Chapter Fifty Four - Training Begins

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!

Chapter Fifty Four - Training Begins

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―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After an excellent dinner, there was little doubt it would be, the two girls again retired to Hermione's room to talk while Harry was on his mirror to Sirius.

In her room later, Hermione decided to tell Daphne - in the strictest of confidence, of course - just how far her and Harry's relationship had sexually developed. And Daphne confessed to her mother giving her a 'special' book to read in the days leading up to her leaving for Hogwarts.

Hermione then explained about the book Sirius had given Harry to read and her making sure he did. And it was with the aid of that book they were progressing their relationship.

When Daphne, madly blushing away, asked about oral sex, Hermione let her inner 'professor' out and explained it in detail in as clinical a fashion as she could.

"And, you and Harry have done that?" asked the blonde. "Both of them?"

"Yes," replied Hermione. With a developing excited grin, she confessed, "It was... wonderful." And sighed in remembrance.

Daphne began thinking... and considering.

Meanwhile, Sirius was talking to Harry about other important matters.

"I shall be speaking with Amelia about that old bastard's escape, pup," said Sirius.

"Don't be hard on her, Sirius," Harry demanded. "She did everything she could to prevent it and still failed. It wasn't carelessness on her part. No one yet has any idea how anyone even knew Dumbledore was in her custody, let alone was at the DMLE secure ward at Saint Mungo's.

"She's spent most of yesterday and all of today, I bet, interviewing everyone who knew anything. Give her time to go through all that by staying out of her way until her investigations are finished. Please."

Sirius sighed and replied, "Alright, pup; you're right. She needs time to finish investigating. But, I'm not happy about this."

"No one is," said Harry. "Except, maybe, Dumbledore and whichever of his foolish lackeys helped him escape."

As both thought about that for a few moments, Sirius suddenly said, "Oh! I knew there was something I wanted to talk to you about when next you contacted me..."

"Alright," said Harry. "Now's your chance. Don't go holding back on me."

"Your room at my place, Grimmauld Place," said Sirius. "How do you want it decorated?"

"They're at the decoration stage?" asked Harry. "Oh... hang on... of course, they'd be. They promised it'd all be done by... what... first week in February, right?"

"Right," replied Sirius. "So, decoration ideas?"

"Ummm... about that," said Harry. "How many bedrooms did you say this place of yours had?"

Sirius smirked and replied, "Lots. However, what you really want to know is, if there'd be room for Hermione and Daphne, right?"

"Welllll..." said Harry, suddenly a little uncomfortable. "I figured, with Hermione now being a daughter of House Black and all, you'd have already planned to set up a room for her. So, that just left Daphne."

His smirk not changing one whit, Sirius replied, "Already considered. Their rooms will be split either side of yours on the second floor."

"Ah," said Harry, a little relieved. Thinking of decoration, he replied, "For me, keep it simple. Cream walls, no wallpaper. Red woods for furnishings. Gloss-lacquered and polished, rather than painted. Queen-size double bed, chest of drawers, wardrobe and desk with desk chair, if at all possible. Wall-to-wall carpet or a large enough rug to cover most of the floor. Dull or deep red, maybe."

"And the girls?" asked Sirius.

"Hang on. I'll go hand the mirror to Hermione," he replied. "She and Daphne are in her room, talking."

"Right-o, Pup."

Walking across the apartment, Harry knocked on Hermione's door and waited. When she called him to enter, he opened the door and walked in.

Daphne was sitting at a dressing table while Hermione was sitting on the bed.

As he handed Hermione the mirror, he said, "Sirius wants to know how you want your room at Grimmauld Place, decorated. Daphne's, too."

As Hermione accepted the mirror and both girls looked at him in surprise, he smiled and, looking to Daphne, said, "As both Hermione and I will likely spend quite some time there over summer, Sirius agrees you should have your own room, too."

Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked out, pulling the door firmly latched shut behind him.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Hermione was quick to flip the mirror around so she could properly look into it and immediately asked, "Daphne gets her own room, too?"

"Of course," said Sirius, as if it was obvious. "If my godson and his betrothed will be spending some time with me over summer, it's only right his concubine should have her own room, too."

When it looked like Hermione understood, he said, "Now, decoration ideas from both of you regarding your own rooms. Let's hear them."

That drew Daphne over to sit alongside Hermione on the bed and for Hermione to move the mirror so Sirius could see both their faces.

"Thank you," said a very heart felt Daphne.

"Meh!" said Sirius. "It's nothing. I have plenty of room, I assure you. It's no imposition."

"Still―" she sighed.

"You're welcome," he immediately returned. "In repayment, you can start thinking of decoration ideas."

Hermione asked, "Am I allowed to know what Harry decided for his room?"

"I don't see why not," replied Sirius. Then proceeded to tell her.

"Understated, but elegant," said Daphne. "It's so him."

"Sirius," said Hermione. "Can we get back to you on this, tomorrow night? I want to talk with Daphne about some ideas I have for that."

"Sure!" he shrugged. "It can wait until then, but not much longer. The decorators want to make a start collecting what they need. And they want to get all the furniture and the like all at the same time."

After a glance at Daphne, she said, "We'll let you know by late tomorrow afternoon, I promise."

