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Author: Shamrock Holmes Story: Harry Potter and the Lord of Storms Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: WIP Reviews: 4 Words: 27,502
Harry was just finishing dinner two days later, when he realised that as he was the captain, he needed to do something about the Gryffindor Quidditch team fairly quickly. He paused for a moment, analysing the task at hand. It didn't take him long to figure out it was a big one: With the twins, Angelina and Alicia gone, the team line-up currently stood at one Chaser (in her last year at Hogwarts and soon to be busy with her NEWT exams), two Beaters (who unless they had improved over the summer were more of a liability than a benefit), two Seekers, and one Keeper. This meant that at the very least he had to find two new Chasers, and he'd probably be better off with three and a new pair of Beaters too. What do you know about Quidditch, Haimric? More than enough for your purposes, my friend, Haimric replied. There have been twelve competitive Quidditch players among our brethren: five Chasers, two Seekers, four Keepers and one Beater. Eight of them were House Quidditch Captains, five played in the National League as players - of which four held Captaincies - and a total of seven were part of the one of the international teams, including two as captains and one as a coach. Great, I'll need all the help I can get. I haven't a clue how to do this, but I don't want to let anyone down. Don't worry, Harry, you will be fine. I promise you. The first thing you need to do is hold tryouts. I would hold them as soon as possible. I think everyone's free on Friday night; I'll book the pitch for then. That's fine. I would also have a talk with Ginevra and ascertain whether she is still interested in playing in the Chaser position instead of - or indeed in addition to - her responsibilities as Reserve Seeker. I'll ask, Harry promised. Have you managed to figure out the details of the Memory Restoration Ritual or that potion yet? I am still working on the modified potion we discussed. However, Apolla Jupitus' memories were quite enlightening once I was able to access them. She was a Spell Damage Specialist at St Sebastian's Magic Infirmary in Ottawa in the 1600s and encountered several cases of that type of damage. Excellent, how long will the preparations take? The potion will take us two weeks to brew. At the same time I will practise the mental techniques necessary to achieve the proper effect. Do you think it will work? From what I remember of Apolla's experiences, there is a sixty-three to seventy percent likelihood this will work on the first patient and a forty-eight to fifty-two percent chance it will work a second time. However, our power reserves will be heavily drained by this procedure so there is only a thirty percent chance that it will work a third time. It will take up to forty-eight hours for our powers to restore themselves. During this time teleportation will be at best extremely difficult and at most impossible, and our elemental powers will be vastly reduced, as will the strength of the protections from Riddle's probes. That doesn't matter, Haimric, Harry told him firmly. We owe it to them to try. Agreed. ---- The next couple of days flew by, as lessons, strategy sessions with Dumbledore, Barra, and the captains, and a couple of minor attacks all competed for his attention. Fortunately, the only lesson he had on Friday was Double Charms with Ravenclaw, so by lunchtime he was free to do whatever he wanted. Ron, Hermione and Neville were busy with homework, and Ginny was off doing something with Dean, so Harry decided to grab his Firebolt and head out to the Quidditch pitch for some extra practice. He hadn't been on his broom for almost a year and he wanted to make sure he could still handle it. As it turned out, he wasn't the only one to have that idea. When he arrived at the pitch he saw a girl in Ravenclaw robes flying around the pitch, watched discreetly by a number of Rangers and two of the winged elves known as the Riodbhari. Harry sighed. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Cho again; their last conversation hadn't been pleasant. But, as Haimric gently pointed out, it wouldn't do any good to delay the inevitable. So he mounted his Firebolt and flew after her. "Cho! Can we talk?" Cho frowned, and for a moment she looked like she wanted to refuse, but then nodded. "I guess we should." "I think so too," Harry told her. He paused for a moment, then sighed. "I'm sorry it didn't work out between us, Cho. But I don't think it could have, do you?" Cho nodded. "When I was with you, all I could think about was Cedric and how he died…." Tears began to form in the corner of her eyes, so Harry, not wanting the conversation to get sidetracked, spoke up. "I know, Cho. And I didn't know how to handle that last year. I was too busy wallowing in self-pity." "…Then you wanted to spend Valentine's Day with Hermione, not me." Harry chuckled, then stopped as he saw the hurt look on her face. "I wanted to meet with Hermione because we were due to talk with Skeeter about the article she wrote for The Quibbler the next day. Remember?" At this, Cho looked a little mollified. "That's right, I'd forgotten that. I still say Hermione shouldn't have done what she did to Marietta." Harry shook his head. "You're wrong about that, Cho. I know she's your friend, and so you feel like you should defend her and that's fine, but Marietta shouldn't have betrayed us to Umbridge. The fact that her mother works for the Ministry is no excuse. Mr Weasley works for the Ministry, and so does Susan Bones' aunt and they stuck by us." "Hermione should have told us about the jinx though," Cho insisted. Harry shrugged. "Okay, I'll give you that. Maybe she should have. But your friend