Chapter 9  Dragoon Warriors

 

“Brad... what the hell?!” Arrowny looks completely confused… but he lowers his sword, and motions to the gathered students to do the same with their wands. “What’s going on here?”

 

The tall guy, Brad, whom Harry now recognizes from the picture in Arrowny’s office, keeps his axe raised and just shakes his head.

 

“I don’t know man… I just walk outta the woods, and all these KIDS,” he swings the axe wildly around pointing at the students, some of whom duck to avoid the blade, “turn around and point sticks at me… what’re they going to do… poke me in the ribs?!”

 

“Actually… they’re gonna curse you… they’re magic folk.”

 

“… … oh…” He gives a small, forced laugh, and slowly lowers his weapon. He leans in and whispers, “They’re on our side, right?” It’s only now, that Brad has stopped flailing his arms about that Harry gets a good look at the axe in his hands… and sees that it’s a dragon! The metallic blades are the outstretched wings, with the head of the beast decoratively where the blades meet the wooden handle, which has a detailed tail design carved into it.

 

“Yeah… but still, you’re lucky you’re still normal… more or less. They could’ve turned you into a rat lizard thing if they’d wanted to.” Ryan scratches his head for a few moments, looking around at the students, who are just standing there with dumbfounded looks on their faces. “Anyway… what are you doing here?”

 

“Oh… I’m on a hunt!”

 

“A hunt?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

“… across the entire Atlantic Ocean?”

 

Brad’s face becomes suddenly angry…

 

“It can swim very, very fast.”

 

“Oh.” Arrowny gives a small chuckle… “Anyway… where is it?”

 

“I… um… lost it in the woods…”

 

“Excuse me?” Draco’s voice sounds just a little scared. “You’re one of Ryan’s demon hunting friends, right?”

 

Brad glances at Arrowny, who gives a small nod, before answering.

 

“Yeah… what of it?”

 

“And you were hunting something?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“And you lost it?”

 

“Yeah… so?”

 

“So… there’s a powerful demon running lose through the woods?”

 

“Yup! But,” Brad turns to Ryan, “I can’t figure out why my tracer stopped working. Justin told me I would be able to track this thing for a few hundred kilometres… and I couldn’t get a signal on my cell phone now either… how am I supposed to yell at him?”

 

“Not his fault, man.” Ryan points up at the castle. “The magics around the school prevent any muggle technology from working around here.”

 

“School…” Brad looks up at the castle, and raises his eyebrows. “Hogwarts, right?”

 

“Wait,” Hermione pushes through the crowd. “You’re a MUGGLE! You’re not even supposed to be able to SEE the castle!”

 

“Doesn’t work that way… I already know about Hogwarts… so the spells don’t work on me.”

 

“Okay, can we please get back to the part about a big demon running lose in the forest?” Draco still sounds a little bit scared… guess that’s just something which doesn’t change with time. Harry remembers how frightened the boy was back in first year when they had detention together in the forest.

 

“Yeah, about that… what kind of demon is it, Brad?”

 

“Oh, yeah… we… um… don’t know… exactly?”

 

Ryan just looks sideways at Brad.

 

“You… don’t know?! What about research? You did DO some research… right?”

 

“Well… of course we did… we just… didn’t find much beyond the name of it. It’s called a ‘Norwhelk’… descendant of the Whelk that the Narshe villagers used to protect themselves from the Imperial troops.”

 

“OH! OH! I teach a course on that war up there!”

 

Brad laugh’s quite loud.

 

“They… let you teach… children!” He laughs for a while longer, “That’s really, REALLY funny!”

 

It takes a few minutes for the laughter to die out.

 

“Oh… sorry. Okay… so, you teach the subject. Tell me about the Whelk… we never found a battle profile.”

 

Ryan scratches his head.

 

“I don’t really know… but, watch this.” Ryan turns to the students. “Hermione… tell me about the Whelk demon.”