"Good enough for me," he replied. "Now; how are you two coping with this new dynamic of your relationship with Harry? Speak freely, as no one's listening in from this end."

Hesitantly, at first, both girls opened up about it. However, they stayed well away from the sexual aspects and what they'd decided to do regarding that.

Once they were done, Sirius chuckled and said, "I see I'm going to need to make a minor change to the design structure of your rooms."

"Ummm..." said Hermione, now a little wary. "What... sort... of change?"

"I'll make it a surprise," he grinned. "Don't worry about it. You'll love it."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

The next morning at the Unspeakables' 'fire-side', Croaker stood and said, "We are now in possession of an asset we believe will aid us greatly in dealing with Riddle and his pets for good."

That had a few pleased murmurings among his people. Among Unspeakables, it amounted to shouts of joy.

"The asset is a wizard," he explained. "He is one who has a great depth of knowledge across a great many decades. None but those already chosen may seek him out, or even seek his true identity. Any who attempt to seek him out when not already given leave to do so by myself or Whisperer will be sanctioned."

Whisperer was the department 2IC. And 'sanctioned' was unofficial Unspeakable code for 'quietly disposed of and disappeared'. Being sanctioned had a one hundred percent mortality rate.

However, by the remarks of their Boss and later reports in the Daily Prophet, very few did not figure out the asset was Dumbledore. But, no one said a word. That way, they might 'think' or 'suspect' it was Dumbledore; but they didn't 'know' it was Dumbledore.

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―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Monday morning's mail drop at Hogwarts also saw the delivery of the workout/fitness clothes for the Heirs. They were carried by Sable, Sirius's owl. And, it wasn't until Harry realised they'd needed to have been shrunk to be sent, he realised he hadn't asked Sirius to drop around to do that.

However, the included letter from Monica told him they'd already thought of it and contacted Sirius by floo to come and do it for them. He was happy to do so and also loaned his owl to get it done.

He must've let out a noise, or it was just his expression, that had Hermione asking him, "What's wrong, Harry?"

"I had another daft moron moment," he sighed.

"When?" she asked.

"I forgot your mother would need Sirius or some other magical to both shrink the clothes for her and use an owl to send them to us," he sighed.

She smirked back and said, "Harry, my parents are not... as you put it... daft morons. They were more than capable of figuring that out for themselves."

"Which they did," he replied. "But, I should have still thought of it."

"We both should have," she replied. "Especially, me."

When he gave a her a slight look of confusion, she explained, "I've been receiving owl mail from my parents here for more than three years. Up until they were introduced to other magicals who could help them, they've had to go into Diagon Alley to send me anything. Anything that needed shrinking before it could be sent was done by the Owl Post Office.

"That's why I should have thought of that and suggested Sirius. I've had prior experience; you have not."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Harry's letter to Bones - which she'd received that morning - at first had her wanting to ignore it. However, as usual, she could find no fault in his reasoning.

'Damn him, for that,' she thought.

So, on the Monday morning and as soon as she entered her office she immediately gathered her Masters and informed them she'd be scaling back the search for Dumbledore and why. And none of them could fault the logic, either.

"So, we do nothing?" asked Robards.

"No," she replied. "We put the word out to our criminal informants and other information sources that we're looking for the 'old fairy', but they're only to tell us as soon as they see him that they've seen him and where.

"Sooner or later, without a house elf, he has to come out of hiding to buy food. Logic dictates he won't come into the wizarding world to do that, so he'll try to shop... or steal... in the muggle world."

"He could get a house elf," said Proudfoot. "Whoever helped break him out could either loan him one, rent him one or even buy him one."

"I'll have an investigator go question the house elf purchase and rental agencies," said Moody. "He or someone else might have already been in. If they haven't, they might yet."

"Good idea," she nodded. She also gave a nod to Proudfoot for the idea.

"What makes you so sure he'll remain in wizarding Britain, Ma'am?" asked another.

"There's... something... here he desperately wants. It's one of a kind. At the moment he can't get it because it's behind some pretty powerful wards," she explained. "However, that... item... has to come out from behind those wards soon and we believe he's just waiting for an opportunity to grab th- it."

"If we know what the item is, can we not set all manner of both protection and traps upon it or the area it's in?" asked yet another.

"That's being worked on," replied Bones. "For a start, protections are being increased. However, we don't want to do too much as we don't want to tip the old fool off that we know he wants to make a try for hi- it.

"Any more, people?" she asked, mentally urging them to keep going with the ideas. "There are no bad ideas here. I want them all, no matter how far-fetched they might sound or how silly you may think them to be."

"What about Potter's suggestions?" asked Proudfoot. "Send him tracked owl mail, send him a house elf carrying a charmed letter, try scrying... ummm―"

Bones mentally sighed again. 'Dammit!'

"All good ideas and ones the rest of us should have also had," she said, picking up a parchment-based pad and an ever-inked quill off her desk. "Keep them coming."

"If an elf can find him, use an elf to pop someone directly to him?" asked Robards. "I saw Potter do that, once." Suddenly, he snapped his fingers and said, "No. Instead, have an elf find him and then pop him to us."

