Two days after Christmas Triss traveled with John and Harry back to London to pick up Hermione and Daphne like they promised. Catherine wanted to come too, but her work had grown too much and she couldn't just ignore it given its importance, so she stayed behind to make some progress with it.
Now they were waiting in by the barrier of 9 ¾ where they said goodbye the last time they saw each other. Harry was a bit nervous, even if he already knew them and their parents, they had yet to meet John and Triss, well the girls know John of course but not Triss. As they walked around in the station Triss was fascinated by the shops inside. As they still had some time, she decided to go on a shopping tour. As she needed company doing it, she grabbed both men next to her and dragged them off to a clothing store. As John and Harry were dragged by the spunky redhead, John letting it happen was the funny part in Harry's opinion as John could just stand still without effort and letting Triss struggle on the spot.
In the third clothing store Harry saw familiar bushy hair, looking at some shirts with kitten's printed on it. She seemed to be almost smiling because it seemed to be cute to her. Harry could not understand that, seeing a cat as an animal that would hunt mouses and rats inside the castle, so it was useful for them to have a cat in Kaer Morhen. While they were at school, he saw some older students with cats snuggle with them, almost as much as Ron snuggled with his pillow. Harry shook his head to dispel that image out of his head, he walked over to say hello, only to get the shirt hitting his face.
"Jeez Harry, you should know by now that I get jumpy when surprised." Hermione took the shirt back and folded it back up to place it where it belonged.
"Yes, I should know that. Since when are you here by the way? And where are your parents?" Harry looked around, trying to spot the Parents from Hermione, only to find them in discussion about some pants for Samuel, Hermione's Father. But right on the other side of this aisle were John and Triss, also discussing about the same topic, as Triss thought that John needed some new pants. Harry found it hilarious as both pairs of grown-ups saw each other and the woman began to team up, as they wanted both some new clothing for their repective men. Hermione also began to giggle as her father became pale as her mother began to get her through his defenses.
As Hermione laughed out loud, John saw both children and combined that those two people must be Hermione's parents. As Triss took his hand and pushed him into a changing room, or rather he let it happen to not enrage her, John quietly told her that those two people were one pair of parents they wanted to meet. Triss looked back and nodded, saying that she would talk to them until he came back. So, she walked over to them, calling Harry and Hermione to her and introducing herself. Later they all would laugh about it how they met in the clothing store and had a similar problem with the wardrobe of their men.
"So, I guess Mr. Wulf was a soldier at one point in his life? He carries himself like one seasoned veteran. And that means he must be a, what did that woman call us, Muggle?" Mr. Granger asked Triss, now knowing that he had at least something in common with the man called John. That is beside being in company of a woman who could got her way through even the most stubborn men.
Triss remembered the cover story for John and answered in a half truth. "Yes, he is a veteran of a big war, as he told me. But he has moved on, still training in case he would be needed once more. He even has a whole shooting range and training grounds back at home. And some friends from his time in the military are also around. So, your daughter will be safe with us during the rest of the brake, we would never allow something to happen." Triss explained to the Hermione's parents, hoping she could convince them that the children could spend the rest of the break together. What she did not know that Hermione had already done her work for her, as her parents had talked to her about Harry and what a good friend he was.
As John returned, they decided to get something to eat while they waited for the Greengrass family. As they sat down in a restaurant which served Italian food, Mr. Granger and John talked about their experience in their military, John keeping it a secret that he came from another world. He just told this Englishman that he was from a foreign country, where even children as young as 11 years old could be trained to shoot with an assault rifle to a distance up to 300 meters.
"That sounds like Switzerland, I heard that they could shoot like that without any scopes, they just use the visor the rifle comes with. But as this country is neutral and don't fight in any wars, I guess you had your share in warfare in a foreign mission? Or does your military have a similar pre-military training?"
"You could say that. But I am not permitted right now to indulge in that, I hope you understand." John tried to dance around a mood point in every secret, so he used the old trick called "Official Secrets" that practically every secret operation called upon.
Mr. Granger just shrugged and tried to talk about other themes. Meanwhile the women were talking about the clothes they bought for their men. It seemed that they had the same taste in clothes as it seemed even in men. The stories they shared with each other seemed rather similar.
All the while Harry and Hermione talked about the homework for school and how they could learn even more. Harry told her that they could read through the library of Kear Mohen, as it was almost as well stocked as Hogwarts was, just on other subjects that could shine a new light on their studies. As their meals arrived, they calmed down and ate in silence. After they had eaten their lunch, they walked back to the King's Cross. Hermione told her father he should get a trolley to bring her trunk from the car and head over to platform 9 ¾. John offered to help Mr. Granger with Hermione's trunk especially since Harry told him how heavy it was. The others now waited for Daphne and her parents to talk with them too. They arrived right on time, with a smiling Daphne almost bouncing towards Harry and Hermione, seemingly forgetting her usual exterior of cold, calculated features. As she hugged Harry and Hermione afterwards, with a big smile they concluded that she was only like that in school.
