Over Breakfast the Morning of Saturday, the Headmistress appeared at the Podium.

"Okay. All Magic Users, you will need to attend the Workshop this weekend. To get the most of your Foci… you need to feed it your Blood and Mana. This also makes it nearly impossible for others to use your focus. Some will just play dead, others will take action against the Thief." She smiled, showing a set of sharp eye teeth. "Please follow the red line on the floor. First come…" she was gone.

Harry looked at Trogg, at Hermione, and twisted about as he drew on his puma soul and charged into the Hallway, Trogg and Hermione scrambling to catch him. Tish grabbed her chicken leg and followed.

Kyra looked at the group trying to get out the door before turning to Steel-lotus and the Female Grunn. "And so we just wait?"

"Rushing your feeding is hard on digestion." The Smaller female Grunn grinned.

Verra gurgled her laughter.

SPRB

Puma Harry skidded to a stop at the end of the red line… only for Trog to smash into him creating a pile up.

Hermione leaped to the top of the mountain of fur males … and roared her victory… or as close as a house cat can.

Trogg grunted his laugh. "Herm prove why she is Your Female."

Puma Harry roared, muffled by Troggs armpit.

Hermione jumped from the top of the pile, and landed lightly as a full human. "Fall in." She entered the room, that if anything, it was bigger than the Dining Hall.

As the males picked themselves up, Trogg asked, "Fall in?"

"Military speak." Harry shifted to Human and rolled to his feet. "Mundanes have developed a few tricks in communication. Civilians also use it… which makes it easier when they are joining the military or when the military needs to herd the civilians. She is telling us to follow her."

The Grunn grunted.

Tish trotted in, and laid down by Harry's left foot and continued to finish her breakfast.

The short man from the Wayfynder ceremony hobbled in from the other side of the Chamber. "You two… who does the white owl belong to!" He sneered.

Hermione snorted. "Sorry Sir … it is more than He belongs to her." She jerked her thumb at Harry. "She only marks those who annoy her in some way. Usually because they are too much for him to take face to face."

He looked at the Lad with a wand and dagger in a quick draw position… "Don't tell her, but thanks for the compliment."

"Sirius, you are the Focus Master?" Harry asked.

"I am."

"Dobby, the black box from beside my desk, please." The box appeared in his hand. He held it out. "For your inspection and if they meet with your approval… your collection."

"You are making an offering?" The man frowned at the Lad. "Why?"

"My last Wand Maker collected things to help with his crafting. Unicorn tail hairs, donated phoenix feathers, and the like. So I decided to donate a few Griffin feathers and a couple Coatl feathers."

The box was Summoned from his hand as the wizened man snagged the box. He pawed through the box. "The Dark are from the Griffin and the rainbow feathers are…"

"Yes sir."

The man held the box to the side, as a light gray lizard, a few inches taller than Dobby, dressed in robes similar to Steel-lotus, scuttled out of the shadows to take the box and return to the shadows.

"Okay missy. Step forward." As Hermione did as asked, he squinted at her. "Old focus." She drew her wand from her boot. "Vine wood twenty seven point three centimetres. Dragon heartstring… Welsh Green… firm but flexible… Olivander." He nodded at her as he passed it back. "What is that?" He pointed at the pistol just in front of her left hip as she slid the wand into the spot on her boot.

"Colt Peacemaker. Three Eighty caliber revolver handgun." She pulled it from the holster, extracted the cylinder, and passed him the rest.

"And you seek to craft this too?"

"If it is possible." She grinned at the Master. "With the Idiot… I need every advantage I can grab, squeeze, or claw."

"Oi!" Harry grinned at the two of them.

"Explain." Trogg grunted softly. "She belittle you, but you smile."

"Yes. Because she knows what she is getting into with me, and yet She Chooses to prepare for a long life at my side."

The Grunn sat. "You that bad?"

"Had to fight for my life every June for the last four years… and she was there for the first and third… having been taken for the second and I was alone in a test of my abilities for the last. So when I learned of this place… I kidnapped her and her parents before I invited her here."

"You knowly included her parents?" Star had arrived.

The Focus Master handed the gun back. "You can replace the wood plates and treat the rest as an unedged athema… but that will take more than the week this workshop is scheduled for."

"I seek to prove capable, Master." She tucked the cylinder in her hip pouch and holstered the rest.

"For now… take the centre of the pentagram." As she did, a five sided dome appeared. "Okay… the magic of the school is trying to match your body type, magic potential and… fifteen other things…" he trailed off as an image of a pirate's flintlock appeared before her. A twisted length of bone white wood impacted on one wall as a coil of long black hairs appeared on another wall… before a raw three karat sapphire joined the coiled hair.

"Sea washed Ash, a mane from an ancient Sphinx… oldest of her breed and a … balance stone of Sapphire… as opposed to a focus stone." He grinned at her. "This is going to be a tricky one. And you can't use magic to craft the pieces…"

"I look forward to the challenge." Hermione collected the items and stepped to the side.

Trogg grunted as he shouldered forward.

"Old focus…"

Trogg dug out the gauntlets he was wearing when Harry first saw him.