Bones froze for a moment before she slowly developed a pained expression and allowed her monocle to fall to the length of its chain. Then she brought her off-hand up to massage the bridge of her nose.

Robards, feeling a little sheepish said, "Errr... Sorry?"

Not moving her hand from massaging her nose bridge, Bones quietly said, "Don't apologise for that idea, Gawain. It's a bloody brilliant one. I, too, have seen someone popped by house elf through wards. It was in this very office, at that; young Heir Longbottom. As such I, too, should have thought of that."

Letting her hand fall away she said, "Someone go down to the holding cells and prep one for the old man. As soon as it's set up I'll send an elf or two to go and capture the old bastard."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Immediately after the fire-side, Croaker returned to the bare interrogation room alongside Dumbledore's new cell. In effect, it was a cell, too; just one where everything had been stripped out and replaced with the single desk, the desk chair, the paintings and the Truth Chair.

The Spectral Threat Team, plus the specialist Legilimencers, were already waiting.

Looking around, Croaker discovered everything right as he wanted it.

With a nod of satisfaction, he simply said, "Bring him."

Dumbledore was brought in minutes later. He was again manacled with his hands behind his back and with the plain black bag pulled over his head and down to his elbows.

Uncaring, his two 'handlers' dumped him into the chair, ensuring his hands were through the small gap between the back of the chair and the seat. The bag was yanked off his head and he was charmed stuck to the chair through the activation of a rune on its back.

As soon as he was ready, Scimitar gave Croaker a nod and stepped away to stand with his back against the wall.

"Good evening, Albus," said Croaker. "Been sleeping well?"

"Evening?" blinked Dumbledore. The long period of effective darkness was causing him some eye difficulty with the bright light of the room.

"Oh, yes," said Croaker. "We don't want you going insane due to the sheer boredom of being locked inside that room for so long. We obliviated you of much of it. It's now been two weeks since you came into our midst.

"You'll be pleased to know that Madam Bones believed you, somehow, engineered your escape through aid from an unknown accomplice. And immediately hid yourself under a Fidelius.

"The hunt's been called off, for now. Now, she and her aurors are just using their intelligence gathering resources to wait for you to pop up again. They're sure you will."

"The date?" Dumbledore asked.

Croaker smirked at him and replied, "As I said, it's been two weeks. Well; I may have exaggerated a little. It's Friday the Fifth of February. This is your thirteenth day with us.

While Dumbledore poorly tried to hide his surprise, Croaker said, "Now, we were last talking about your relationship with a young Gellert Grindelwald. What, specifically, caused you to break off your relationship with him?"

Dumbledore stared back in horror. He didn't remember speaking with Croaker about his relationship with Gellert. His last recollection had him being Legilimenced for information on Tom. Had his mind been obliviated of that knowledge? It was the only thing that made sense.

"Albus?" asked Croaker. "I'm waiting. You agreed to answer my questions or you'd be, effectively, mind raped of the information through force. You know what the price of that is. You'll end up a mindless vegetable."

Dumbledore sat there for a long few moments trying to remember. Even clues he'd been obliviated escaped him because it relied on information of what he'd been doing and finding the gap. Having been locked in one room with minimal light, in a room that didn't change, robbed him of that.

Suddenly his mind was attacked. Again, the pain was excruciating. Again, it was four Legilimencers working concert.

After a near unbearable time it suddenly stopped.

"As he previously told you, it was a difference of opinion between the two on how to go about 'The Greater Good'," said a voice from behind. "However, Ariana's death, as she was an obscurial, was regrettable, only. But, Aberforth Dumbledore also had a role to play in that. It was he who attacked Grindelwald, first."

Croaker appeared surprised. "Well. You didn't tell us that last time, Albus. I thought you promised not to hold anything back. That was naughty of you."

Dumbledore was on the information back-foot and he had no idea what to say or how to proceed. The information about he and Gellert he thought eradicated from everyone's minds. He even locked the knowledge of that inside the mind of his own brother. His own brother knew what happened, but could never speak of it.

And his sister becoming an obscurial? He thought no one but he, Abe and Gellert knew of that. Why had he told them; Croaker and his people?

"Albus?... Albus!" he heard.

Snapping his eyes up to look at Croaker he hadn't even realised he was not paying attention.

"You, as the muggles would say, zoned out on us there, Albus," said Croaker. "I think I can guess, based on what you've already told us, but why did Aberforth choose that time to attack Gellert?"

"He... he saw... he thought it was Gellert's intent to harness dear Ariana's illness as a... a... an obscurial for evil purposes," replied Dumbledore. "I... did not believe him. I did not think Gellert could be so... cold."

"I've looked it up in the past few days," said Croaker. "Apparently, through that incident in New York during the mid 1920s, Grindelwald tried to discover the identity of and gain control of a young untrained wizard named Credence Barebone, another obscurial. Apparently Newt Scamander, a student of yours, stopped him."

"Yes," replied Dumbledore. "Young Newton was a prodigy in Care of Magical Creatures study. He and his later wife, Porpentina, were nearly killed by Gellert when he was portraying the Head of the MaCUSA Auror office, Percival Graves. I'm proud to say, young Newton was soon thereafter able to defeat and capture Gellert through the use of his magical creatures.

