bruises and a lot of pain.
When it was Neville's turn, he did not realize what he was walking into when he started to spar with Harry. Harry did not hesitate or pull his punches but practiced with all his skill and each of his blows were backed with all his power. It was all that Neville could do to parry the blows and hope, or rather wish, for an opening to reply to the pummeling he was getting. Their practice was so intense that Harry's wooden sword broke in half from the force of his blows.
It was then that he realized this was no way to teach Neville sword fighting. He threw his sword aside and asked Neville to attack while he would only dodge his blows and try to disarm him with his bare hands. While Neville tried everything he could think of to try and hit Harry, Harry commented on Neville's style and technique to help him improve.
As Harry stood crouched ready to dive to either side, Neville stood taking stock of him. Without giving any warning, he raised his sword and ran towards Harry who stood his ground. Just a moment before Harry would have received a mighty blow, he side stepped. As Neville barrelled past him, Harry caught his sword arm. In one fluid motion, Harry pivoted while pushing and twisting Neville's arm as his momentum carried him past Harry. The pressure on his arm forced Neville to flip onto his back with a resounding thud. When he looked up, he found that Harry had turned his own sword against him and was now holding it to Neville's throat.
Harry could see that Neville had landed hard and that he was really hurt. After he checked Neville for serious injuries, he helped his friend to his feet. Then he whipped his wand out and cast 'spongify' over the floor of the room, making it squishy so that Neville would not be hurt the next time he landed hard. Harry made a mental note to teach him how to break-fall.
He turned to Neville, "Once more, mate. Do your worst".
Neville this time was alert and did not run at him but cautiously circled him waiting for Harry to drop his guard. Harry made a slight movement to his left and Neville swung his sword however Harry had moved just enough for the strike to miss him. As the wooden sword whizzed past him, he kicked Neville in the chest knocking him to the ground and before he could stand up again, he had Neville's sword on his throat and said "Yield".
It might have looked like Harry was trying to keep his friends from learning sword fighting but he had different work for everyone and his friends did not want to understand that. If everyone wanted to fight werewolves or put all their energy and resources in one place then who would look after other things? Besides none of them could keep pace with him when he was really fighting and they would only impede him. He wanted to discourage them gently and not give the bitter truth to them but they were not listening to him at all.
The training sessions in the Room of Requirement were going well with the students having mastered the triplet of reducto, confrigno and bombarda. The sessions were often two hours long and did not require much intervention on his part except for a nudge here or there. The students were content with him teaching everything he wanted to. He had discussed the sessions with his friends and they had agreed that two sessions a week was a bit much.
-Flash Back-
They had convened in the hidden passage on the 4th floor and Harry had sat quietly for sometime observing the students gathered there. He had expanded his circle and there were a few more people around the table. Among the new faces were Seamus Finnigan, Michael Corner, Ernie Macmillan, and Lilith Moon with a few others. They all knew each other but they were all apprehensive about this meeting because none of them had been a part of this meeting before now. Hermione was sitting with Ron beside her, Neville was with Hannah, Susan sat on his left side while Daphne took his right, Tracy sat beside one of the twins (it was hard to tell normally which one) while the other twin sat beside Luna who looked like she was still in a dream. Harry had wanted to ask her about what she had said to Daphne but feared her answer. Seers were cryptic and never gave straight answers. If they were doing so that could mean impending catastrophe. Lisa Turpin sat on the other side of Luna with Terry Boot.
Harry started the meeting, "I have called you all here to know about your thoughts on the practice sessions we have had lately".
Tracy had answered, "These sessions are interesting and we always learn a thing or two. Additionally these are also useful in cultivating friendships with people of other houses who would otherwise not even spare us a look because we wear Green and Silver".
Lisa said, "I agree with everything Tracy has said. I would like to add that while the sessions are useful, two sessions a week is a bit much for those of us who have other obligations".
Harry arched an eye-brow, "And what would those obligations be, Lisa?"
"Oh, there are so many. First there are the classes where the teachers are trying to bury us with mountains of homework. I must say that I am very pleased with the new teachers and at the same time angry with Dumbledore for lading us with useless wizards like Lockhart in the past who did not know one end of his wand from the other. The History of Magic teacher is my personal hero now with the way she treats the mini death eaters and the defense professor certainly knows what he is talking about. All the same, the work is mountainous and takes a lot of time. Then there are the morning sessions where you two take sadistic pleasure in torturing us.", she gave a significant look to Neville and Harry. She continued, "Then for some of us, there are clubs which we need to attend like the Charms club, the gobstones club etc. For the Quidditch players, there are practices often twice a week which leaves us tired. In fact, I do not even remember the last time that I felt relaxed or well rested".