 

Hermione stands up a little bit straighter, and tilts her head to the side, just a little bit. It’s the same look she always has when she’s about to become the ‘human textbook’ person. Harry knows for a fact that they were never told to learn the properties of the Whelk demon… but Hermione being Hermione, she probably looked them up on her own time, for fun…

 

“The Whelk is a giant, snail like demon. It has a thick armour like shell, and a natural resistance to elemental magic of the lightening variety. Although other magics can hurt it, the best way to kill the Whelk is with strong, physical attacks to the exposed head part.”

 

Ryan turns to Brad.

 

“See? Now we know how to fight it.”

 

“No… just wait a minute… there’s more, but I can’t remember… just give me a second…”

 

But before Hermione has a chance to recall the bit of information, there is a loud CRACK and the students standing closest to the Forbidden Forest are forced to scatter to avoid falling trees.

 

A great, purple snail, with a shell just a little bit bigger than Hagrid, pushes itself out from its hiding place in the forest. The students scatter as Arrowny and Brad raise their weapons.

 

“This it?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“It’s ugly… we should kill it.”

 

“Okay… I’ve got some time.”

 

Brad rushes forward, taking a wide swing with the long handled axe, but the Norwhelk blocks the blow with one if the short tentacles around the front of its head. Ryan holds back, waiting for an opening. The Norwhelk turns its back on the teacher, exposing the shell. Ryan nods, and extends his hand.

 

“Alright, lightening doesn’t work against you… let’s try something else… something like... FIRE”

 

“WAIT!,” Hermione calls out, trying to get the teacher’s attention, “I remember now! Don’t attack the SHELL!” But the warning comes just a little too late. The spell leaves Arrowny’s hand in the form of a fireball, and engulfs the demon’s shell in red hot flame.

 

Arrowny smiles, sure that his spell damaged the creature… but the smile fades as the flames are absorbed into the shell, which starts to crackle with blue light. The students stand awestruck as a great bolt of energy bursts forth from the demon’s shell, and strikes Ryan in the chest. The teacher flies backward through the air, crashing into a tree on the edge of the forest, and landing on the ground, unconscious.

 

“DAMN IT!” Brad brings his axe down across one of the tentacles, and the creature gives a small scream as its appendage lands on the ground before it. He turns to the group of students. “SOMEBODY WAKE HIM UP!”

 

Draco rushes to the side of the fallen teacher, points his wand, and mutters a reviving charm. Ryan slowly gets to his feet, a large portion of his shirt is scorched where the bolt had hit him. He rubs his temples, trying to clear the cobwebs.

 

“Okay… that hurt…”

 

Ryan walks forward a little bit, staggering slightly. “We need a new plan.” He reaches inside his jacket, pulling out three of his throwing knives. He rushes forward, keeping sure to stay out of reach of the creature. “BRAD, BACK OFF, THEN GO HIGH!”

 

Brad takes a step back from Norwhelk just as Ryan throws his knives. The blades cut through each of the remaining tentacles, causing the demon to rear back in pain. Brad raises his axe and swings, aiming high on its head. The blade plunges into the soft flesh of the creature, as Ryan runs forward, sliding on the ground between Brad and the demon, and pushes Sky Render into the lower part of Norwhelk’s body.

 

The demon slumps forward, and stops moving. A collective sigh of relief sound through the students, and the demon hunters look relieved as well.

 

“Ryan… you alright there?”

 

“Yeah… sure.”

 

Without warning, the Norwhelk starts roars, and starts moving again, trying to get back up and fight.

 

“HOLY SH-!”

 

“IT ISN’T DEAD!”

 

Brad and Ryan each reach for the closest weapon to them… Ryan pulls the buried axe from the creature’s flesh, and Brad grabs Sky Render. They start to hack away at the demon. Bits of flesh and drops of blue green blood splatter the ground as well as the warriors. After a few minutes of mindless slaughter, only the shell of the great beast remains in tact.

 

Brad and Ryan, now covered in demon entrails, relax a little bit. They turn to each other, and nod.

 

“Good job keeping him distracted when I was out… here’s your axe.” Ryan tosses the axe, which Brad catches.

 

“Yeah… nice job getting all unconscious and stuff…” Brad throws Sky Render. Ryan grabs the hilt of the sword as it passes by.

 

“We can… you know… not mention that part when we tell people about this… okay?”