"I still cannot figure out how MaCUSA managed to let Gellert loose again." He sighed.

Suddenly shifting track without allowing his voice or anything else to change, Croaker asked, "How did you come to the determination Tom Riddle was seeking to make six Horcruxes?"

"Seven is a powerful magical number," Dumbledore immediately replied. "After much badgering from myself, I was able to get my old friend, Horace Slughorn, to give me a memory of young Tom asking him how many Horcruxes could be made by one person. However, the memory I received from Horace was... corrupted. I think Horace tried to trick me into believing he did no such thing. But, his efforts to change the memory were very obvious. And Horace always did have a love for an esoteric question; especially from one of his favourites."

"Seven Horcruxes or seven parts of the soul?" asked Croaker.

"Seven parts," replied Dumbledore. "But, the part in young Harry was an accident."

"And how did you know he'd already created the six Horcruxes when he attacked the Potters?"

Dumbledore was confused by the question. "Pardon?" he asked.

"How... did you know... Riddle had already created the six Horcruxes when he attacked the Potters?"

That stumped the old man. "I... assumed," he replied. "I cannot see Tom having delayed in creating them."

"But, you've already told me Tom wanted the Horcruxes to be in objects of importance to him and the magical world," explained Croaker. "You told me he's spent quite a bit of time and effort searching for them. How do you know he'd already found six of them at the time he attacked the Potters?"

That had never occurred to Dumbledore. Quietly, almost muttering, he said, "It... hadn't crossed my mind―"

"You assumed," said Croaker.

"That means there may not yet be six," said Dumbledore, clearly working that out as he spoke.

"Correct," said Croaker. "Which means, the ones we've already collected and dealt with may be all he had."

"Which means young Harry can now kill him," said Dumbledore.

Croaker sighed in frustration and said, "No, Albus. It means now anyone can kill him. The prophecy is a bust."

"The prophecy orb still glows," Dumbledore firmly said.

"No, it does not," Croaker just as firmly cast back. "The day young Lord Potter went into muggle surgery and had the scar removed - that was about five weeks ago, now - the prophecy orb dimmed. It now mimics any other prophecy that is deemed to have been completed."

"No," said Dumbledore. "Tom must die by young Harry's hand."

"You're being too literal, Dumbledore," he disagreed. "Harry filling out and signing the authorisation form to undergo the surgery can, in a prophecy sense, mean the soul fragment in his wound was destroyed by his hand.

"And, remember: It's hand; not hands. That means it would be something that can only be done one-handed, such as signing a form."

Again, Dumbledore was stunned silent. He had no defence or counter-argument to such a claim.

"As I've heard claimed before," said Croaker. "You really were pants at Divination, Albus. You withdrew from the subject within three weeks of your third year, did you not?"

Not even bothering to wait for the old man to even have a chance to respond, Croaker pressed on. "Well, our experts in the subject - Divination Masters, all - assure us our interpretation is about as correct as it gets. While your own interpretation? It has them laughing so hard it takes a calming potion down their throats to get any sense out of them for the next hour or so.

"To put it bluntly, Albus; you are meddling in affairs in which you have no right to do so. You are meddling in affairs of which you have no true knowledge of how to set on the correct path; and are, in fact... stupidly, because of your ignorance... trying to guide individuals away from.

"If it wasn't for that, we'd have just left you in Bonesy's 'care' and wouldn't have stepped in. However, there was always the risk one of your patsies, who think the sun shines out of your arse, would have found a way to free you; or, her people would have screwed up and killed you.

"That's why you're now here with us and not currently allowed to go out and play with the other boys and girls. You're too dangerous to be allowed free roam, for the moment."

Dumbledore thought for a bit before he asked, "How soon will I be able to get out of here?"

"That depends entirely on how helpful you are," replied Croaker.

What Dumbledore didn't know was, once he was no longer useful, Croaker was going to carry out Bones's threat. Albus Dumbledore was going to take a trip through the Veil.

From what Croaker had already learned; not just from his interrogation of the old man, but from his reading of Bones's own interrogations; the old bastard well and truly deserved both the 'title' of Dark Lord and a trip through the Veil. As far as he was concerned, Dumbledore deserved a great deal worse. However, he'd limit the punishment to that.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Dumbledore had just been escorted out when an Unspeakable ducked in and quickly said, "Monitor says Monocle's just had the idea given to her to use a house elf to nab the old man and elf-pop him to her in her holding cells. We've got less than two minutes."

"Sssshit!" exclaimed Croaker. As he quickly ran from the room after the 're-bagged' old man, he thought, 'Why hadn't we thought of that?'

As soon as he saw him from behind he cast a temporary elf-avoidance charm on him and breathed a sigh of relief.

That gave him time to get the Unspeakable ward masters to set up a more permanent version of it, plus anything else she might try.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Standing in 'Dumbledore's' cell in the holding cell facility, Bones looked around and said, "This should do. Form a circle and, as soon as the old man appears, stun him. We've no idea if he's managed to get hold of another wand or not, or anything else."

'Let's hope this works,' she grimly thought.

With everyone in place she called for a DMLE holding cell elf. "Locky!"