Harry had to laugh at her tirade. "I think you made your point, Lisa. I understand that there are things that you all have to do which require time and effort. I think that a session a week for the members of the Order would be enough because we do not need to follow the pattern laid down by Professor Rana. There are a few more things that I can teach before I will teach the students to duel like spell chains, advanced shields and using charms and transfigurations in a duel. From what I have seen of your rate of progress, you should be able to learn all the spells I am going to teach by Yule. After which we will do spell chains, duels etc. If anyone of you has any objections, please voice them".
So it was agreed that the sessions would be held one day per week and they would find something they wanted to learn and if it was useful, they would practice it or Harry would teach them a spell. As it was, most of the students wanted to learn to cast a patronus which was an incredibly hard piece of magic. In fact none of Harry's friends had learned the Patronus charms in their lessons over the summer because it took a lot of time and energy which was spent learning other useful things.
-Flashback ends-
Astoria's POV
In the last week, Astoria had avoided her sister as much as she could. She knew she should not have approached Harry directly and bluntly asked him but she had been curious and Daphne was not forthcoming with answers. They had spent two hours that night asking her details about their date but she had not told them anything except saying that the date had been abruptly cut short by a speaking patronus. A speaking patronus? Astoria did not even know that was a thing.
A day after she had asked Harry if there was something between him and her sister, Daphne had cornered her and threatened her at wand point. She had aimed her wand tip at the middle of her face and warned her to never try anything like that again or she would have to hurt her. Sometime later, she had received a letter from her mother in which her mother had reproached her for being so tactless and forbade her from prying about the topic again. If that wasn't enough, every time Daphne saw her near Harry, her big sister would caress her wand handle where it hid in the wand holster up her sleeve while glaring at Astoria.
She wanted to apologize to Harry for her conduct but it looked like Daphne was determined to keep her away from Harry. She still could ask for his forgiveness through the Harry Potter Fan Club though. They would take her message to him.
Rosier Estate, Dorset
This month's clinical trial was to start the next day and Remus was hopeful that they would be successful as well.
Thanks to the successful trial last month, more werewolves had joined him and were now working for Harold in the greenhouses. They were a welcome addition because there was always more work to do and not enough hands to do it.
The werewolves were grateful to Remus for giving them a respectable life. Many people were still apprehensive about werewolves but here they were being paid and respected for their work. Of course they knew that their employer was the boy-who-lived and it made them admire him even more considering that he was the one behind repealing the anti-werewolf legislation drafted during the last war.
They also knew that many of their brethren had joined You-Know-Who and would fight on his side in the coming war. The light did not have many fighters to deal with the threat of werewolves. The most ideal ones to deal with werewolves were other werewolves because they could not be harmed by the bites or the scratches as other wizards could be. To that effect, some of those who wanted to make a difference in the coming war had met with Lupin and pledged their support to him to fight on the side of light in the coming war. Remus was initially reluctant but when they reminded him that this war was theirs as much as his, he had agreed to the plan. Many of the werewolves had been born in wizarding families but never had any formal training. They could be taught to wield a wand and others could still fight bare handed.
Since then Remus had started to train them. They spent two hours a day in battle practice. Remus had contacted a shady wand maker in Knockturn Alley who sold used wands and had fitted his employees with those wands. He was teaching them a few dangerous spells which could be useful in a fight and also was teaching them to fight with other werewolves without the aid of magic. They had around 70 werewolves working with them now but of these, only 40 agreed to fight in the war. Remus was also planning to obtain silver daggers for those who had agreed to fight under him so as to give them a weapon should they need one in a fight. While a Goblin Silver dagger was extremely valuable and could not be obtained easily, daggers made of ordinary silver could work as well and were easily available. With the insane amount he was being paid for his services to Harry, he could easily use that money to gather some resources for helping his nephew however he decided to make it a surprise for him. Lately Prongslet had a lot of surprises up his sleeve, now it was his turn.
There was also the small matter of Nymphadora Tonks. He knew that the young metamorph fancied him and Remus harbored feelings toward her, but he was conflicted. He loved her but was fearful due to his condition. He could not consciously put her at risk but she kept coming around trying to make him realize that she had fallen for him. Remus thought it was not a good idea.