 

“Well, Mister Arrowny…” Dumbledore walks over to the two slime covered fighters, “I assume this is one of your friends from Canada?”

 

“Yes Sir… this is Brad.” Ryan points to his friend, “Brad, this is Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts.” The axe wielder nods, and turns toward the castle.

 

“There a place I can get cleaned up in that castle?”

 

Dumbledore chuckles… “Of course… of course. Ryan will show you where, and afterwards, if you wouldn’t mind stopping by my office… I would rather like to have a talk with you.” He turns to the rest of the students, “And, would all of you please return to your common rooms, with the exception of Misters Potter and Malfoy, who will accompany me to my office now.”

 

Ryan taps Brad on the arm, and motions for him to follow the rest of the children up to the school.

         

*        *        *        *        *        *

 

“So, Harry… Draco... I was hoping that you would not mind if I postpone the presentation of your first, and second, place trophies for a couple of days. I would like to have a feast of sorts, to celebrate the coming end of first term. Would that be alright with both of you?”

 

Dumbledore’s office is the same as ever, and as always, Harry feels more content while he is in the room. Even with all that’s going on, everything with Arrowny and the Death Eaters, being in this room, knowing that the Headmaster is around to make sure things happen as they’re supposed to… it’s all a comfort.

 

“It’s not a problem, Headmaster. It’ll be quite nice to have an award presented in front of the entire school.” Harry almost sees a little bit of the old ‘bad guy’ Draco smirk as the Slytherin boy says this. He realizes that Draco just wants to show his remaining housemates that he hasn’t just dropped of the Earth… that he’s still around… and still able to be as good at some things as he ever was. Or maybe he’s just trying to stick it to all the people who still don’t like him…

 

“Excellent, Mister Malfoy… and you, Harry?”

 

“That would be fine, sir.”

 

Dumbledore looks quite pleased at this. He sits back comfortably in his chair, a large smile on his aged face, and folds his hands.

 

The doors to the office open, and Harry turns around to see Arrowny and Brad, all cleaned up and still carrying their weapons.

 

“Ah… Ryan… Brad.” Dumbledore motions for them to sit. Ryan does, but Brad stays standing, hands firmly on the handle of his axe. Even though Dumbledore doesn’t seem angry at this, Harry feels a surge of anger. Nobody should show this kind of disrespect to the Headmaster… whether or not they actually attend Hogwarts. If he’s being nice enough to offer a seat to an outsider, they should at least be respectful enough to take it.

 

“Very well… I called you two here because I have come up with another one of my trademark ‘clever’ ideas.” Dumbledore leans forward in his chair, and looks intently over the rim of his half moon spectacles. “I would like you to invite the other two members of your little demon hunting team to stay at Hogwarts for the winter break.”

 

Brad and Ryan both look interested in the idea, and the smile on Draco’s face does nothing to hide what he thinks about it… but the only thoughts that are going through Harry’s mind are of the ‘I already have to deal with the big murderer Arrowny, and now I have to worry about his professionally violent friends?!’ variety.

 

Ryan turns his head toward Brad. “You guys have any jobs lined up?”

 

Brad shrugs his shoulders. “Some old American dude wants us to go on a hunt… but we can blow that off.”

 

“Okay then.” Ryan looks back at Dumbledore, and nods. “They can be here tomorrow… by supper time I’d imagine.”

 

“That would be perfect. I look forward to meeting them. The Hogwarts Express will be waiting for them at Platform Nine and Three Quarters from noon tomorrow until whenever it is that they show up. Until tomorrow then, I guess we should all get some rest… it’s been a busy day.”

 

The four of them leave the office… three feeling pretty good about the day… and one scared about what tomorrow will bring. Arrowny stops the group in the hallway just beyond the gargoyle statue.

 

“Brad… you should be able to give them a call from the town just down the road from the castle gates… Hogsmeade. Get a room somewhere in town, just charge it to my name. Tell them about the train, Saphir will know how to get there. And make sure you tell Justin about the anti-muggle technology charms around the place… they’ll play havoc with his powers… he needs to be prepared for that.”

 

Brad nods. “Alright then… see you tomorrow.”

