As January turned to February, the weather warmed up just a tiny bit as the day's got longer once more. Not that the students minded, as in their free time they liked to make snowball fights when they were not studying. Something even Harry and his friends needed a break here and there, so right now as the sun was shining, he hid behind some cover as the snowballs flew around him and his teammates as they prepared some more "ammunition" for them to use.
"Please explain to me again why we fight against the girls Ron? I mean you know how good Hermione is with the levitation charm. AND I KNOW YOU'RE DOING IT HERMIONE!" He raised his voice, so the girls could hear him. He was rewarded with a ball landing right on top of his head and heard some laughter from the other side.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!" Harry heard her answer, as another salvo came over their cover and almost hit them all with great accuracy.
"You could ask who showed them this trick, but I am sure she saw my brothers once and just copied them." Ron was hit straight in his face as he looked up to see where the girls are. Harry and Neville evaded the balls falling on them, as Harry got a big ball in his hand and threw it towards Lavender, who just decided to look out to see how much they got hit.
"UMPH!"
"YES, A HIT!" Harry dived back behind cover as another salvo came down where he just was. As he leaned with his back to the little wall they had built, his caught sight of the main entrance to the castle open and John coming out. Behind him walked two women, one was Doctor Halsey as she wanted to update the hardware on the computers and other devices that John used, the other was Triss, as she could open a portal for them to travel faster. Harry figured Triss obviously wanted to visit John at his workplace during the school year. She saw that Harry was looking at her and waved, right as another snowball landed on his head.
It was at that moment she knew that she had to suppress a laugh as Harry got his hands in his hair to get the snow out of it. He then took a handful of snow and just threw it behind him, as it flew way to high up above the others. John was now also looking over to the students next to Triss, wondering since when Harry had such a bad aim.
"You think he holds back?" He asked Triss, crossing his arms over his chest, while she was giggling as Harry got another hit as he was the only one left really firing back, because Ron and Neville both retreated to the wall of the castle as they both were almost as white as the snow that hung to their cloak.
Harry saw this too, deciding to get serious and told Callie to help him with locating the girls. He saw her smile in his glasses and showing him a small map from the courtyard, which helped Harry timing his throws to hit the girls right on their chest. As his speed also picked up, they now were hiding behind their cover, putting their hands above their heads. That gave him enough time to go to the side of their cover and getting them to surrender as he lifted the next ball over his head.
Harry let the ball fall down and laughed at the looks the girls gave him, as Callie warned him that another ball was falling down on him, but just a bit too late. Harry scowled and turned slowly around, looking at a grinning Triss pointing at a confused John who looked at another snowball in his hand. And so, the big "Winter war", as it will be known for the rest of the year, between 6 students and two adults begun as Harry threw another snowball towards John, while Catherine decided that she rather be inside the castle until they had let off their steam.
"Ah, I see that the students had found the greatest gift to their youth. Having fun." Dumbledore came out of the entrance and stood beside Doctor Halsey, as Triss had just used her magic to melt the snowballs flying towards her and John throwing a whole arm full up in the air.
Catherine had a small smile on her lips as she watched them, remembering how competitive John was when he was the age Harry was now and how Harry seemed to have copied it from John in all these years they lived together.
"Yes, it seems that way. It is nice after all this fighting we had to endure seeing some smiling children and John opening up to others, letting his human side coming back out. Now, Headmaster, please excuse me, but we must go back and look up those Horcruxes. After all, we need to plan everything, so Harry's survival is guaranteed. Because even if we combine the Witcher's mutation with our augmentation, we still need more data to be sure that it will have no negative effects." Catherine looked stern at the old wizard by her side, sensing that he did not tell them everything back in Kear Mohen.
Dumbledore just nodded and pulled his wand out of his sleeve and waved it towards the flying snowballs, which froze in place.
The students were dumbfounded as the balls just stayed in place, until they saw their Headmaster with his wand outstretched standing by the entrance to the castle. Hermione, always afraid of breaking the rules, asked him if they did something wrong.
Dumbledore just shook his head and told them that Miss Merigold is needed to return back home, and this was the only obvious way to stop the fight. And as the air grew colder after the sun sank behind the mountains the students also wanted to go inside the warm castle and walked inside while rubbing their arms for warmth.
Triss walked up to John and gave him a small kiss on his cheek after the children were out of sight. John blushed, never being intimately involved with another woman who was not a Spartan like himself. He then watched Triss open the portal back home and the women walking through. He turned around as the portal closed, walking after the students to see if they would change their clothes to not get sick.
As he did not see them, he took out an earpiece and put it in place, asking Cortana this way if she could ask the other AI if the kids did change into something dry before they would go to eat dinner. As she answered him in an affirmative, he walked to the Great Hall to eat some dinner.