Black Townhouse
Sirius Black had been living an easy life since he had been exonerated. There was not much for him to do other than his exercises in the morning, practice his family magic and run errands for Dumbledore if there were any in addition to attending meetings of the Order. He was also the liaison person for the order for any information which was brought in by the members of the order to the Townhouse and Dumbledore was not there to take it. Sometimes, he would visit Gringotts to meet with his Account Manager Ripfang to discuss his family holdings and manage his accounts. While Remus looked after the other 4 houses, Harry had left House Black and its holdings for Sirius to look after in addition to the regency of House Rosier. Harry had wanted him to hold House Black and House Rosier at the same time but he had refused telling him to bring in Andromeda who had felt left out of the House business till now because her Lord had no assignment for her. In performing his duties as Regent, he had acted in that capacity exactly once in the last month's session. House Rosier had two vassals who had no heirs at Hogwarts at the present moment and they had claimed the right of sanctuary from him. As the regent, he could not make the decision and had promised to them to relay the request to Lord Rosier.
Other than these occasional outings, he practically had no other work to do. If one wanted to find Sirius Black, they could find him in the library or at the Rosier Estate in Dorset where he usually flooed to when he was bored and wanted to have some good practice. The House had been remodeled entirely but still reminded him of the years gone by. If not for the occasional order members coming by, he would have been bored out of his mind.
This fine day, he was sitting in the Lord's study and reading a book on defensive magic when he raised his head to find an eagle owl tapping at the window. With a flick of his wand, the window opened inwards and the owl landed before him carrying a letter. He untied the letter and opened it.
"Mr. Black
This is in relation to some formal matters pertaining to your exoneration at the hands of the Wizengamot. There were some formalities which were not fulfilled and the error was discovered only today.
You are hereby directed to present yourself to Master Auror Alastor Moody, the head of Aurors in the ministry at 12:00 sharp. Please note that failure to turn up at the designated hour would amount to presumption of guilt.
Percival Weasley
Senior Undersecretary to Minister of Magic"
Sirius frowned at the language of the letter. As far as he remembered, there was nothing left in his trial. However the letter had come straight from the office of the Minister of Magic, so perchance there was something which they might have missed. There was a little doubt at the back of his mind about the possibility that people were conspiring against him but he shook his head at the thought. No one could conspire against him unless they wanted to risk the anger of Harold James Peverell. Last time he heard, the wizarding world doted upon his son.
Casting a tempus, he ran to the bathroom because it was already 11:00 in the morning. Within the next 30 minutes, Sirius Black was dressed in his finest robes; the Black family ring meant to be worn by the members of the family was upon his finger, his wand in the wand holster on his arm. Hollering to Kreacher to tell him that he was going to the ministry, he ambled out of the Townhouse and disapparated to appear in the Atrium of the Ministry.
Hogwarts
Ron and Hermione had the last week to mull things over. They had decided to find a sword because they were certain Harry would not teach them until they had their equipment. While she could write home and ask her parents for some money, she doubted they would give her money to buy a sword. The Weasley family vault which had recently been reopened did not contain any swords. All of their swords had been sold off in the past. Besides, Ron doubted that Mr. Weasley or Mrs. Weasley would take the news kindly that their son wanted to study warfare. As it was, they had agreed to the training last summer only because it was necessary for survival.
He and Hermione were sitting in the library mulling over the problem when in a moment of inspiration, Ron remembered someone who could help him.
He turned to Hermione. "Hermione, I know of someone who can help us. I do not know if he has any goblin made swords, but he will certainly have a couple of silver swords".
Hermione looked at him skeptically, "Who are you talking about, Ron?"
Ron grinned and whispered the name in her ear and her eyes lit with anticipation. In the next hour, a letter was written and was being carried away by Hedwig who had volunteered for the task since Harry rarely used her for sending letters anymore.
Hogwarts
Harry was in the Gryffindor Tower studying the Marauder's map, trying to memorize all of the places which the map detailed so that he would know everything there was there to know about it when he saw something strange. A group of students were starting to congregate in a room on the 4th floor in the right wing. The room was a location that was rarely frequented. There were students of all the houses present in that room and as he looked closely, there were students of almost every year there. What was more surprising was that Hermione was also a part of the crowd.
He donned his Invisibility Cloak and ventured in the direction that the map pointed. He crept stealthily and kept casting detection spells to see if there were any wards etc. to detect an intruder and there were none. He was miffed with the apparent lack of caution by those students.