"Good afternoon Mr. Potter. I guess those are your friends with you?" Mr. Greengrass asked him, looking over the other people, trying to judge them. As Harry nodded and introduced John and Triss to him, he shacked their hands and smiled at them.
"So, I guess you are a muggle Mr. Wulf? I have to say you look rather fit for a wizard otherwise."
"Wait, he can't be a muggle Father, he is our physical education teacher back at school I told you about him. If he was really a muggle, he could not see Hogwarts." Daphne finished her hug with her friends. As her father contemplated this information, her mother introduced herself to the other parents. After they talked about how the rest of the break should go on and how the kids should return to the King's Cross for the return to Hogwarts. Soon the Hermione's and Daphne's parents left the children and John and Triss for the rest of the break and whished them a happy New Year.
Once the parents departed leaving the group on the deserted platform of 9 ¾ Triss turned to the group and told them to gather around her so she could open up a portal to take them to Kear Mohen.
Hermione had a question how that worked, what got Triss to grin and told her that she would soon see how it works. John just mumbled something like he now understood why Geralt always preferred to travel the normal way. He got an upset stomach every time they traveled like that.
Daphne was just glad to spend the rest of her break with her friends and that she could learn new things. She made a mental note that she would ask how these portals work too, as Triss did not use a wand on the platform nor did she need one to open the portal.
As they stepped through it, both girls felt like they were flipped upside down and the rightened back up as they stepped out the portal into the courtyard of a castle. A little queasy they gathered their balance back and looked around the old castle. They were in awe as they saw how big the tower was and it seemed like the castle was built into the mountain that it rests beside.
John and Triss began to walk to the entrance for the great hall, signaling to them that they should follow them. Harry walked behind the girls, in case they got lost in thought and did not walk further he could lead them.
As they walked into the great hall of the castle, the others were already there and preparing for dinner, as they would cook a little feast as a welcoming for Harry's friends and hoped that they would like it. As Yen saw the girls coming through the door, she was reminded back to the time when Geralt came through the door after he trained with Ciri when she was little. Yen was happy that Harry got some friends, as they seemed to be nice enough to hang out with him even during a holiday break.
"Welcome to Kear Mohen, I hope you will enjoy your stay here with us. Harry can show you your bedrooms, you can then put your trunks in there until you return to Hogwarts. But I wonder why one of you has a whole trunk with her. Do you need so much clothing?" Yen asked Hermione, getting Harry to laugh out loud.
"No Yen, Hermione here just took every book she wanted to read during the break with her instead of leaving them behind. And this here is Daphne Greengrass, a student from the Slytherin and I'm not sure where Daphne's trunk is." Harry looked towards Daphne with a raised brow.
Daphne shrugged and reached into her pocket of her jacket and pulled out, what at first glance looked like a matchbox. "I asked my father to shrink it to make it easy to carry. I assumed that your foster family or Chief Wulf can undo the charm. But I never got a response about him being a muggle." Daphne looked at Harry pointedly.
Harry took the shrunken trunk from Daphne's hand and put it on the ground and wandlessly cast a Finite on the trunk which caused it to grow back to normal size. Harry ignored the gaping look from the two girls of his casual use of wandless magic and looked over at Yen and then at John on how to answer that question.
John shrugged and simply explained. "Yes, I'm a muggle but Headmaster Dumbledore has the means to allow me to see and work in the castle."
Harry nodded at that and looked over at the two surprised girls when they heard John's revelation. "Now if you would excuse us, I will show them where they can sleep and then we come back to eat. Afterwards I can show you the grounds if you want." Harry introduced the girls to Yen, getting their attention as he showed them the way to the bedrooms.
"Wow, this castle is really big, not as big as Hogwarts mind you, but for such few people it seems you can wander your whole day through here and never meet anyone." Hermione dragged her trunk behind her, as she did not want Harry to carry it. Harry just nodded, letting them into their bedroom for the rest of the break. It was rather big, even if the windows were so small that they could not let in enough light as they were used to. To remedy that, the room had a big fireplace, where burnt a fire bright enough to enlighten the whole room in a warm light, showing the girls two big beds by the opposite wall, small nightstands between them. By the fireplace were also two comfy looking armchairs, right next to bookcases and small coffee tables. The girls both were in awe and asked Harry, if his bedroom was like theirs or if this room was just a guest room which had to be better than the rest. He assured them that his room was similar, just smaller as it only had to house him and Hedwig when she was around. He then took them for a tour until dinner would be finished, telling them on the way what was inside the castle, at least what he could tell them without giving the secrets away.