deserved all she got and more." Cho looked like she was about to cry again, but held back. "Anthony says you want to continue with the DA?" Harry nodded. "Will you be coming?" "I'm not sure, why you are continuing it? Umbridge is gone, we've got a brilliant DADA teacher now…" Harry shook his head. "It's not that simple, Cho. There's still a war ranging out there, and we need to be as ready as possible when it comes calling. And make no mistake, it will, and when it does it won't be pretty. We need the DA as much now as we did before." "I'll be there, Harry," Cho promised. "Tony, Padma and Michael will be too. Are you looking for more members?" "Eventually. I want to see how we stand with the current members first. I'm not quite sure when the first meeting will be, but I'll let everyone know through the coins when I've decided. We'll be meeting in the same place as last year." "Okay, I'll pass the message on. See you around, Harry." "Bye Cho." ---- Harry spent the next few hours flying, and it wasn't until he spotted some of the students coming down for the trails that he realised he'd completely lost track of the time and had missed dinner. The first arrivals were Katie, Ron and Ginny, who were followed by Jenna and Hermione. When she came level with Harry, Jenna handed him a packet of sandwiches, which Harry accepted gratefully. "Thanks Jen, it was so good to be back on my broom again that I lost track of time." "That's okay, Harry. Hermione thought that was probably what happened so I asked Dobby to make you something. He was happy to." "That's no surprise," Harry pointed out. "Dobby is probably one of my biggest fans." Jenna and Hermione moved off to find some seats, and the four Quidditch players chatted amongst themselves until Kirke, Sloper and new potentials arrived. Harry whipped out his wand and cast a weak Sonorous Charm on himself. "Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Gryffindor House Quidditch team tryouts. Now as you all know, there have been several departures over the last couple of years and while one vacancy has been amply filled by my good friend, Ron Weasley, we still have vacancies for at least two Chasers, and I would also be interested in taking on additional Beaters, a reserve Keeper, and second reserve Seeker. "If everyone could please separate into the appropriate groups? Would anyone interested in trying out for Chaser or Beater please go to Ron; anyone interested in Keeper, please go with Katie, and could potential Seekers please gather over by the stand for now?" As it turned out the split was rather uneven: five students - third-years Paulo Peschino, Manual Perez and Adam Bolton, seventh-year Fabian Ranelli and Ginny - were each competing one of the open Chaser spots; Kirke and Sloper, to Harry's disappointment were unchallenged; and only fourth-year Geoffrey Hooper and second-year Morris Leeds had turned up to try for the back-up Keeper spot. Two candidates - Colin Creevey and a second-year called William Stanwick - were trying out for Seeker. Despite the good turnout, the trials didn't take too long, and an hour later, Harry (and Haimric) had come to a decision. However, he pulled Katie and Ron to one side and asked them for their opinions. Ron shrugged. "A lot of them have potential to be honest, Harry. About the only one I wouldn't pick is Ranelli. He's in seventh year, so he's going to be pretty busy as it is without taking anything extra and besides, even though his penalty shooting's good he's a bit fat and his reflexes aren't that good - he missed a lot of easy passes. The fact he flies a Twigger 90 doesn't help either; those things can't go over about fifty new, and his is six years old." "Okay… if you had to pick three, who would you pick?" "Perez, Bolder and…" "And who?" "Ginny." Harry nodded. Obviously Ron didn't want to be accused of favouritism. "I'll give you Ginny and Perez, but I think Peschino would be better than Bolder." "He's tiny, though!" "But fast," Harry pointed out. "And his goal scoring is better than Ranelli's too." "You've got a point," Ron conceded. "What do you think, Katie?" "I agree with Harry. I'm not sure if Perez or Peschino would be better for the reserve spot but I'd take them both and sort it out later." "Sounds good to me," Harry admitted. "What about the Keepers?" "Leeds, definitely," Katie replied. "Angelina was right about Hooper being a whiner last year, and he hasn't improved. Leeds isn't as good as Ron was in the final but he's got a lot of potential." "Okay then. Let's do the Seekers," Harry said, turning back to the main group. "Thank you, Chasers and Keepers. Now if you could gather over by the stand, we'll have the Seekers now." This time it took even less time for Harry to come to a decision and within a minute he called Colin and Stanwick back. Once they had rejoined the group, Harry spoke again. "Thank you all for coming… Chasers, we couldn't decide between two of you, so we will be taking on three new Chasers. One will be a reserve for this year, but can join the main team next year. The new Gryffindor Chasers are Ginny Weasley, Paul Peschino and Manuel Perez." Harry paused for a moment then continued. "We have also decided to take on Morris Leeds as Reserve Keeper and William Stanwick as Second Reserve Seeker. Ginny Weasley will remain as First Reserve Seeker as well as being a starting Chaser. "Those of you who were not chosen… thank you for coming, and if you are here next year, you are welcome to try out again. Those of you who were chosen… our first practise is on Monday evening. I will see you then, if not sooner. Goodbye." ---- The next week was as busy as the first. So it wasn't until a raid on a small village to the north of Hogwarts by fifty Dementors a week later - which cost the Ealbhari seventeen Rangers and three of their junior mages - that