The room was guarded by a portrait of a witch which did not ask him for a password. Harry looked into the map and there was his dot on the map at the place where he was standing and a bubble was next to it saying, "Hedwig". He was amused at the password but chose not to use it to open the door because a door opening by itself would freak everyone out even if they were in the magical world. He heard foot-steps behind him and turned to find two firsties give the password and enter the room. Careful not to bump them, he slipped into the room behind them. There were at least 40 students in the room. He took a seat at the end of the room with the wall to his back and decided to watch where this was going.
Ginny stood after sometime and started to address the gathering, "Welcome to the first meeting of the Harry Potter Fan Club in this new academic year". As she sat, Hermione stood to address the gathering.
Harry almost yelped. The horror was real. There was a bloody fan club in his name and Hermione Granger was a member. However, he decided to watch what they were doing before he revealed his presence to them.
Hermione was saying, "Now that we are all here, let's start with the Harry Potter Trivia for this month. The first question is- who was the seeker to lose to Harry Potter in his first Quidditch Match?"
One of the older years answered the question and the second question followed, "Who is Harry Potter's godfather?"
This was also answered immediately by the students and then the third question was asked by Hannah Abbott, "Who was the lion who stood in the way of the Golden Trio when they were going to defeat Professor Quirrell and save the Sorcerer's stone?"
Harry almost cringed. Questions about his life were being thrown out like candies and his private life was being made public. However, the trivia was not finished by a long shot and the next question almost made him run from the room. The question was asked by Romilda Vane, a 4th year Gryffindor, "Who is Harry Potter's girlfriend?"
The question was innocuous in itself but the answers raised his hackles. Some named Susan as his girl friend; some named Daphne Greengrass while some went so far as to link him with many witches at once. He was not opposed to the idea of a girlfriend and in fact, he had often thought of the perfect girl but the thought of being with more witches than one at once did not sit well with him. That was Sirius's reputation, not his. He was thankful that Susan was not here or there would have been a massacre in this room.
He heard a boy asking a question and to his surprise, it was Ron. He was asking, "What is Harry Potter's favorite dessert?"
Harry sighed with frustration. His best friends were a part of this club and they never thought to tell him. He definitely would have words with them later. The hour long meeting was spent in agony with details of his life getting broadcast to the students gathered in the room and the students even knew that his personal elf was named Dobby!
Ministry of Magic
Sirius Black apparated into the Atrium of the ministry and took the elevator to the floor where the Auror offices were situated. Moody's secretary ushered him in telling him that Moody had told her to send him in as soon as he arrived. Sirius entered the office to find Moody behind his desk lounging on a chair and looking at ease as if he had all the time in the world.
As he saw Sirius, he pointed to a chair on the other side and growled, "Take a seat, Sirius".
"What is this about, Alastor? What formalities were not finished that you had to send me a letter with such language?"
Moody gave him an evil smirk, "The Minister asked me to present you to him as soon as you walked into my office. There is something that he wants to talk about and would prefer to do so in person".
They took the elevator to the Minister's office where they were sent in at once. Alice and Amelia were already present in the office. As soon as Frank saw him, he gave him a big grin and said, "Sirius Black, welcome to the ministry of Magic".
"What was so urgent that you had to send me an official letter, Frank? I must confess that I was worried for a moment that the ministry had dug up something against me however I remembered soon that my friend is the Minister of Magic."
It was Alice who answered, "Sirius, it was a ruse to bring you here and make you sweat a little. Actually Alastor told us that you have become moody with nothing to do at all. Is that true?"
"What has that got to do with the letter?"
Amelia answered, "Simple. You were an extremely able Auror in the last war, perhaps one of the best with your formidable skills at dueling and your repertoire of spells. The minister felt that it would be a waste to let such talent lie unutilized. As it is, the new recruits can do with an Auror of your calibre teaching them. Moody is adept at his task but he take savage pleasure in torturing them in the name of training and he is one man but there are two hundred recruits. With more trainers, we can do better. There is no one else that we can spare. So the job is yours if you'll take it. You were terminated wrongfully and the ministry in good faith is making reparations by returning some of your lost honour to you. What do you say?"
Sirius was grinning with pleasure. This would keep his wits sharp and his reflexes strong. In addition, he would be part of anything that Harry planned and not be counted as the odd-man out.
"There is no question about me taking the job. I will join however I want to be part of any special operations that you plan for Voldemort or his minions".