While he did this, back in Kear Mohen the portal opened in the Laboratory for Doctor Halsey, Triss and the good doctor stepped out of it. After patting down her clothes, Catherine turned around to see a blushing redhead standing rigid after she closed the portal. Catherine chuckled, almost laughing out loud at the face Triss made.
"Why did I do that? What was I thinking?" Triss walked nervously in the room around, ignoring Halsey almost completely. Catherine showed her patience and waited until Triss had calmed down enough to talk with her.
"You, my dear, did what your hormones ordered you to do, as it is Human nature to feel affectionate to another Human. And please forgive me for my honesty, but it is obvious that you like him more than your friends in this castle. And if his reaction was any indication, and I know my Spartans, he thinks similar about you. Just remember that he fought a war and is still not used to 'normal' human interactions if you want to take this further." Halsey walked over to the computer to test the connection she made with the one in Hogwarts, this way they could communicate even faster with John and Harry if the need would arise.
"You can say that, but John does pretty good with Harry and the other students in Hogwarts, is he not?" Triss stood beside Doctor Halsey, looking at the monitor. It seemed to work just fine, as the positions of every AI in Hogwarts was displayed and, in that way, also the owners.
Catherine mused about her words, thinking back in their universe how John always seemed to think about the mission first, but wanted to rescue all civilians.
"You do not understand how I meant that, dear. John trains them so they could defend themselves. But he does not see children, he sees future soldiers. I told you as much as I could, and John also gave some secrets about his upbringing. Did he tell you how old he was as we began the Spartan II program?" Catherine now looked directly in Triss's eyes, seeing nothing but confusion. She ignored the beeping form her computer, as Kalmiya tried to warn her about the breach in protocol she was about to do. She had of course all the reports about what John told Triss, thanks to Cortana being was active as they talked.
"No, he always did get silent as I tried to ask him about his childhood, so I learned that it had to be traumatic for him and I stopped pestering him. All I know is that your kind did fight a war with this Covenant for 30 odd years. But what brings that up now?" Triss looked over the shoulder of Doctor Halsey, on the monitor where she saw the red lettering Danger. Halsey noticed it finally and turned around, sighing as she told Kalmiya that she could relax. It was not her place after all to tell her about John on this detail of his upbringing. John had to clear it with his own conscious if he could entrust her with it. Because he had to live with the reaction that she would have hearing that he was trained as young as 6 years old. And unlike Harry, John was forced to go through it, even as he later just accepted it as his duty.
The man in question was now walking through the halls of Hogwarts and watching the students joking around and preparing pranks on other students or teachers, whoever would come first. Of course, those two pranksters had red hair, as he identified them as the Weasley twins Fred and George. John looked over the contraption they had built for this prank to work. He saw a bucket that was, he assumed at least, water, that would fall on the first person who would come from the dungeons to eat dinner. So, John investigated the Great Hall to see who was all already inside eating, as the way the twins had boobytrapped lead to the common room from Slytherin. The only one's not already here were the Slytherin first years, all other students did enjoy their dinner already. John looked back to the entrance for the dungeons, as he did not see Harry's friend Daphne and was afraid that the prank would hit her first when she decided to come up the stairs. So, he asked Cortana if she could check in on her by asking her AI Sissi where they are.
Cortana reached out to her younger sister about it and warned her from the bucket above the entrance, as Fred and George still watched with glee what would happen next. To Daphne's luck, she was not the first coming up the staircase, as Malfoy got a full load of water on his blond head as well Crabbe and Goyle being in the splashzone. John was now wondering how Fred and George could time it that well with the arrival of those first years who were, as far he knows, the most obnoxious ones in the whole school. All the students he had in his PE classes talked about the Malfoy boy and his behaviour like he owned the place, only because his father was the head of the school board. Not that John minded, every person was different afterall.
Daphne heard the water splashing up the stairs and stood on its side to let it flow past her and wondered who got wet up there. She soon got her answer as she heard Malfoy cursing and telling everyone that his father will hear about this. She rolled her eyes at his exclamation, knowing that it was an empty threat as Mr. Malfoy had no power over the students directly, and Headmaster Dumbledore would not punish any students just because Malfoy told him to. As she walked up the stairs evading the rest of the water, she thought about tomorrow's classes and how she could just ignore Malfoy during them. She also caught herself hoping that she would see Harry there, as his rivalry with Malfoy began to become funny as Malfoy was shown up almost every time they met.
Harry had to hold back a small sneeze, he just hoped that he did not get sick after their snowball fight. Hermione was looking over to him with raised brows, asking herself what was wrong with him. Lavender and Parvati were also asking themselves what was wrong with Harry, as Ron sat down beside him and watched the other students, still taking the job of watching out for him, even after Harry had told him multiple times that he did not need to do that.