When the elf popped in she said, "Do you remember the old man who last had this cell?"

"Yes, Mistress Bonesy," he replied.

"Right," she said. "Here's what I need you to do..."

Once she gave the elf its instructions and knew the elf knew what to do, she said, "Right; go get him."

The elf concentrated for a long moment with its eyes closed before it opened them again and stared at her in sadness. "Locky cannot finds him. Sorry, Mistress Bonesy."

She sighed and said, "Not you fault. Thank you, Locky; you can go."

When the elf popped away again, Moody said, "He must be under elf-avoidance wards. Illegal, but I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to erect them on himself."

"I thought it might have been a good idea," said Robards

"It was," she firmly said. "So were the rest of the ones you and Proudfoot came up with. We'll try them next."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

When breakfast finished, the others were all invited up to the Potter apartment so they could see and try on for themselves the exercise clothes Monica had purchased and sent.

Hermione was quick to separate out the boys clothes from the girls and left the boys' on the couch. "That's yours and Neville's," she indicated the pile. "This lot is for us girls. We're going into my room to try them on."

Then, leading the other girls, she headed for her room.

Curious as to what was bought for them to wear, Neville went over to the boys' pile and had a look. He was shocked with what he found.

Amused, Harry went over and sorted them out between the two of them, while also explaining what each item of clothing was for. "These are briefs; they're a form of underwear that 'cups' what's needed to be protected. These are running shorts; yes, they keep the legs bare. These are lightweight, 'muscle' T-shirts similar to what I had you change into when we took you muggle shopping; just with shorter sleeves so the sleeves don't get in the way while exercising your upper arms. These are a set of tracksuits, useful when moving out in public and are donned over your exercise clothes. And these... are a pair of trainers, like you've seen me wear. They're rubber-soled and built with protections for your foot while running in them.

"Thankfully, Monica's labelled it all so we know whose is whose." Separating the piles further into one for each of them, he indicated one and said, "That's for you."

Holding up a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, Neville asked, "This is all we wear while exercising?"

"That, plus socks and trainers; yes," replied Harry. "Don't worry; you'll get used to it, fast. The girls will be wearing something similar, I assure you."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Throughout the day, the aurors were trying every idea they could think of to locate one Albus Dumbledore. All ideas Harry had given - and demonstrated - to Madam Bones and the rest of the aurors were tried. Scrying, mail owl delivered tracking charms and even an attempt to include a tracking charm in a messenger Patronus were tried.

Unknown to Bones, the Unspeakables were quickly devising - read: 'madly scrambling for' - ways to block them as soon as they learned of them from her through their tiny, Fidelius-hidden monitors spread across the Ministry. In offices, such as hers, they had tiny mirrors using an idea 'sourced' - read: stolen - from the mirrors Harry and Sirius now used from back when the Marauders were still in Hogwarts.

That last one about tracking messenger Patronuses nearly gave the Unspeakables conniptions. They didn't know if it would work and, therefore, had no idea how to block it. Even so, Croaker immediately set a Charms Mastery team on trying to figure out if it was possible, after all. However, the ward Masters had no idea how to block even a messenger Patronus until someone hit on the idea of blocking only the audio component. That worked. After all, if Dumbledore was able to cast one wandlessly, he'd have been able to let one or more of his minions know where he was and organise to get him out.

The only ones getting any pleasure out of it were the Monitors in the Unspeakables' Ministry Observations team. They got to see the attempts by the aurors in time to warn those tasked with hiding the asset. Then watching the DoM's Ward Masters madly figuring out ways to block them. Bets were being made between them.

Oh, not on if the Aurors would succeed, but on how long it took for a possible working solution out of left field from the aurors to be voiced before the Unspeakable Ward Masters had a way to block it.

The lead Ward Master of the Unspeakables, together with the one out of the 'Spectral Threat' team, were muttering imprecations to one another about what they each thought of one particular young Lord's parentage, heritage, sexual preferences and all-round 'smart-arsery'. However, they were also quickly designing and implementing ward schema that would hopefully block all the boy's find/contact ideas.

The new 'asset' was quickly disappearing into a elf/contact/track/scry black hole. No one, but those who needed to know, would be able to find him.

Each time the runner went to the Ward Master to give them the next possible angle from the aurors, the team runner, a Ravenclaw from the previous Hogwarts year graduates, would come back and immediately write down what the Senior Ward Master would say, while occasionally and uncontrollably giggling.

Another Monitor once looked at it and asked, "Is it even possible to do that with a flobberworm?"

"Who cares!" the young man laughed. "It's funny as all hell!"

"Don't let the Boss, let alone Croaker, see that," suggested the Monitor.

"Are you kidding?" asked the young man. "He wants a copy!"

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After a day of classes, the Potters returned to their apartment. Almost as soon as they did, Hermione grabbed the mirror, took Daphne by the hand and said to Harry, "Daphne and I promised to speak to Sirius about decoration ideas for our rooms." And left for her own in the apartment, almost dragging Daphne along as she left.

Once in the room, Hermione closed the door as Daphne said, "Merlin, Granger. You could have asked."

"Sorry," said Hermione, but she appeared distracted. As she dropped onto her bed she patted the bedding beside her in clear invitation for the other girl to sit.