"Step forward…"

A set of leather bracers, with a selection of rune carved bones and jewels, bound with leather strips and silver wire.

"Oh… You are attuning the Focus to yourself… rather than bending to the focus… it will cut down on the waisted mana. But you will be spending time carving and tuning it every day for the next week."

The Grunn grunted and knuckled off to stand beside Hermione.

Tish bolted to the pentagram. :no old Focus.:

The Master looked at her. "Who is going to do the work…"

:My Dhorisha'ke'a'char.:

Harry groaned.

"How many Females do you have…"

"Three that are here." Harry sighed.

"Here?" Trogg raised.

"Hermione, Hedwig, the owl that tagged him, and Tish." Harry huffed. "Daphne and her Mother in Rio… and judging by Barchoke's and Ashraq's face when I collected my rings… I am getting at least one more." He blinked. "Each."

Trogg grunted his laughter

Hermione shook her head.

The Master cackled.

A jeweled plated harness hung on the first screen.

: Okay. At least it's not war claws.: She pranced off to Hermione's side. : They make my paws itch.:

Harry final stepped up and drew his Holly wand.

"Holly… Twenty three point seven centimeters… firm…" His eyes flared. "Phoenix Feather! A red Phoenix!" He looked at the lad. "Where did you…"

"Fawkes!" Harry interrupted the master, holding out his left arm. Fawkes appeared, and trilled as he perched on Harry's arm.

The Master's eyes widened.

A Hertasi scuttled out of the shadows to catch the three feathers shaken from the bird's tail. Fawkes trilled again, stroked Harry's head with his, before jumping to clear his hair and flamed away.

"You said that you only had three." The master cackled.

"Are you saying that Fawkes is a female?" Hermione was shocked.

Harry just facepalmed as Trogg fell over backwards laughing.

A length of Blackthorn, a metre long and a shaft of afican ironwood slammed rather violently into the base wall as a silver feather an acid green mirrored it with a pair of rainbow coloured feathers and a unicorn horn. The dagger on his chest joined the two rainbowed feathers and unicorn horn.

A fossilized eye joined the green string as two large star flawed rubies joined the unicorn horn.

The Master glared at the lad… no the boy. "Looks like Grymsythe is onto something. You are going to be a nightmare. You will either walk from this Academy as one of our Greatest… or explode in the greatest eruption since the first Cataclysm."

Harry and Hermione both facepalmed.

Harry looked at the man. "When I blow up, I will have Hedwig shit on you when ever she can for the rest of the year."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"You just said that he was going to go Boom." Hermione sighed. "You tempted his Fate and Luck."

The old man sighed. "And I have my bet for the year." He grinned at the boy. "You will make us rich or send us to the poor house." He looked at the selection before Harry. "A Blackthorn with a Hydra Heartstring and a Occomi Feather… and a fossilized Thunderbird Eye. A warriors wand to sceptre or Staff." He peered at the other grouping. "An African Ironwood Staff, with a Coatl feathers you brought in with a Thunderbird Feather and a pair of star heart Rubies and a Demascis Kris dagger… that's going to be an Athema or blood blade…"

"Please explain why they are asking to be blended." Hermione's eyes sparkling.

"It's a War Staff, and with the dagger… a spear… the blade will need to under go the blood blade ritual… but the hunger I am getting from this Focus… let's just say… the Combat Masters are going to want him." he looked at the two Foci in the making. "I think you want to use Cave Toad Tongue string as a balancer on them both…"

As Harry collected his materials, a whitish Hertasi with darker designs on its bald head hissed at Hermione and waved at the Door on the shadows.

"Yes, you two, go get started. The Grunn is going to need special items… and the Kree is going to need the boy to do the work while his work rests. You will find the texts on the workbench. Get. Next."

Trogg sat and watched the others as Harry followed Hermione and the Hertasi.

The work rooms had two benches and a pedal lathe. Hermione had identified it for Harry. The benches had a vice, a selection of hand tools and a forge in the corner.

Hermione was quick to find the page that he required for the Blackthorn focus.

After reading it through, she smiled. "Well, first you need to straighten it and remove the thorns unless you want to keep them. Your magic will guide you in the shaping of the wood."

She showed him how to fit the raw Shaft of the shorter wood into the lathe and how to work it.

While he was spinning it, she found a section on a folding blade focus… she knew the basics of forging and knife making… her father had taken her to a tradecraft fair when she was eight…

She started with a crucible and scrap steel. She let her magic guide the pieces that she added to the bowl. When she finished, she found it too heavy for her to move. She called Harry to do the brute labor, as the book said use of magic could warp the molten steel.

He settled it in the hottest corner of the forge, and returned to sanding the bumps smooth. He then popped the metre long stick out of the lathe as Hermione assembled the sand mold design she wanted. Locking the stick on the vice after wrapping it in three layers of leather, he began to dig out the knot as he found it to be filled with dry rot and worms. Then he began to shape what was left of the knot into a owl talon.

Hermione placed the shank of Ash into the lathe and marking the transfer points from barrel and grip, started it spinning and shaping.

Tish just watched them in awe. She could see their Magic as it rampaged around the Work Room. It blended in a way that only two who were fated to be together…

TBC