In the next hour, Sirius was introduced to others in the Auror department and news of his appointment had been given to them. Most of the senior Aurors like Dawlish, Proudfoot, Savage, Rufus, Gawain, Kingsley, Hestia, Emmeline etc. knew him from his time as an Auror and his capabilities but Scrimgeour grumbled that Sirius needed to pass through the ringer before he could be allowed to join them again.
To break the impasse that it present, Frank proposed a duel between the two of them and said that if Rufus lost, Sirius would be appointed as Senior Auror and if Rufus won, Sirius's appointment would be cancelled. The duel was set for non-lethal spells only and would continue till one was not able to continue or was disarmed.
Sirius was in no mood to let Rufus stand before him for long. After they bowed to each other, Sirius sent a bone-breaker at Rufus who took it on a shield. He responded with a bone-breaker of his own which Sirius dodged. Sirius went on the offensive taking a leaf out of his son's book and started casting rapidly without giving time for Rufus to reply to his spells. He used all the spells that he remembered and kept Rufus on his toes. When he relented for a second, Rufus sent a bombarda at him which Sirius dodged while at the same time, sent a banishing charm at Rufus. He stepped out of the way while sending a spell chain of stupefy, petrification hex and incarcerous at him which Sirius took on a shield he had raised hastily. In retaliation, Sirius started peppering him with incendio forcing him to hide behind his shield. In a stroke of inspiration, he cast the fire whip and snared Rufus's shield in it. With a jerk, he broke the shield. Before Rufus could answer, Sirius cast the smokescreen spell impeding Rufus's line of sight. Rufus slashed through the smoke screen to find Sirius standing before him with his wand in his face and before Rufus could say another incantation, he was stupefied.
With the duel won, Sirius was appointed as Senior Auror entrusted with training the recruits. For the very first session, he called all of them to the training hall. As they all stood before him he started addressing them. "Most of you know me as the only person to escape Azkaban while a few of you know me as a former Auror who fought for the ministry in the last wizarding war and almost all of you have heard the story about me being a crazy mass murderer. I have been appointed by the Ministry to teach you all to duel because it was felt that the Head of Aurors would be unnecessarily burdened with his other obligations. So, I have taken on the delightful task of torturing you all in order to make you ready for any contingency".
He pointed to an Auror to come forward and stunned him. While others hissed in indignation, he asked them, "Imagine if you come upon one of your own like this, what would you do?"
One of the recruits stepped forward and enervated his comrade. Sirius turned to the others, "If you are in a battle and only stun your enemies, do you not think that their fellow wizards can enervate them? It will bring things back to where they were. So what should you do?". He paused while the recruits all looked around at each other to see if anyone would answer. "What you do is hit them so hard that they do not get up again to join the battle. Ensure that an enemy who has fallen once remains fallen."
After a two hour long gruelling session, Sirius gave them orders to report before dawn broke the next morning saying that he would be joining them for exercises with Moody and may be with two of them casting spells at the recruits, they would get enough inspiration to run faster.
Great Hall
Ginny Weasley had been having a quiet year so far. Since she had been disenchanted with the legend of The-boy-who-lived, she had started to see the real Harry. While he was kind, brave and courageous Ginny thought that he did not measure up to the image she had of him before this year. While witches flung themselves at him, she was happy not to be one of them anymore. Things on the romance front were not good however. Michael had been a considerate and caring boyfriend but he did not measure up to her expectations. He was more studious and did not understand the nuances of relationships. He gave her all his attention but there was no spark between them. Their relationship had not progressed anymore since the end of last year and they both had decided to end things on an amicable note rather than wait for things to get sour.
She had many things to keep her busy anyway. There were classes which were harder this year than previous years. There were the training sessions they did in the mornings and those were a real pain in the back-side. Harry and Neville were absolutely brutal to them and she had to go to Madam Pomphrey at least twice for bruises.
Quidditch practices were also taxing on her and with three evenings a week, it did not leave enough time for her to finish her homework. She had to ask for help from others with her assignments. On the other hand, the order had led her to make new friends in other houses which otherwise would not have been possible in the past years. Some students from other houses had tried to ask her out on a date but she had refused everyone. She was looking for the perfect person who would measure up to her expectations.
She had also been avoiding Harry for one reason or another. Except for a random conversation here and there, they hadn't talked much. The only time he had sought her out was when he had to give her the ring meant for members of the family and he had promised to her father to procure.