Wondering what was going on, Daphne complied, while also keeping an eye on the other girl.

As Hermione sat there worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth, Daphne finally had enough and said, "Alright, Hermione. What's going on?"

Hermione's head snapped around to stare back for a moment before she blushed and looked away again. "I... need to apologise to you."

"Alright, then," said Daphne. "For what?"

Hermione sighed and replied, "I fear I may have come on a bit strong with you, yesterday afternoon."

Confused, Daphne asked, "Whatever do you mean?"

"I... did not want you to think I was pushing you towards having sex with Harry," she replied. "I was trying... It was my intent to let you know that I would not be against it. I think I might have come across as trying to force you into a... physical relationship with Harry."

Daphne smiled and said, "You didn't. Yes, it was a bit forward of you. We magical raised usually aren't so blunt when discussing such relationships. But I did not feel as if you were trying to force me into the relationship. You have nothing to fear, there."

Hermione gave a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you. That's been worrying me for most of the day."

Daphne smiled back and said, "You're welcome. However, have you been worrying about that all day, or have you at least been putting some thought into the decorating of your room at Lord Black's place?"

"Oh!" said Hermione. "Sorry. Yes."

Indicating the mirror being worried at in Hermione's hand, Daphne asked, "Do we contact him and let him know our choices?"

"You've already considered yours?" asked Hermione, looking at the mirror.

"Yes," she replied.

After a glance to the other girl, Hermione gave a nod and lifted the mirror, "Padfoot."

Both girls were surprised when they discovered their choices were closely matched except for Hermione leaning more towards muggle while Daphne's leaned towards wizarding.

Sirius just nodded back and said, "I'll let the decorators know."

Just as Sirius terminated the call from his end, there came a knock on the door. From the other side of it, they heard Harry call, "Time to get changed, if you're not already! The Longbottom three are here!"

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

A little earlier and over in the Longbottom apartment, Neville was in his room and nervously trying on the clothing Hermione's mother had sent. He donned the underwear, shorts and T-shirt and, even though Harry said the tracksuit was for 'outside', donned that, too, before pulling on the socks and trainers.

When he stood up, he noticed his feet felt as if he was walking on the softest carpet he'd ever walked over. It surprised him how comfortable they were.

When he came out, he was still looking at his feet and didn't notice both girls were already there and waiting for him until Hannah exclaimed, "Wow!"

As his head shot up to stare back in surprise, he noticed both girls were also wearing their tracksuits. However, he could also tell they were of a more feminine cut and better shaped for their... umm... up top.

"Yeah, wow!" he said back.

Susan asked, "Are these trainer footwear Missus Granger sent as comfortable for you as they are for us?"

Neville nodded and replied, "I feel like I'm either walking on the plushest carpet ever, or on pillows."

"That's what we thought," she said.

Hannah indicated the door and asked, "Shall we?"

With a firm nod, Neville walked over to the door and opened it for them.

Once out of the apartment, Hannah had walked straight across the hallway and knocked on the Potter apartment door.

Harry opened it a moment later. He, too, was wearing the clothes with the tracksuit over the top.

Letting them in, he said, "I'll let the girls know you're here." And walked over to knock on Hermione's door.

"Time to get changed, if you're not already!" he called. "The Longbottom three are here!"

"The Longbottom three?" smirked Susan.

Harry shrugged and grinned. "It's just easier and shorter than just about everything else I could come up with."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After Daphne came out of the room and hurried over to her own, calling, "I'll just be a minute!" as she did, Harry turned back to the Longbottoms and said, "Monica has a good eye. I see she picked your sizes well."

"Almost," said Susan. "Hermione also helped, but we had to apply minor sizing charms to make them fit well."

That surprised Harry. "I don't remember us learning those in class."

"We don't until sixth year," said replied.

Hannah explained, "When we tried them on yesterday, we realised we needed to learn them. So, we did that today."

"Professor Sprout taught us," said Susan.

When Harry then turned to look at Hermione's door, it clued the girls in to what he was thinking.

Susan immediately said, "Hannah, you go teach Hermione. I'll go teach Daphne."

And both girls headed for the respective rooms.

A minute later and while the two boys were waiting, there was a rapid knock on the door. Harry opened it and Tracey almost stumbled in.

"Oh, good," she said, a little breathless. "You've not left yet."

She was wearing her uniform, but was also carrying a small handbag rather than her book satchel.

She took a quick look around, noticed who was there and who was missing and called, "I'll be in Daph's room!" as she ran across the living room.

Another quick knock on the door and she slipped within.

Hannah and Hermione came out less than five minutes later. But they had to wait a further five for Daphne, Susan and Tracey to come out. All were now 'appropriately' dressed.

Then Susan went to Harry and said, "Allow me?" as Hannah, realising what Susan was up to, went to Neville.

When Harry gave a nod back and muttered, "Please," Susan waved her wand over him. Harry felt the change and looked back with a smile. "Thank you."

She smiled back and replied, "You're welcome. But, they won't hold for more than an hour, we think."