Harry remembered his promise to Cho to start up the DA again. He immediately returned to his quarters and found the spelled coin Hermione had made for him the year before, then altered the numbers on it to the next day's date. Just after lunch the next day, Harry, Hermione, Neville and the two Weasleys entered the Room of Requirement to find that some of the others had already arrived. Susan Bones was sitting in one of the armchairs in the corner, while Ernie and Hannah were deep in conversation with their Ravenclaw counterparts – Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil - in another. Luna, Michael, Justin, Zacharias Smith, Terry Boot and Cho arrived a few minutes later, and the Creeveys, Seamus, Dean, Lavender and Parvati arrived before the castle's clock struck the appointed meeting hour. Harry was pleased; the only current student missing who had been a member of the DA previously was the traitor Marietta Edgecombe, and Harry had been hoping she wouldn't turn up. "Hello everyone, welcome to another meeting of the DA. I'm glad you could all make it. We have important things to do." "What sort of things?" Zacharias Smith asked. "We've got a decent Defence teacher now, and with all those elves wandering around You-Know-Who won't be able to hurt us." "Oh really? What about when you aren't here?" Harry asked. "Six wizarding families and twelve Muggle ones have been attacked in the last three months. Three of those families have at least one member in this room. "And you needn't start thinking that Voldemort won't come to the school, because he will… and when he does, the more people that can fight, the safer we'll all be. "Now, I haven't got anything planned for today, but what I would like you to do, is each have a think about two people who might be a good addition to the DA. There are twenty-two of us now, so we need to bring up our numbers if we're going to be effective. Now, and this is the hard part, we do need people who will be loyal to us, but we also need to know what's going on everywhere, and that means we need members from all the Houses, including Slytherin. The next meeting will be on Tuesday; is everyone free between seven and eight?" There were several nods. No one seemed to have a problem with that time. "Okay. I'll see you all then, if not sooner." Sensing the meeting was over the group began to break up. Ron and Hermione disappeared off somewhere alone, as did Ginny and Dean and several of the other couples, and the rest left in small groups. Harry look a quick look around to make sure no one had forgotten anything and then followed Neville, Luna and the Creeveys out of the Room. They left Luna at the head of the main stair and headed back to the common room. When they climbed in through the portrait, the Creeveys joined a group of their friends near the large fireplace. Harry and Neville went up to the sixth year dormitory, which was thankfully empty of kissing couples, and flopped down on their beds. Harry was just beginning to get comfortable when he felt a tingling in one ear. It took him a minute to identify the sensation. It was a signal from the spelled earring that one of Ealbhari mages had given him two days before. "I've got to go, Neville. I'll see you later? Amicitia!" "No problem, Harry," Neville assured him. "I'm looking forward to Tuesday." "As are we, Neville," Haimric admitted as he ran for the door. "As are we." ---- "Report!" barked Haimric as he entered the Ealbhari Command Centre a minute or two later. "A mixed group of Dementors and Death Eaters have attacked the Nimbus Arena in the middle of a League game between the Arrows and the Cannons," reported Captain Artair. "The Ministry of Magic has several Aurors and two squads from Auror Security on the scene already. However, Lord Barra has taken three Ranger platoons and six mages to assist them. He has not made contact since he arrived on the scene." "I see, any other reported hotspots?" "None at this time. Captain Aoibhe is still on scene at last night's attack, but at her last check-in two hours ago, all was quiet." "Good, I hope it stays that way." "I hope so," breathed Artair. "These Dementors are devilishly dangerous. How many more are there?" "Hundreds, perhaps thousands." "Segair's bow!" exclaimed Artair. "If even a score or two of them attack, we would be in grave danger!" "I know," admitted Haimric. "Harry will be teaching the Patronus Charm to select students in the coming weeks. We can only hope that that will be enough." "By Voir… we can but hope." "Barra, what is your situation? Do you require additional assistance?" "No Haimric, I believe we will be fine. Several of my men will require Njal's ministrations when we return, but we are holding our own. As per your instructions we are staying out of sight as much as possible. However, this tactic will not keep us safe for long. Sooner or later, your Ministry will have to be informed." "I know that, but I would rather keep the element of surprise for a little longer. Once the Ministry knows what we've got, Riddle will know within days." "I concur. We should return within the hour. I will contact you if we require further assistance." "Understood, I will see you upon your return," Haimric told him, then he turned to the Ranger captain. "I am going to return to Gryffindor Tower. Signal me if there are any further developments." "Yes milord," confirmed Captain Artair. A/N: My apologies again for the shortness of the chapter and the long wait. Things will be hotting up in the next few chapters. In case anyone is wondering, Voir and Segair are the two main gods worshipped by the Ealbhari. Segair is the Hunter God, Voir is his wife. According to Ealbhari religious tenets they are also the ancestors of the Royal Elves - the Ealbhari nobility.
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