 

Ryan and Draco head back to the Slytherin dorm, and Brad goes down the hall to the front doors, leaving Harry alone in the hallway outside of the Headmaster’s office, wondering just what he’s going to have to deal with when the other demon hunters arrive tomorrow.

 

He knows that the only way to make sure everything goes the way it needs to be is for him to find that last ingredient to the spell for the Protector. Once that barrier charm comes down and the Protector can enter the school grounds… everything will be fine.

 

‘A shard of glass as black as night’… that’s all the Protector could tell him about the final ingredient. Harry knows he’s seen something like this before… but he just can’t remember exactly where.

 

And at the moment, he has other things to worry about. His project for History of Magic is due tomorrow. He feels pretty confident about it though… as it turns out, Relm Arrowny had a great deal written about her. Harry was easily able to get three rolls of parchment. Even Mister Arrowny won’t be able to find fault with his work.

 

With all these thoughts running through his head, Harry heads off toward Gryffindor tower, knowing full well that he won’t be able to sleep for some time, what with the celebration for his victory in the chocobo race that his housemates have no doubt been waiting for his return to begin the festivities.

 

*        *        *        *        *        *

 

Harry spends most of his History of Magic class daydreaming about easier times at Hogwarts School. When all he had to worry about was one of Voldemort’s random minions trying to kill him. The thing about all those times that made them easier to deal with, was the fact that he didn’t KNOW they were bad guys. He just thought they were sort of weird good guys. This time Harry knows for sure that Arrowny’s working for the evil team.

 

Their projects were passed in at the beginning of class, and the students are given free work time while Arrowny glances over the projects, just so he can make some comments… point out a few things… give some constructive criticisms before the Christmas break starts.

 

They work for about half an hour before Arrowny calls them to attention. He sits on the edge of his desk with two projects on the corner beside him.

 

“Alright… I have two good examples here… what to do… and what not to do.” He picks up one of the projects… a very short project… just over half a foot. Harry feels very sorry for whoever wrote this as it must obviously be the example of ‘what not to do’.

 

“Draco did this project… his topic was the assassin Shadow. I just want to point this out as being a very well done paper.” Everybody in the class, Draco included, looks quite shocked at this. They’ve always been told that a short paper was worthless regardless of how well it was written. Draco actually stands, just shaking his head. He’s about to speak when Arrowny motions for him to sit. “I’ll explain… just let me get to the other example.”

 

He takes the other scroll… a much longer paper, three rolls to be exact… and one which Harry recognizes instantly… and he knows that he should have guessed.

 

“This,” Arrowny has a sadistic little grin on his face as he presents this project, “is a very poor paper.”

 

At this, Harry stands up, quite angry.

 

“What do you mean? I got three rolls on that! How can it be worse than Draco’s half a roll?” He never thought he’d meet a teacher who was more out to get him than Snape… but apparently catching Arrowny in the middle of a bunch of slaughtered bodies made him a little meaner than the Potions Master.

 

“You don’t understand? Well… let me explain. Your topic, Harry… was Relm Arrowny.” Harry nods, “She was less than fourteen years old when the Imperial War ended. Nearly her entire life was recorded… and it looks like all you did was summarize the material from just one reference text. Draco, on the other hand, managed to find a full half scroll on a man who was totally unknown except for a few years before the War. The information on Shadow in this project is… astounding. I’m actually amazed that you found this much information... I’d love to read the books this all came from, if you could arrange that, Draco.”

 

Draco, still looking shocked, nods. “Um… sure. The Ministry took most of my family’s belongings when Father’s… well… when our family was shamed. But, I did get to keep most of the research texts. A few of them had passages about the assassin who ‘comes and goes like the wind’ and was a central character in the War against Kefka. I’ll gladly bring them in after the Christmas break if you want.”

 

“That would be great.” Ryan checks his watch, “Alright, Dumbledore asked that classes end a bit early today. You can all head down to the Great Hall for the End of Term Feast. Your projects will be back to you at the beginning of next term.

 

Enjoy the break!”

 

The class gives a small cheer at the notion of starting the break even just an hour early. Harry, however, is not in a cheering mood. The fact that Arrowny had just embarrassed him in front of the entire class made the boy who lived quite angry. As he leaves the room, staring at the teacher… contemplating just what curse he’d like to use on him… something catches his eye. Arrowny’s necklace… the piece of obsidian… the ‘shard of glass as black as night’.