Hermione said, "Yes, we'll have to ask Professor Sprout if she can make it more permanent. Mum was close; but, not quite."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After the now seven of them left the Lords' Quarters, they immediately headed for the Come and Go Room. As the others stood watching, Harry walked the requisite paces back and forth and the door they recognised appeared.

Neville led them within, this time.

The girls immediately headed for the now expanded girls' change rooms with their bags and were out a few seconds later. Neither Harry or Neville carried one.

"Alright," said Hermione. "Where do we start?"

"Treadmills," Harry immediately returned. "We need to get loose and warm up. We'll see how we go from there." Then put action to words and made his way to the row of treadmills.

It didn't take the rest long to follow suit and figure out how to use the treadmills themselves.

Once he felt warmed up enough, Harry stepped off and walked off to the side where a tray bearing a chilled carafe of water and glasses appeared. He'd noticed it flash in with elf magic a little while earlier

Taking his own half-full glass he moved away to give everyone else access and stripped off his tracksuit, dumping it on a bench.

As they turned to look, the three pureblood girls and Hannah, a halfblood, all blushed. Harry didn't react one bit, as he knew that if he did it might create an awkward situation. He already knew that not making an issue of it would be the best way to get the purebloods used to this style of dress.

As he expected, Hermione was the next to strip off her tracksuit. It left her in a tank-top with a sports-bra underneath and shorts.

While Harry made his way to the rowing machines, Hermione made for the elliptical trainers.

He was then surprised that Daphne was the next to strip down, then Hannah, then Tracey, then Neville and finally Susan. Each moved to one of the other cardio machines with both muggle raised showing them how to use them.

After the rowing machines and elliptical trainers Harry and Hermione showed them the normal and recumbent bikes.

Before they knew it, the hour was almost up and Harry recommended they cool down by setting the treadmills to just a walking pace.

"Three miles an hour should do it," he told them. "We do this for about five minutes then call it done for the day."

"What about the rest of this equipment?" asked Daphne, slightly puffing in exertion and indicating the rest of the equipment.

"Once we can get you much fitter than you are now," he explained, "We'll move onto that. For now, you need to get your cardio fitness up before we can start on the weight training."

There was no argument.

As they stepped off after the five minutes, Hermione said, "You've been sweating a great deal and burning calories. Make sure you drink plenty of water until dinner. Then, load up a bit on carbs... carbohydrates... bread, pasta and such.

"Trust me, you're going to sleep well tonight. But, not if you don't drink plenty of water. If you don't you place yourself at risk of muscle cramps. That would be bad."

Once the seven got their heavy breathing back under control, Tracey said, "I feel... I don't know."

"That's the endorphins," explained Hermione. "We all feel that. It's your body's reward to you for giving it a workout. Enjoy it."

"Is that going to happen all the time?" asked Susan.

"Yes," she replied. "However, as you get fitter the more effort you'll need to put into your workout to feel like that again. That way, you get fitter and fitter."

After everyone redressed into their tracksuits, they headed back to the Lords' Quarters, where Tracey showered in Daphne's room.

Once ready, they all - still feeling the effects of the workout - headed down to the Great Hall for dinner.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After dinner everyone went to their own accommodations. On the way back up to their apartment, Hermione said, "We need to make a start on homework. We can't let our physical training interfere with our school work."

"We won't," he promised her.

In their apartment, after they pulled out their assignments from the day, Harry said, "I meant to ask earlier. How's Sirius?"

"Calm," replied Hermione. "With a hint of excitement about moving into his renewed home."

Harry nodded and returned his attention to his work. Tapping one slip of parchment he said, "That's what I've got done for Herbology. And..." then moving his hand to tap another, he went on, "... this is what I've done for CoMC. You might want to take a look at that first, Daphne."

As both girls moved to look for themselves, Harry returned to working on his Ancient Runes homework.

"When did you get all this done?" asked Hermione. "Daphne and I weren't gone into my room for that long."

"During other classes," replied Harry. "I know I shouldn't have been, but I can multi-task. Besides, it's not that much, really. The bibliography is because we have immediate access to the books that are here from the Potter library. Not having to trudge down to the library and back saves a great deal of time."

Hermione nodded and said, "Sorry, Harry. I keep forgetting you're a lot more intelligent than I remember the old Harry to be. I don't know why I keep doing that."

Harry just smiled at her. "It's alright. It's a learned response of over three years of 'barely adequate' Harry."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

The next day and after classes for the day were complete, both Hermione and Daphne sat Harry down and asked him about what he'd planned to do about the next task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Hermione said, "Today marks only four weeks until the Second Task, Harry. At this stage I don't think they're going to cancel the rest of the Tournament."

Daphne added, "She's right. Do you have a plan on how you're going to tackle it yet?"

Harry thought about it and said, "Well, it's in the lake; we know that much. And we know they're going to take something that's important to me."

"Your Firebolt, yes," said Daphne. "But, how do you foresee recovering it?"

Harry smirked and replied, "Daphne, what is the charm Flitwick has been teaching of us late?"

As both girls sat there, somewhat surprised, Harry grinned.

"Surely, they'd block that," said Hermione. "No. Wait. They won't expect it."

Daphne asked, "Will you be close enough to do it?"

"Yup," he replied. "I've practiced over long distances and... yes... it won't be distance that will be the factor."