Fred and George, who were better educated then a first year, did leave Harry be after seeing him in the beginning going through the obstacle course on the training field. Ron was still a bit on the lazy side when it came to physical training, something Harry still did not understand after he learned that Ron's dream job was to be a professional Quidditch player. But like John he just placed this information in his "good to know" file in his mind as it was not his place to judge another's ambition.
Later after dinner, Harry told the others that he would go out to train and if they wanted to come too. Hermione said she had to work on her essay a bit more and Lavender as well as Parvati were tired after their little fight outside. So, Harry walked alone out of the Great Hall, wondering why Malfoy was wet at the Slytherin table, as Daphne looked after him and decided on the spot to follow him to the training grounds. Both students were now walking once more outside towards the training grounds, Daphne asking Harry why he would train after they had their exercise during the snowball fight.
"Well, Daphne as far I am concerned, this little fight we had did not exhaust me enough to count it as exercise. Maybe I have just more endurance as I trained almost my whole life until this point. But why are you coming out too?" Harry was wondering as he looked over the other older students jogging and doing pull ups by the bars as only running the courses would be boring.
"Well, if you must know, I just wanted to talk with you for a bit alone and burning some extra calories in the process. Now, what will we do?" Daphne was almost laughing at the face Harry had right now, looking flabbergasted at the mention of losing calories. But his look got serious as he saw someone else leaving the castle, it was an adult man with a turban, followed by a man with black clothes. He wondered what Snape and Quirrell going to do in the forest they were walking towards to. As far he knew, they never really talked with each other outside of classes. Harry began to walk after them, causing Daphne to also come too.
As they arrived in the forbidden Forest, Harry could thankfully sneak right behind them do to his training, as Daphne just moved as silent as she could and imitated Harry's moves. They were lucky as the noises from Daphne were canceled out by the natural sounds of the forest as well as the walking of the two adults in front of them. They soon stopped in a small clearing, where the big trees blocked out the sun so much it was almost dark on the ground.
Snape caught up with Quirrell and pushed him to a tree and talked with him, something about how far he has come in his endeavor. Quirrell shook in fear and answered that he did not know what Snape was talking about.
"Don't play coy with me, Quirrell. We both know that you have some secrets that even Dumbledore is very keen to know. Now, I suggest you go back to the castle and think where your loyalty lies." Snape let him down and walked back to the castle, to the great luck for Harry and Daphne, he did not see them. Both students stayed a bit longer, until they heard Quirrell leave the clearing, but he walked further into the forest. Harry and Daphne were looking at each other, asking themselves if he maybe wanted something from the forest for his classes.
Suddenly Harry noticed something silver on the ground, almost shining on its own. He walked up to the place and crouched down to inspect it, as he felt that it was warm.
"Daphne, do you know what this is?" He showed it to her so she could look at it.
"I never really saw something like that, but I think I had read about it back in Kear Mohen in the library. As far as I know, this is unicorn blood. Something that never should be spilled. If there are Unicorn's in this forest, it was maybe attacked. I think we should go and call Hagrid, he is the gamekeeper after all." Daphne stood back up, looking for the way they had come. But she had not to look for too long, as the man in question just came through the woods and stopped right in front of them.
"Blimey, what are yeh two doing here? Yeh know this forest is forbidden. And what is…" As Hagrid saw what was on the ground, he took out his crossbow and looked around. "'Arry, did yeh touch it? Is it still warm? Like as warm it should be?"
Harry knew why Hagrid asked him that, he had after all learned much about reading tracks from Geralt and John. The temperature of freshly spilled blood could tell you much about how long the hurt animal passed through this place.
"I think it could be warmer, if it is really a Unicorn, the body temperature should be like a normal horse. But I am not sure, after all I never met a real one. But according to the tracks, it was still walking deeper into the forest. Do you think I should call Geralt? I maybe could get him here quickly if Yen or Ciri are around." Harry just wanted to tell Callie that she should call them, as a portal opened beside them, and Geralt, Yen and John walked out of it. He stared at them, as Callie told Harry that she called them as soon he saw the blood. Daphne was in awe as John had his armor on, the complete set of MJOLNIR Mk VI in action was even for Harry a sight to behold. Cortana now also showed up on Harry's glasses, telling him that John was scanning for any danger around them.