 

Arrowny’s necklace is the last piece to the spell that will dissolve the barrier around the school grounds and allow the Protector to enter the castle! Harry smiles, to himself, at the irony. Arrowny was sent by Voldemort to stop the Protector from doing his job… and he just happens to be carrying the one thing that Harry needs to let the Protector finish his task. It’s perfect! All Harry has to do is find a way to take it without Arrowny knowing… that’s the tough part.

 

He spends the entire trip to the Great Hall thinking of ways to sneak into the private dorm room in Slytherin House… and it isn’t until Dumbledore begins to speak that Harry realizes he’s already sitting at the Gryffindor table between Ron and Hermione.

 

“Thank you all for coming. I know how much you must hate being taken out of classes early.” The Headmaster gives a sideways glance to the Gryffindor table where Hermione is sitting, mumbling under her breath about a ‘lost hour of work’. Dumbledore chuckles. “Yes… well. I have called this feast for two reasons. Firstly, it is to congratulate misters Potter and Malfoy on their respective first and second placements in yesterday’s Chocobo Race. Congratulations to both of you.”

 

He claps his hands once, and a large gold trophy, with a miniature, moving golden chocobo on the top, appears on the Gryffindor table right in front of Harry. He looks around to see a similar silver trophy on the Slytherin table in front of Draco.

 

The Hall bursts into applause… and even though Harry should be feeling some kind of pride, the only thing he can think about is how to take the necklace from Arrowny. He scans the head table looking for the History of Magic teacher… but he’s not there. He quickly looks through out the Hall… but Arrowny is nowhere to be found. Ron elbow’s Harry in the ribs, and pulls him back down to his seat.

 

“What’s wrong?” Ron seems genuinely concerned.

 

“I don’t know… but, where’s Arrowny?”

 

“Don’t know, mate. Why?”

 

Harry just shakes his head as Dumbledore motions for the children to be quiet.

 

“Yes yes… very good job you two, very good. And now I would like to move on to the second reason for the feast. We have some guests that arrived earlier today… and I would like to welcome them now.”

 

The doors to the Great Hall open, and four figures are silhouetted against the light from the Entrance Hall. Harry is reminded of gangs he saw in old muggle movies on television. The four men walk in line, with purpose, toward the teachers table, each wearing a pair of dark sunglasses which completely block their eyes from view, and each is carrying a weapon of some sort. Harry recognizes Brad, tall, thin, nearly shaved head, with arms that are far too long for his body, holding his dragon style battle axe close to the blade… and Arrowny, in his usual denim jacket, dark t-shirt, and blue jeans holding on to Sky Render. But the other two, the ones on either side of the group, he does not know.

 

One is taller, with black spiked hair, wearing a long black trench coat, and is using a metallic quarter staff like a walking stick… it makes an odd ‘clanging’ sound when it hits the stone floor of the Hall. The other, shorter, dressed in much classier apparel than either Brad or Arrowny, has a long pike type weapon… basically a blue staff with a rounded blade mounted on a star shaped blue sapphire.

 

It takes a few minutes for Harry to realize that these are the same people he saw in the photograph in Arrowny’s office back when he was caught wandering the halls.

 

Nobody in the Great Hall even whispers at the sight of the four well armed people making their way toward the head table. Harry watches as the tall one, Brad, starts to look around the room as he walks. He scans each of the house tables… and the teachers table… and then turns his attention to the enchanted ceiling, showing a bright, sunny sky. He keeps staring at the ‘sky’ until the group reaches the head table. Arrowny and the other two stop walking a few steps from the edge of the table… but Brad, his attention on the sun… keeps walking, and bumps into the head table directly in front of Professor McGonagall, who lets out a gasp as a glass of pumpkin juice spills all over the sweets tray beside her plate.

 

Brad drops his axe, and falls back onto the floor. A few students (mainly from the Slytherin table) laugh as he scrambles to his feat. He looks around for his axe, and quickly picks it back up.