"Even so," said Hermione. "You need back up plans."

"Which I demonstrated I had during the First Task," he replied.

"So, what are your back up plans?" she asked.

"I need to practice the Bubblehead charm and get hold of some Gillyweed," he replied.

"Gillyweed?" she asked.

Before Harry could reply, Daphne cut in first. "That should be your first backup. And, it's brilliant."

Turning to Hermione, Daphne said, "Gillyweed is a Mediterranean plant that grows on the edge of the sea. If you swallow some of it, it causes a temporary metamorphic transfiguration of your body, something along the lines of an animagus transformation. It causes you to grow gills for breathing underwater, transfigures your feet into long flippers and grows the webbing in your fingers right to your fingertips.

"It's very useful for exactly what Harry wants to use it for; swimming underwater for long periods of time. But, it's going to last for one hour exactly. There is no immediate antidote if you want to cancel the transfiguration early; and you'd have to take more, if you need to be down for longer, which would add another hour.

"However, because of the gills, you can only cast silently if you need to cast to defend yourself. As such, you need to learn to cast defensive spells, at least, silently."

"Wow!" said Hermione.

Harry nodded and said, "That's why I'll be going with Gillyweed as my first backup, as Daphne suggested, but practicing casting the Bubblehead charm silently for if I end up being down there longer than the hour."

Both girls nodded at learning of the simple concepts Harry would be providing.

"I had thought of just going with the Gillyweed, right off the bat," said Harry. "As anyone with magical power, even a squib, can use Gillyweed, it would be yet another way for me to show the organisers of these events to be idiots. But―"

"But, you've already done that enough, haven't you?" asked Hermione. "Plus if your first plan works, you'll have done that, too."

"Yeah, but that way is using a fourth year charm," he shrugged. "Gillyweed means a competitor didn't need a magical education, at all."

"Herbology," said Daphne.

"Got lucky and read a book," replied Harry. "Or, someone told them."

Daphne smirked and said, "The same could be said for your first option."

"Point," he smiled, while pretending to doff a hat to her.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

While Harry had laid out his options to both his girls, both still demanded he practiced them. That led to even more time in the Come and Go Room.

For the first time, Hermione had called on the room to provide a large indoor swimming pool and the room had provided. Then she used an ordinary broom and had it weighted to drop into the deepest and furthermost end of the pool.

Once in place, she had Harry stand on the pool edge at the opposite end and attempt to summon it.

Surprising both girls the broom shot off the bottom, through the water and almost skewered him with the handle-tip as it shot out of the water only ten feet from him and right at him. If it wasn't for his fast reflexes, dodging at the last moment, it very well would have.

"Well, colour me impressed, Lord Potter," said Daphne. "I confess to not believing it would work."

"But, he's going to need to practice improving his reflexes," said Hermione. "A bare fraction of a moment of not paying attention and he could end up with his Firebolt skewering him through his chest."

"Indeed," said Daphne.

That then led to practicing dodging. And, during that practice, it also proved more effort had to be made on getting his fitness up. Dodging was hard work.

After talking it over with Professor Flitwick, he told them about the Colourball charm; a charm that shot a coloured ball out of the wand tip that would fly true to what it was aimed at. And, if it connected, would leave a coloured dot about three inches in diameter on whatever it hit. The dot would disappear within an hour.

Over the next weeks, whenever they had time and they weren't otherwise using the room in it's 'gym' configuration, the girls would transfigure the Come and Go Room into an arena and 'hunt' Harry with the intent to tag him as often as possible; though, when he got tired, Harry would allow some of the dots to hit him. So, for incentive not to allow the charms to connect, Daphne suggested to Hermione they start including Stinging hexes in with the dots.

Getting hit with a Stinging hex a couple times truly motivated Harry to move. However, he insisted he also be allowed to cast back the same. That led to more and more intricate arenas, complete with stone barricades and the like that could be hidden behind.

When he suggested they not always be the two girls against him Daphne immediately shut that down. "No, Harry," she said. "This is to aid you in learning to dodge; not us. Besides, haven't you noticed you, on your own, is pretty much a match for the two of us, together?"

"Not quite," he grouched.

"Soon, though," said Hermione. "I don't think Daphne and I working together is soon going to be enough to keep up with you. We might have to invite Tracey to join us."

"If you invite Tracey, I'm inviting Neville," he firmly stated.

He thought he might have headed that idea off, but when both girls grinned he was instantly wary. "What?" he asked.

"What an absolutely brilliant idea," said Hermione. And the looks on the faces of both his girls had him mentally groaning.

"I thought this was for getting my reflexes up so I won't be skewered by my own Firebolt in the Second Task?"

"That's what it started as," nodded Hermione. "But, it's so much more, now."

Daphne asked, "If someone casts a curse at you, what is the best defence?"

Harry sighed and replied, "Not be there to be hit."

Again, both girls grinned. "Exactly," she said. "Which means, learning to effectively dodge when a curse is cast at you benefits us all. We may not have your power to continually cast offensively over and over again for as long as you're able to, but it's within us all to be effective at dodging."

"Which is why you're so supportive of the idea of bringing the other Heirs in on this," he moped.

"Exactly," grinned Hermione.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