A sudden screech attracted her attention and she looked up to find owls flying to the students seated at the house tables. She saw a group of owls carrying a big parcel and flying towards her with a big barn owl in the lead. She and her friends caught the package before it could fall on the table and spill everyone's breakfast or create a ruckus. As they relieved the owls of the burden, the rest of the owls flew away while the barn owl extended its leg to her. She took the letter and the owl sat contentedly in front of her. Thinking he was waiting for a reply, she opened the letter.
"Dear Miss Weasley,
I must say that I was pleased when you were selected as a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I also noticed that you do not have your own broom and I took the opportunity to reward your achievement as an ally and patron of your Family.
I have ordered this Nimbus 2001 as a late birthday gift for you and a gift for your achievement. I hope that you will like this gift and put it to good use in contributing to Gryffindor victories.
This owl is your personal owl which comes as a gift from your parents for your achievement.
Harold James Black
Lord of House Black."
She was pleased with the gift. She had been meaning to write to her father for a broom when she had been selected but was unsure if Arthur had the means especially after he had bought a Nimbus 2000 for Ronald when he became a Prefect. With the gift from Harry, that trouble was over.
Hogwarts, Quidditch Stadium
Today was yet another Gryffindor quidditch practice.
With the howling wind and the rain pouring down by the bucket load, most of the team was not too keen on flying today. But Angelina (who was almost as enthusiastic as Wood) could not be denied.
They had thought that perhaps Angelina could be persuaded to relent a little but that just made her push them harder. She reminded them that quidditch matches are never called off on account of weather and that they needed practice under all conditions.
Angelina had glared at every one of them in turn. "Professor McGonagall told me just this morning that she has gotten used to having the Quidditch cup in her office and would be disappointed if we were to lose it. She has told me to make sure that every member of this team is performing up to your potential and leaves no stone unturned to earn a victory. Short of outright cheating in the game, I want each member of the team to do everything that they can to win the Inter-House Quidditch tournament this year. To achieve that, she has given me a free hand to do anything that I can. As I see it, we had no quidditch last year and there are many new faces on the team, I want all of us to synchronize and work like a well oiled machine because if we lost a single match to any team then Merlin help me, I will hound you all to your crypts".
Since they had included the reserve players in the practice, there were more people and she put them in two teams. For this practice, there would be no seeker and Harry was made a chaser with Ginny and Fay. The chasers were to try to score in the hoops past Ronald and the beaters were to stop them. While the number of chasers almost doubled, the beaters had more targets to look out for and the number of beaters doubled meant more chances of being hit by a Bludger. They practiced for two hours and in that time, the chasers were unseated quite a number of times but they had been equally successful at getting past the beaters and scoring. With the rain falling and the number of players doubled, it made it hard for Ronald to defend but he gritted his teeth and kept the goals. He let in quite a number of goals but also saved as many. Then Angelina asked others to retire to the benches and released the snitch for Harry. The sky was dark and with the rain falling, it was hard to see ordinarily but with his leonine form, he could see better than most in the night sky. He caught the snitch within seconds after it was released several times in a row. Angelina was pleased, but others were having trouble continuing. After about two hours, they were all drenched to the core and shivering with cold. Angelina still wanted to make them practice some more, saying that the first match was hardly a month away and they all needed to practice but other players put their foot down telling her they were not going to kill themselves with cold just for a few more minutes of practice.
A week later
The last week had been increasingly busy for the students with everything happening. The rains had been relentlessly pouring down but had abated in the past few days. When it did not rain, Harry took the students down to the lake for a run and when it rained, they ran in the castle. The students were getting fit but it was equally true that they could not fight like Harry. For one thing, they did not have the repertoire of spells that he had. For another, he was more powerful. Lastly, no one really knew all his talents. He had proved himself to be extremely capable with every spell he cast. In the last session, he had started to teach them selvio hexia i.e. spell deflection however not every one of them was successful at it. It was very complex and only those with quick reflexes and people who were extremely sure of their capabilities were able to do it. Last week they had the first accident of their sessions. Carmichael who was learning to deflect a hex had misjudged a bone breaker from Neville and it had broken bones in his wand arm. To the surprise of the others, Harry had repaired those bones in a trice and dosed him with a pain potion. Needless to say, Hermione had pestered him to tell where he had learned healing and how much he knew about it. Diplomatic as ever, Harry had told her that his friends had taught him general healing so that he would not be in a tight spot if he ever broke his bone in a duel. The news of his talent had reached Madam Pomphrey from Eddie Carmichael who felt like he should consult an expert to see if his bones had been mended properly.