"Well, we're here now Yen. I guess I'll get used to the whole portal thing. Hello Harry, I would like you and Miss Greengrass to go back with Hagrid, we take it from here." Before Harry and Daphne could move, they heard a sound of a twig snapping, causing John to lift his rifle and Geralt draw his sword and going into a fighting stance. Yen meanwhile stood between the students and the Adults, ready to protect them with her magic. Harry got a surprise as Callie activated the thermal image function in his glasses, something Doctor Halsey seemingly put in as she got the glasses during Christmas. It was not as sophisticated as John's helmet, but he saw the others in a stark contrast to the cold air of the forest. So, thanks to that, Harry saw something resembling a tall horse coming out of the trees and as soon it was in sight, Yen did run over to it, trying to help it. Geralt also sheathed his sword back and took a vial out of his pocket.
"Geralt, quickly we don't have much time. John, watch out for whatever was hunting it." Yen sat down beside the unicorn which now laid down on the ground. John stood beside them, looking over his rifle to watch his surroundings. Harry also was now looking around with his thermal imaging, as suddenly his head began to hurt too much for him to stand. He fell to his knees, pressing his hand on his scar. John got a ping on his display about the situation as Harry's heart rate skyrocketed as Callie almost shouted to Cortana that something was wrong. Because John was distracted just a moment, he did not see the movement across the clearing, as something floated towards the small group and changed its direction towards Harry, as he was aiming first for the unicorn. Harry saw it coming towards him as he forced his eyes to open and reacted instinctively, standing up and placed himself in front of Daphne to protect her. John also reacted to Harry's movement, turning around and lifting his rifle, ready to shoot. But the being stopped almost on the spot, looking over all of them. Then something else broke out of the woods, jumping in between the being and the group and blocking the line of shot for John, but it drives the ghostly apparition away and out of sight.
As the pain lessened in Harry's scar, he looked at their rescuer and saw a big, brown horse body with the upper body of a human where the neck and head of the horse would have been. Harry did not recognize it, as he never had read about such a being existing. To their luck, Hagrid seemed to know him, as he greeted him like an old friend.
"Firenze, glad yeh are here. Can you explain what that was?" Hagrid looked towards where the floating being vanished, holding his crossbow still in his arm ready to shoot. A posture that was copied from John with his rifle, while Geralt and Yen still helped the unicorn to stop bleeding. As the Unicorn was still alive, they did a good job at that and soon they could use dressing and closed the wound with it.
"Sadly, I do not Hagrid. All I know from the stars is that it is a very dark being. A person seeking a way to return to his old strength and even going as far to drink the blood of a unicorn. And I think we both know what is hidden up in the castle, or at least he thinks it's there. The stars told us about the ruse of Headmaster Dumbledore and your friends from another place Hagrid. I just hope that it is enough for the future." Firenze was cryptic, something John could understand as he knew what the half-human meant. As Harry got enough strength back to ask Firenze what he was, he learned that centaurs did really exist and were not only found in mythology.
Cortana filed a report about Firenze and his kind to Captain Lasky as someone else knew where the philosopher's stone is really hidden. As she did that, John asked Firenze if he told anybody about what he knew.
Firenze shook his head. "No, I did not. We centaurs have sworn to not interfere in the wills of the stars and keep the secrets between us. As for why I am here now, we recently discovered that the fate of young Mr. Potter here is still undefined, so it was not his time today to die." At these words, John walked over to the students and hidden by his visor, looked angrily at the centaur. Firenze was not intimidated, as he looked straight into it, telling him that the stars also told them what he was. But it was not his place to disclose any information and if his superior would like to talk with them, he would welcome them in their forest.
"I will forward that invitation Firenze, but now we need to go back. Geralt, Yen, can you handle things from here?" John looked over to the pair, as Yen opened a portal for them to go through.
"Yes, John, we think we should take the unicorn with us until it is healed. Afterwards, we return it. As unicorns are intelligent creatures it will surely understand our intentions. And Harry, please keep out of trouble in the future." Yen stood up and helped the unicorn with her magic as they walked through the portal. John turned to the students and told them to go back to the castle.
While they walked back, Harry wondered if the others would like to know what Snape and Quirrell talked about, as he remembered that Callie would have also send the data to Cortana and in that case also to Doctor Halsey. So, he decided to go to the headmaster with that information, as he should know what the teachers were discussing about this item they hid in the castle, or at least what they seemed to hide if Firenze was correct. Callie put a marker and showed him the way in his glasses, but she did not have the password for the entrance before it. Cortana once more showed herself, telling them that John will accompany them.
In the entrance hall Daphne bid a good night to Harry and walked down to the dungeons. Harry walked together with John up the stairs, until they stood before a stone statue which looked like a gargoyle. After John told it the password, it became alive and jumped to the side, revealing a spiral staircase going up and ending in front of a wooden door with a griffon door knocker in the middle. As John used it, they heard a "come in" from inside and Harry saw Dumbledore behind his desk, smiling.