After a while the children sat down at the table in the great hall for dinner and Yen was asking the girls how they experience school and how they studied for their classes. Hermione and Daphne answered gladly and shared stories they had from the classes, and how the rivals from Harry pushed him further. They also talked about Quidditch, the sport Harry played after he showed how good he could fly on a broom.
"Oh, so you can fly on a broom? That sounds dangerous, how does the school guarantee the safety of the students? I mean, if they fall from a great enough height, they could be hurt pretty badly"
"According to Hogwarts, a history goes, when a student falls from his broom and he would gain to much speed towards the ground, a charm would activate that would cushion the impact on the ground so the student would not be hurt too much. But it is mandatory for every player to use the sticking charm on their broom, so as long as the broom flies, the player could not fall from it." Hermione explained like Harry and Daphne were used to hear from her.
Yen was astounded by the grown-up demeanor from Hermione, thinking that she had much more to show then she let on until now.
It was at that moment when Catherine came up from her Laboratory to get her dinner, as she saw the two girls Harry told her about. "Ah, you must be Hermione and Daphne, the friends Harry told me about so much. How are you?"
Hermione almost leapt from her chair to greet her, as Catherine was one of the reasons she wanted to come, besides spending more time with Harry. She still tried to fight her childish crush on him, as she was only 12 years old, she found herself too young for that kind of relationship. But since last Halloween she had to agree with Lavender as she saw him like them like a man, not just a boy.
Catherine greeted her with a smile, liking her eagerness to learn more as it reminded her that she was like that when she was younger.
"Hello Doctor Halsey, it is nice to meet you. Harry told me so much about you and your intellect. I would be glad if we could talk with each other about…did Harry tell you that we know about Callie?"
Catherine laughed and told her that she gave Callie the permission to tell Harry that she could show herself to them, as she was worried about the Trauma from the troll incident back at Halloween. Hermione sighed in relief and was glad that Harry did not have to fear any punishment because he and Callie just wanted to help them.
"Now, I am also aware about your wishes for your own AI to work with you like Harry does with Callie. I hope you know already that it is not so easy to fulfill that wish for you Hermione. It is a rather complicated to produce one AI, not to mention multiple AI as it would be necessary to equip you, Miss Greengrass as well as your friends Miss Brown and Miss Patil. I may get the materials for the main matrixes, but I cannot just copy Callie into it as it will not work. Every matrix is unique, like a person, which is the reason that every AI is also unique. So, I hope you will not be disappointed if you don't get your own AI."
To her own great satisfaction Catherine saw that Hermione did not lower her head in disappointment, rather was determined to learn how she could earn her own companion as well that Daphne was in the same mindset as her friend next to her. Both wanted this because, as Catherine hoped, to become closer to Harry and deepen their friendship. If the reports she gathered from Callie, Cortana as well as the delegation from the ONI on board the In Amber Clad II were correct, they would need all the help they could get.
As the night came soon after dinner, Hermione and Daphne were going to their room to sleep, as Harry was called down to the Laboratory by Catherine. So, the girls walked alone back and talked with each other about how well they were welcomed by those people.
Hermione was especially happy as Doctor Halsey seemed not to mind her eagerness to learn, even if some things were beyond her understanding for now. Daphne was fascinated by Yen and her mature aura and nice demeanor that she had shown them. Ciri did act like she was the big sister of Harry, in that both agreed. As for the case of John and Triss were together, they would not venture in that territory of gossip, as it was a specialty from Lavender and Parvati. They would surely talk about this by now.
In their room, Hermione was going over the books in the shelves and thought which one to read by the fire, as Daphne caught her attention as she just sat down with some parchment and a quill.
"What are you writing?" Hermione decided to pick a small book, for her at least, and sat down.
"Only a small letter to my parents that we arrived safely and that I am glad they allowed for me to come here. It is after all not natural to allow your daughter to sleep away from home when it is not at school."
"Speaking of which, I wanted to ask you why are you not so open as today unlike back at school? Does it have something to do with being in Slytherin?" Hermione did not open her book as she was watching Daphne writing her letter.
"You could say that. Only a few people know me how like you, Harry and my sister does. I must be cautious back in school not because I am a Slytherin, but because I could be blackmailed into doing something I don't want to do. So I must play the cold, hard to get girl in school. My father told me that I should not worry, but my sister could be targeted if I appear weak when she comes to school." Daphne finished her letter and then opened her bag to get a small cage out with a miniscule owl inside. She opened the cage and gave it the letter and brought it to the small window. After she let the owl fly away, she walked over to Hermione and sat down to.