-Flash back starts-
As he took a seat in her office, Poppy glared at him making him squirm. After a few moments of tension, he had asked her, "Umm. Madam Pomphrey, what is the matter?"
"I did not know that you had become a healer too, Mr. Peverell".
He gave her his best lop-sided grin. "Madam Pomphrey, I learned some healing this summer that is all".
She snorted, "Forgive me if I do not believe it. You did not just learn some healing. I know of the talents of the trainee healer I had for some months during last year and if you learned even a fraction of what he knows then I must say I am curious to know".
He eyed her for a few moments before he asked her, "I can tell you a little about my abilities if you can tell me if your mind is secure or not".
She nodded, "As healer, we are often taught Occlumency so that no one can pick information out of our mind. And it is our resort to control our emotions in case we have to treat someone who is family to us. I cannot even begin to explain how many times I had to use that when I have been treating you the last four years".
She tapped a rune on her table and said, "Now you can speak without the fear of being listened to. There are a separate set of wards in the hospital wing which are controlled from here. I have raised a privacy ward around the room".
He contemplated things for a moment sorting out what to tell her and what to keep to himself. "Madam Pomphrey, my friends are not just healers. They can use it to save someone's life as easily as they can use this art for killing anyone. One of my teachers taught me to kill in 30 different ways without making one bleed. While I abhor killing or using the art of healing to kill, I can understand their point and learned everything they wanted to teach to me".
-Flashback Ends-
The sword practice sessions were going well with Neville. He was learning to parry, dodge and swing. He was starting to use his bulk in fighting and learned many of Harry's tricks however Harry knew of so many of them that Neville always ended up losing to him. Susan was also progressing well but not as much as Harry would have liked. She could hold a blade; swing it if necessary but she was no expert swordswoman.
Ron and Hermione had got the answer to their woes sometime during the last week when they had snuck out of the castle during the day to meet the newly minted Lord Prewett who had not wanted to give a sword to them but when Ron had told him about Harry's conditions and his need, he had produced two silver swords for them. They were plain swords with no distinguishing feature but were sufficient to serve their purpose.
Hermione and Ronald had cornered Harry in the Common Room and repeated their request that he teach them sword fighting. He had repeated the same conditions to them and they had told him to meet them at the Room of Requirement. He had initially protested that the Room of Requirement was hardly secure for their purposes but Hermione made a good point. She told him that not even all the members of their order knew about how to access the Room of Requirement and therefore the possibility that anyone would walk in on them was very small.
He had reluctantly agreed but had told them that they could not go to anyone regarding any bruises or pain that they might suffer at his hands.
In the session in the Room of Requirement, he had set them to practice the stance for 30 minutes while he duelled with Neville. Neville was wary of him and knew how tricky he could be so he crossed blades with him when he knew that Harry would not try any tricks but have a honest duel. They had been circling each other for sometime before Neville started attacking him which he lazily parried. Neville was no real challenge for him but he could test his agility with the other boy. After Neville had attacked him for some time, he had taken the aggressive stance and started to attack making him cower before him. Sometime during the duel he had disarmed Neville and made him yield.
After that he started to teach Ron and Hermione about how to swing the sword, how to avoid a blow and other important things when Ron impatiently asked him if he considered him weaker than Neville?
Hermione was mortified with the idiotic question and had tried to dissuade him but he was not deterred. Neville gleefully asked Harry to duel with Ron. Suffice to say, Ronald had spent the next two days in great pain. Susan was not duelling with him either but learning to swing a sword before she would duel. She said that she was not a foolhardy lion who just jumped into the thick of things without thinking them through.
The classes had settled into a routine and thus, the students were able to cope and keep pace with them. Potions class was the same as usual except for Harry of course. Snape was still being obnoxious but the vitriol was absent now. He would sneer at the students but his heart was not in it. And he had started to take points off his house too.
The History of Magic teacher had slowed her pace down so that the students did not feel overwhelmed. While she gave them homework, it was not as much as it had been a week before. She was still giving the highest number of detentions though and students from all houses were her victims. Students kept quiet in her classes unless they had a question for her. She would answer every question which came to her.
The Defense Professor had taught them a number of things or made them revise things they had learned or should have learned in the previous years and which he was sure would feature in their OWL exams. He was quick to award them points and was the only one who was yet to give a detention. He was a favorite for students from all years and it was surprising to see firsties so accomplished at defense. They knew more than other years did in their first year at least.
