"…and TIME!"
At Roger Davies' call Ginny aborted her throw and stuck her tongue out at Harry, who simply smiled innocently back at her. Going into a gentle descent, Ginny landed on the pitch and took her position beside fellow-Chaser Anna Gedes.
"Not bad, ladies, we almost made it past Potter a time or two." Roger noted as he landed in front of them. "That combination of Ghost Pass and Spinning Drill has potential."
"I almost didn't catch that one." Harry agreed. "May I suggest that next time, all three of you act as if you have the Quaffle, rather than just the two involved in the Ghost Pass? It was that which alerted me to something being up."
"Noted." Roger nodded. "Good call, we'll work on that."
"Teaming it up with a Bludger Barricade would be extremely effective." Harry added. "Especially if the Keeper is covering the left or right hoop, it'd make it really hard for them to reach the other side in time."
"Sounds like something we should practise." Duncan Inglebee noted. "Good thing that the Bludgers have that enchantment on them to make them avoid the team of the Beater that clobbered them last. That makes it easier."
"Less than a month to go." Roger mused, then he grinned. "My sources tell me that Malfoy is working very hard to come up with new ways of faking out the Keeper. So far, he's got over half his shots past Bletchley."
"Given Bletchley's skill, that's not really very impressive." Anna joked, earning several chuckles.
"My source has also said that Terence Higgs has gone to several training sessions at the Ballycastle Bats stadium." Roger added, causing Cho Chang to suddenly look very thoughtful. "Expect him to be better. Cho, we'll need you at the top of your game. Until we've scored sixteen times, you need to beat him to the Snitch or at least block him from getting it."
"Understood." Cho nodded.
"Hermione's coming up with a few new plays for us to try out next session." Roger nodded to the nearby stands where a familiar head of bushy hair was bent over a notebook, the end of a quill occasionally flicking into view above the fabric edging of the seating area. "After how well the Hawk Ascending seemed to work, I for one am looking forwards to seeing what she comes up with next."
Harry hid a slight smirk as he saw Hermione blush at Roger's praise.
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"My Lord." The heavyset man bowed deeply and Voldemort nodded in acknowledgement.
"MacNair. Welcome back."
"It is good to have you back, my Lord." Walden stated, obeying Voldemort's hand-wave and rising to his feet. "How may I serve?"
"Have you been in contact with those of us who survived that fiasco where Potter revealed that he could temporarily remove our ability to perform magic?"
"I have, my Lord." MacNair stated, then he frowned. "But there are so few of us. Even with the new followers that I and the others have recruited, we still number barely more than thirty."
"The Giants that I would have once commanded are all dead, the Werewolves have their cure and the Vampires have a new source of blood which means that they are no longer at risk of being hunted for attacking people and thus have no interest in allying with me." Voldemort mused. "The three remaining Dementors refuse to leave Azkaban and even the Hags have chosen to keep away."
"But you are here, my Lord!" Walden protested. "That means that we shall win!"
Voldemort snorted. "No, my loyal follower, it means that we stand a better chance of winning than most would think, given our forces. To truly guarantee victory, we need to know how Potter performs that magic of his and I have a plan for that."
"How may I help, my Lord?" Walden asked instantly.
"During my last incarnation, one of my now unfortunately-deceased allies managed to find an interesting potions recipe that the Unspeakables were trying to refine. The potion removes the free will of the drinker and opens their mind fully to those with Legilimency. Unfortunately, it is also fatal, killing the drinker within an hour, making it usuitable for most uses. I have most of the ingredients for it, including Veritaserum to use as a base, but there are a few extra ingredients that I still require…"
"It is a good thing that Snape managed to survive." MacNair shrugged. "I'm sure his potion skills will prove very useful."
"I do believe that with Gellert's aid, I can do this myself." Voldemort mused. "I see no reason to risk my spy in Hogwarts at this time. Here is a list of the last few ingredients. Please purchase them for me."
"Yes, my Lord." Walden bowed as he accepted the list. "I shall not fail you!"
"I know you will not." Voldemort smiled. "You may go."
Walden turned and vanished with the characteristic crack of Apparition and Voldemort flicked his wand to dispell the privacy spell that had surrounded them.
"It works!"
Voldemort turned round to see Gellert float up to deck level, touching down lightly.
"I see that you have completed the first copy of my flight-set." He noted. "How long before the others are complete?"
"Wahoo!"
Peter zoomed out through the hatch, laughing as he rocketed up to the upper bridge, coming to rest on the windshield. "I love it! Grandpa Gellert, can I get some green clothes? I gotta dress like my namesake!"
"We can go shopping tomorrow." Gellert smiled as he floated up to beside the young boy. "Do you think the others will want to join us?"
"I'll ask!" Peter half-shouted as he dived down through the hatch.
"I have a full flight-set for each of us as well as a couple of spares in addition to that score of helmets you asked me to enchant." Gellert explained as he floated back down. "Thank you for letting me watch you make yours, although the version I have is… improved."
"Oh? Improved how?"
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"Enter!" Severus barked as his quill hovered over a piece of parchment. The door opened and he glanced up, raising an eyebrow as he recognised his visitor.
"Mr Potter." He nodded in greeting even as he drew a line through one of the sentences on the parchment before him. "What brings you to my office?"
"Curiosity, sir." Harry admitted, causing Snape to put his quill down.
