The crash of Harry slamming down onto the crash-mats covering the floor of the now-pretty-much-official Dojo echoed enough that those practising various katas in the corners turned to watch as Filius Flitwick completed his counter by twisting Harry's arm so that it pointed straight up, pinning Harry face-down on the ground.
"You win." Harry grumbled into the mat. "You're good at this."
"Good reflexes, experience and goblin battle-training." Filius shrugged as he reduced the tension on Harry's arm before releasing it. "It doesn't hurt that Torquasm Rao is a surprisingly logical yet effective fighting style."
"Holy…" Sirius shook his head in disbelief from where he had been learning one of the basic katas. "Okay. Filius, if you ever challenge me to a wandless fight, I know just what to do. Run like hell."
Filius joined in the laughter as Harry climbed back to his feet.
.
"…and time!"
Draco breathed a sigh of relief, but made sure that he kept hold of the Quaffle that he had just caught. As he descended, he glowered at Pucey, who had responded to the end of the exercise by doing a high-speed dive in order to land as soon as possible.
Idiot.
Once again, Flint didn't reprimand his fellow-Chaser about his show-boating, confirming to Draco that the Eighth-year student was unsuited to proper Quidditch, despite being one of the best Chasers in Slytherin. Touching down lightly, Draco caught the glare that Pucey gave him.
"Pucey, you need to work on your catching." Flint stated. "You missed seven of those passes and fumbled three more. Until you get it down to two and one respectively, I'm banning you from drinking any Firewhiskey. I don't care if you think the buzz helps, you need to get it while sober. Higgs, good work on the Seeker drills, but see if you can get a better broom. Yes, I know the Starblazer 265 was a gift from your father, but try to get a Comet S3 like Weasley's. Better speed and accel are far more important than embedded decorations. Bletchley, you're good, but you ain't no Potter. You need to work on predicting the shots and using feints to make the Chasers aim where you want them to aim. Re-read that book I gave you. I don't care how dry it is, the information will help."
Draco listened thoughtfully. While Flint might not be as good a player as he thought he was, his skills and the fact he was studying Broom Design/Maintenance would let him forge a career as a Quidditch Coach.
Maybe he should check his father's files to see if he had once had contacts in that area.
He couldn't ask his mother, she was still annoyed with him over the Hippogryph incident…
.
.
"Hello, everyone!" Hagrid greeted the class cheerfully. "Got another treat for you all today, dey're in this paddock here."
Harry stared at the winged horses. Unlike the Pegasi that he had seen in fairy tale books, these ones were almost cadaverously thin and their wings, rather than being covered in feathers, were batlike.
"Hagrid… there's nothing there." Ron Weasley said after a moment.
"You can't see the winged horses?" Hermione asked curiously, earning a thoughtful look from Hagrid, then he pulled out a piece of raw meat from a small pouch and held it out over the fence. One of the larger winged horses trotted over and grabbed the meat from Hagrid's hand. For a moment, the meat dangled like a gory tongue from its mouth, then it started to swallow it, tossing its head occasionally to maneuver more of the meat into its mouth.
"What… the… hell?" One of the other students asked, sounding shocked.
"Thestrals." Hagrid waved one hand at the odd herd. "Intelligent flyin' horses like Pegasi, but unless ye've seen someone die, they're invisible."
Harry exchanged glances with Neville and Hermione, who both nodded to indicate that they remembered seeing the creatures pulling the carriages.
"They're meat-eaters, but they eat carrion or small critters like rats." Hagrid continued. "They're friendly and used to pull the carriages. If ye can't see 'em, wear one o' those specs."
Harry hid a slight smirk at the sight of the apparently-normal spectacles in a basket hanging from the fence, spectacles that boasted the S-in-a-diamond on the arms that marked them as having been constructed by Jor-El. As the students helped themselves, Harry moved to the edge of the pens where one of the Thestrals ambled over to him.
"Whoah! Those look weird!" Ron exclaimed in shock as he squinted at the Thestrals through his spectacles, then pulled them off so that he could confirm that without the artificial aids, the winged horses were truly invisible.
"Beautiful critters, ain't they?" Hagrid grinned as he fed a second Thestral. "Some wizards see them as bad news, but that's just cause ye have to have seen someone die afore you can see them. The Ministry classifies them as a four-X rating, but that is totally unjust. They're dead clever an' can unnerstann people. If yer needin ta get somewhere fast, a Thestral will getcha there."
"'Ogwarts has the largest Thestral herd in Europe, most are maybe a coupla-dozen or a few-score. Here, we 'ave more than two-hundred of these wunnerful beasts…"
.
.
Severus looked up as someone knocked on the door to his office.
"Enter." He barked, moving the pile of barely-adequate homework essays to one side and the door opened. "Lord Potter."
"Professor Snape." Harry said with a nod of respect just short of a bow. "You wished to speak with me about something?"
Severus motioned for Harry to be seated and leaned back, steepling his fingers.
"For the last few years, I have been keeping a careful eye on you, Lord Potter." He finally said. "You have proven yourself to be nothing like your father once was, for which I am grateful. Your skills far exceed his in almost every field bar transfiguration and even there, you are at a similar level. However, there is one field of magic which has the potential to be very dangerous to you."
Severus paused, then rolled up his left sleeve to reveal the dark tattoo on it.