"Now tell me, how far goes your crush?" Daphne almost steamrolled Hermione, who almost let her book fall from her grip in shock.
"WHA-WHA-WHO HOW? ... Did Lavender tell you?" Hermione began to babble before she calmed down and was secretly cursing Lavender for telling her secrets.
Daphne just laughed and shook her head. "No, she did not tell me as I never asked anyone, but you were almost blushing every time we were alone with Harry, and he asked you something. It was rather obvious to be honest. But it seems that Harry did not notice it, or he chooses to stay ignorant. You know how boys can be daft in that regard. Now I know that girls our age go through those feelings rather regularly and sometimes we like even multiple boys. But please, do not think less of yourself for it. He is mature for his age and is good looking so it is natural that girls would fall for him. To be honest and if we believe the rumors, even some older students in Slytherin are smitten by him and his looks. I know that they only see Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and is famous. But we, we see Harry Potter, the nice boy who helps anyone in need, even if it costs his life. So, how big is your crush for him?" Daphne leaned back in her armchair, crossing her legs.
Hermione, once blushed as she was caught, told her that it began after Halloween, where Harry rescued her, Lavender and Parvati and fought the troll of alone. She even told Daphne that she had some fantasies with Harry inside the armor of Chief Wulf. On that Daphne told her that she never saw him in armor and if she could describe it. Hermione did one better and grabbed some parchment and one pencil she found inside her nightstand. As she began to draw the armor, she also remembered that he had an assault rifle in his hands as he was looking out for more trolls just in case. After she finished, she handed it over to Daphne and waited for her opinion.
"What is this item in his hand? It does not seem like a wand that we know." Daphne was now looking closer to the assault rifle, not knowing what it was for now.
Hermione shook her head and explained, because her father was a soldier in the military, she knew that this was a muggle weapon called an assault rifle, but she does not know the model John is carrying. But she saw something like a shooting range out the window as they arrived before, so she thinks that he just defends himself like a muggle soldier because he was one after all. As they talked further, Hermione felt herself getting tired and asked Daphne if they could continue the next day. She agreed and changed into her pajamas.
Meanwhile Harry was inside the Catherine's laboratory and asked himself why he was called down here. Callie did scan the room, only to come up with nothing special for her. The only thing that was unusual was the higher energy consumption then before, as it seemed that her computer worked harder on something.
"Now Harry, why do you think you are down here?" Catherine turned around, standing in front of a big casket with multiple locks holding it closed.
"If I had to guess, you wanted to surprise me. Do you have an upgrade for my glasses already?" Harry was now looking around, letting Callie scan the room more efficiently.
"No, nothing like that. In these packages are the matrixes for the AIs that I must prepare for the girls. The reason why I'm telling you this is, that I have to borrow Callie together with Cortana." At the mention of her name, Cortana materialized on a holographic pedestal and smiled. Harry waved his hand to her and looked back at Catherine.
"Why do you need them both? Do you have something to copy from them?" he asked, while he took the matrix out of his pocket.
"Well, I didn't want to talk about that while the girls were around. But I succeeded in copying an AI in another matrix as I reactivated my old AI, something like the old sister from Cortana and Callie, Kalmiya. But this matrix was already used, so I had to make sure that her personality was not affected by it. The matrix was already weakened of course because of the previous AI, so this procedure was surprisingly easy. As for the new matrixes, I don't know how it would affect the characteristics of another copied AI, so I need those three in case something bad happens. Do not worry, they will be safe." Catherine took the Matrix from Harry and pulled the chip out of its housing, inserting it inside another computer so Callie could project herself on another pedestal as she crossed her arms.
"So, I guess you want to give them their own AI? What did change your mind?" Callie asked the doctor, well knowing that she laid the rules out like she wanted. So, giving AI to children if they asked, that was something she would do. Callie was also looking to Cortana and the third projector right next to her, surmising that her oldest sister would spawn there as soon as Harry left the room.
"I never change my mind, it was just complicated to fulfill their wishes sooner. But the UEG and UNSC gave me permission for this experiment, so I told them that I would keep those AI if it worked but would tell them everything they need to know of the process. As you may know, that is not how I normally work as I keep almost all secrets to myself or write it down on paper and not digitally. Now Harry, please go to bed and have a good night, it will take some time until we are done." Catherine waved him out of her laboratory and closed the door afterwards.
Harry just shrugged and decided to heed her words, as he was sure that John would wake him early for training. And he was determined to ask him if he could shoot the rifle at least once this time.