"Curiosity, Mr Potter?"
Harry nodded. "Sir, when you tested my mental defences last year, you noted that they were like nothing that you had ever encountered before, but…"
"But I showed no interest in learning the same techniques myself." Snape finished.
"Well… yes, sir. I was wondering… why?"
Snape steepled his fingers. "Mr Potter, I am one of the most capable Occlumens in the entire United Kingdom and one of the better Legilimancers. In fact, I rank fifth and seventh respectively. I personally know of only three who are better than I in both together, Albus Dumbledore and the Flamels, although the latter are currently living abroad. The Dark Lord is a more powerful Legilimancer than I am, but even he cannot penetrate my mental shields unless I allow him to, the same is true for Dumbledore.
"Your mental defenses, however, are built using a completely different technique to that which I have based my own on. Should I try to learn your way, I would most likely have to weaken my own shields first, thus making me vulnerable, even if only for a little while. I cannot afford such vulnerability, so therefore, I do not seek to duplicate your skills."
During Severus' recitation, Harry looked slightly confused, then enlightened.
"Thank you, sir. It's been bugging me for a while."
"At least you are intelligent enough to seek to learn that which you do not know." Severus said, a hint of approval in his voice. "If there is nothing else…?"
"No, sir."
"Then you may leave." Severus picked up the quill and scowled at the essay before him. "I have several more pages of this dunderhead's mindless wittering to wade through."
"Good luck, sir." Harry managed not to laugh as he left the office. After he had closed the door behind him, Severus sighed.
"Lily… there is so much of you in him…"
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"…interesting clothes." Voldemort noted as the brightly-colored obscurials filed past him, chattering like a flock of magpies as they carried bags towards their bedrooms.
"We found a fancy-dress shop." Gellert chuckled as Pettigrew staggered past, his hands engulfed by the dozen extra bags he was carrying. "We got several changes of outfit for each of them, they can now dress as their namesakes should they so choose."
"I am sure that they'll be giving us a fashion parade soon." Voldemort half-joked, then he looked round as they were joined by another figure. "Ah, Barty. Did you get the ingredients?"
"I did, my Lord." Barty held up a small bag. "I purchased a bit more than you wanted, just in case something went wrong."
"Very good, Barty." Voldemort smiled approvingly as he took the bag.
"I also purchased some mice for your snake, my Lord."
"I am sure that Nagini will be overjoyed."
Barty bobbed his head in a near-bow, then scurried up the gangplank and into the boat. Voldemort looked round, then cast a couple of spells before nodding in satisfaction as a group of warmly-wrapped tourists walked past, not sparing him even a glance.
"Excellent, the protections are still holding."
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The dojo was silent as Harry opened the newly-installed locker, sliding the roller-door up to reveal a number of training weapons on pegs.
"Torquasm Rao is a strong martial art, but the more advanced katas were designed to be used in conjunction with weapons." He explained as he motioned to the various rune-inscribed weapons on display. "Neville, if you could come here, please?"
Neville walked up as Harry unhooked a sword and held it out, handle first. Neville gingerly took it and Harry held out his left hand.
"Neville, I need you to trust me. Strike at my wrist."
"…Harry?"
Harry looked at his friend and smiled. "It's a demonstration, Nev. Now, downwards cut, please. It'll be fine."
Neville swallowed, then raised the blade before swinging it down. Everyone gasped as the blade went straight through Harry's arm, leaving it unscathed but with a red glow reaching up to his elbow.
"Ow, that stings." Harry commented as Neville stared in shock. "What you have just seen is the effect of the practice weapon. The glow simulates the effect of the attack, stopping me from using this limb properly and acting like a constant stinging hex until it is cancelled."
Putting action to words, Harry tapped the small metal device he was wearing on his belt and the glow vanished.
"Wear one of these runic arrays on your belt and it'll interact with the weapons to keep track of how much you should have been injured." Harry continued. "Should you die, the glow will fully encase you and stop you from moving, but it'll also cushion you as you fall to the ground. Of course, if that happens, it means that either you'll have to wait five minutes for it to reset or have someone else tap the reset rune for you."
"Harry…" Flitwick said slowly, "I do believe that Gringotts would be very interested in this."
Harry grinned as he continued. "Now, the shields are rune-enhanced to deflect spells and direct vibrations to the outer surface, meaning that if you block with a shield, you'll feel maybe a tenth of the impact, the rest being reflected the way it came. This means that shield-bashes are almost twice as strong as normal…"
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"An excellent session." Flitwick congratulated Harry as he helped to return the weapons and shields back to their hooks. "Miss Granger seems to be very taken with the shield-bracelets. As she left, I heard her calling Jorel to ask if she could purchase some of her own."
"I was more concerned with fending off Luna and her naginata." Harry admitted. "I don't know how she did it, but at times, it seemed as if she had three blades on that thing instead of one and on occasion, the blade seemed to be independent of it, even though I know for a fact that it isn't detachable."
"Her idea of adding a second blade to the other end seemed quite feasible." Flitwick noted and Harry shuddered.
"I could barely fend her off when she was using only one blade. I don't even want to consider what she'd be like with two!"
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The practice-weapon idea was cribbed from the Elvenblood Series by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.While only three books long (and with a massive plot-hook for a future book that may not be written), it's a good read. The books are called The Elvenbane, Elvenblood and Elvenborn.