Dorset
The clinical trial for this week had been going well and it was believed that it would go well with the full moon being tomorrow. Remus was gearing up for mass production which he felt was not far away now. Griphook had finalized the deal with a company whose finances were in shambles and the company's ownership had been transferred to the name of Lord Potter.
The company was ready to begin its production and since they had no outlets of their own, Lord Potter was looking for contracts with companies which owned apothecaries or were in the business of potion making. Even when the potions were to be sold at a lot less margin than the wolfsbane, it was expected to bring in sizable profits for them. There was also some apprehension that Voldemort would try to attack those selling the new potion because it could make him lose his followers and they were thinking of ways around it. Harry had wanted to give the potions away for free but Remus had dissuaded him by telling him that with the general conditions for werewolves improving, most of them were in a position to pay for them as opposed to those in the employ of Tom. A batch of potions for a month cost them 10G which was lot less than Wolfsbane which was available at 10G a dose i.e. 70G for a month's supply of wolfsbane. Remus was also planning to hire a few potion masters and apprentices because there was a lot of work to be done and he could not do it all by himself. By his own admission, he was not a dab hand at potions.
Ministry of Magic
Sirius Black was a menace. That was the general opinion of the recruits who had the misfortune to be his trainees. He was more ruthless than Moody when it came to training and every day, he would select a recruit to duel with him. None of his duels were fought with stunners and disarming hexes but bone breakers and bone crushers.
Whoever duelled with him on a given day expected to break at least one bone. A few of them had been able to get the jump on him but had paid dearly for it the next time they crossed wands with him. Sometimes he even fought with senior Aurors and gave them a run for their money. There were a few though who never yielded to him unless they were unconscious.
Sometimes, the minister himself descended to the Auror offices where he duelled with Sirius Black and none of their duels ever had a winner. Almost all of them ended in a stalemate. Alice Longbottom too had crossed wands with him on occasion and showed her prowess. Seeing them fight was often thrilling for the recruits. As Moody would always tell them, they were all that remained of an age gone by where Aurors were feared by death eaters in the last war. The death eaters were cowards who would apparate in, do their raid and were gone before Aurors could arrive. The reputation of Aurors was largely due to the fact that the well trained Aurors in that age were more powerful, sophisticated and knew their spells like the back of their hand.
Sirius often called all of them in early morning and after a gruelling two hour session of running, they were set to practice spell casting. Those who were better than others would be exempted for the day but those who failed would be set to cast again until they got it right. After spell casting, he would let them go to their other obligations and reconvene them in the evening for duels.
If he ever noticed any recruit using a stunner, he would duel with them himself and teach them a lesson often by breaking a bone or two.
An interesting wrinkle was Emmeline Vance who was a hit-witch for the ministry and would go through the same training regimen as other senior Aurors. Since Sirius had joined, she looked for reasons to be around him and would seek chances to duel with him. Whenever Sirius went home for the day, she went with him. Almost everyone was certain that something was going on between them and were waiting for a signal that indeed, they were dating.
Two days later
The clinical trials for this month were over and the reports had been sent to the ICW. Preparations were being made in anticipation of the patent coming to them next month. Remus had also written an article to be sent to Potions Today as soon as the patents were granted.
Harry had spent the last night at the Rosier Estate in Dorset as the snow-leopard keeping company with Moony and Padfoot.
In Hogwarts, students were preparing for the next Hogsmeade weekend today and Harry was going with Susan. Daphne had not asked him about this time but he knew that he would have to make up for the ruined dinner last time. He just was looking for an appropriate time. He also had received a letter from Colin Creevey which had been given to him by Astoria in which she had asked his pardon many times and asked him if he could keep Daphne off her back and patch things up with her sister. Daphne was ready to hex Astoria every time she saw her and it was grating on the nerves of the younger Greengrass girl.
A/N- I received some reviews from a user recently in which they liberally criticised the first few chapters of this fic and pointed out some flaws which I tend to agree with. The first few chapters were a little hasty and I did not take time to show things as others might have thought. Here is a proposition for you all. If you all want, I can edit those chapters and add some things here and there to make it more likeable. However that would depend upon how many people actually want me to do it.
Also, I kind of feel let down that despite giving chapters regularly, this story has not attracted attention like other fics. Am I really writing that bad?
Lastly thank you to all who dutifully read my fic and give their valuable reviews.