"A legacy of my youthful stupidity, but one which proves that the one who has tried to kill you is still out there… still alive." He almost hissed as he rolled the sleeve back down. "He has tried to kill you as a child and last year too. Both times, he fell."
"He tried in my first year when he was possessing Quirrel. I beat him then as well" Harry added, earning a raised eyebrow.
"So it was you. I had suspected. But I digress. He tried to kill you with his preferred curse and failed. He attempted to kill you in front of his allies and again, he failed when you removed his ability to use magic. However, there is a form of magic which works even within an area such as that which you created, legilimency. The Dark Lord is a master of legilimency and I have seen him use it to kill someone who had failed him. He shredded his mind and left him so damaged that he forgot how to breathe."
Harry winced.
"There is a defence against it called Occlumency. It is the art of organizing and protecting ones mind. If you think you need to learn, I can teach you or I can provide a list of known Occlumens Masters whom the Dark Lord marked as targets."
"I have a pretty good mind." Harry mused. "Is there such a thing as a natural Occlumens?"
"They are rare." Severus shrugged slightly. "Do you believe yourself to be one?"
"Not sure." Harry admitted. "Is there a test?"
Severus pulled out his wand. "There is. With your permission, Lord Potter?"
Harry nodded and Severus pointed the wand at him. "Legilimens."
Most
minds were
but shifting clouds of
constant thought and floating
memories that intersected in ways
that defied normal description. Severus
had expected Harry's mind to be similar but
instead he found himself in a mind-palace of a type
he had never encountered before, a construct of angled
crystals rising to an apex far above him. The crystals were lit
from the inside, casting a white light that ensured that no shadows
could be cast. Where is this place? Severus mused, then he jolted in shock
as a voice answered. This is my mind, Professor. Severus looked round again,
then he nodded. Very impressive, Lord Potter, but can you drive me out now that
I've made my way in? There was no reply for a long moment, then the light flashed brightly.
Severus jolted in his seat as his mental probe was forcibly shattered. Dropping his wand, he rubbed at his head, calling on his years of expertise as both a Legilimens and Occlumens to dull the pain lancing through his mind.
"Professor, are you alright?"
"I will be." Severus lowered his hands. "You have an incredibly powerful defense. I am impressed."
"It's an old style called Torquasm Vo." Harry smiled. "It's the mental counterpart to Torquasm Rao…"
"…which you have been teaching to those willing to learn." Severus finished, his voice tinged with respect. "It was like nothing I have ever encountered before. I do not think the Dark Lord will fare any better than I did."
"Good to hear." Harry relaxed slightly. "So… anything else you wish to cover at this point, sir?"
"I believe that we have covered the essentials." Severus mused. "From what I have heard from Professor Tonks, you are applying yourself well in her classes and I have seen your practices with Duel-Master Flitwick. No, I believe that we are indeed finished for the day. Thank you for your time."
"And thank you for yours, Professor." Harry replied as he rose from the chair.
"Potter!" Severus called as Harry reached the door. "For future reference, when you are explaining your plans to your friends, check to see if anyone else is listening in first."
"…oh. Okay… thank you…"
.
.
The shattered remains of the tree crashed into the ground and Voldemort watched with an approving smile as all three of his weapons reformed from their Obscurial forms without any hint of the pain that obscurials normally went through, pain caused by their rejection of their power and thus the growing damage that each transition wrought on them.
"That was fun!" Diana jumped up and down as the two boys exchanged fist-bumps. "Hah! Take that, dad! Useless waste of space doomed to eternal hellfire, am I? You can't wreck a tree like that!"
"And soon you'll also have a mansion to live in." Voldemort interjected, causing Diana's almost-manic grin to widen. "Once we have reformed the Wizarding World and set it on the correct path, you will have a life of luxury. All of you will."
"And more comics?" James asked eagerly.
"All the back-issues will be yours as well as the time you will need to read them all." Voldemort said magnanimously. "As well as plenty of snacks to keep you going."
Both boys cheered, then Voldemort glanced over at where Gellert was waving for him.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, please."
The three kids watched him go, then Mark turned to Diana. "So… what do you think of the Justice League comics?"
"Hawkgirl's awesome." Diana grinned, then she frowned. "But during the Dark Imperium attack, did you see what Omni-Man said? He said Get off MY planet!"
Both boys exchanged confused looks.
"So?"
"He's Viltrumite. He comes from Viltrum. It's Viltrum that's his planet, right?"
Both boys looked at her, their expressions indicating that they were on the very edge of understanding and just needed that one final push.
"So, why would he refer to Earth as his planet?"
.
"We've lost the chance to recruit another of the Obscurials." Gellert stated with a frown. "However, I've got a good location of the closest one that's still active, it's only an hour's drive from here."
"Then since MACUSA seems to be rather more capable than we had assumed, we really should get moving." Voldemort agreed. "Where are the others?"
"Getting supplies." Gellert glanced at the lane vanishing into the woods. "We're running low on breakfast cereal…"
"And keeping our weapons happy is vital." Voldemort agreed. "But once they return, we move."
"Agreed."
"And we may need more Calming Draughts to lace their food with. We're getting low."
"Agreed. Cheering Charms don't work all that well on Obscurials and the sooner they fully recover from the residual trauma of their pasts, the better they'll be able to fight. I'll brew some more tonight."
.
.
.
.
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Author's note – In the comic Invincible, Omni-Man shouts "Get off my planet!" when fighting off an alien invasion launched via portal. It was a very clever bit of foreshadowing…