 

Arrowny leans slightly sideways, and whispers (low enough to make it look like he’s whispering, but not low enough that everybody in the Hall can’t hear), “You okay?”

 

Brad nods, “Yeah… but I can’t see a damn thing with these sunglasses on. Whose idea was it to wear them inside like this?”

 

“Yours. You said, ‘Hey, why don’t we wear our sunglasses inside and look all cool and stuff’.”

 

“Oh…” Brad nods slowly… “Right.”

 

They turn in unison to face the crowd of students, holding their weapons to their sides. Arrowny takes a step forward, and addresses the gathered people.

 

“You know me as Ryan Arrowny… the temporary History of Magic teacher for the sixth year students. However… others know me as Ryan Arrowny, the warrior… the keeper of Sky Render,” he raises his sword slightly to point it out to anybody who may have never before noticed, “and user of the ancient magics.”

 

Nobody speaks… or even breaths, dare they miss part of the speech. Arrowny raises a hand to his left, indicating to the shortest member of the group.

 

“This is Ryan ‘Saphir’ Poirier… wielder of the Glaive of Ceruleus, and keeper of the secret magics of the Poirier clan.”

 

Arrowny points to his far right at the guy in the trench coat.

 

“This is Justin Youngsaye, technomage… the bridge between science and sorcery, with powers rooted in both.”

 

Justin gives a small nod, and Arrowny turns to the last member of the group… Brad, who’s just standing there with a silly grin on his face. Arrowny just sighs…

 

“And this is Brad.”

 

He turns back toward the students, when Brad speaks up.

 

“Um… that’s it?”

 

“Well… what’d you want?”

 

“Well… you did a whole cool thing for these two… and for me you say ‘This is Brad’. What’s up? You didn’t even mention my axe!”

 

“Oh… alright.”

 

Arrowny points to the axe in Brad’s hand.

 

“That’s Brad’s axe.”

 

He turns to the students… and Brad yells out “THIS IS MY BLOODY BATTLE AXE!”

 

More than a few students snicker at this statement… causing Brad to look around confused.

 

“Um… did I say something funny?”

 

Arrowny just shakes his head…

 

“Guys,” He looks around the Hall at the laughing students, “He doesn’t mean ‘bloody hell’ bloody… he means ‘type AB positive’ bloody.” The laughing quickly dies down as everybody tries to figure out if this is a joke or not… but from what Harry has heard about Brad… he guesses that it is very much not.

 

Arrowny looks around to make sure that everybody is done laughing… and then looks at Brad to see if he has anything else to say. When he’s convinced he has the floor, he turns to the students.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen… I present to you… the Dragoon Warriors.”

 

*        *        *        *        *        *

 

A week passes quickly… Harry has not, as of yet, had a chance to take the necklace from Arrowny, and thus far has been quite careful to avoid coming in contact with any of the members of the Dragoon Warriors, which was a difficult task, seeing as how Brad had been given the private room in Gryffindor for his lodgings. Justin was put in Hufflepuff… and Saphir (as he told people to call him) is living in Ravenclaw. Without the Marauders Map, he’s had to make good use of the castle’s secret passages whenever he sees one of the group heading towards him in the hallways.

 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to take the afternoon to visit Hagrid… something that they’ve had precious few chances to do over the year.  But as they step into the cold winter morning, they see that they don’t have to travel all the way to the little cabin on the grounds to see their half giant friend… because he’s standing just a little way a head of them, in the middle of a great crowd of students, and a few other teachers.

 

The trio makes their way toward him, weaving by Colin, Rupert, Ethan, Alexander, and Constance, the other five members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Harry pulls on Hagrid’s overcoat to get his attention. He looks down at the three of them with a large grin on his even larger face.

 

“How’re you lot doing? Haven’t seen ya in a long while… you should come visit more often.”

 

“Actually… that’s what we were on our way to do right now.” Harry glances around at the gathered people. “What’s all this, Hagrid?”

 

“Oh… well… that Justin guy… and Saphir… they came to the house telling me that there was gonna be a big show here… asked me if I wanted ter come out an’ watch. I guess they’ve been talkin’ ter people all day about this… I wonder why ye haven’t heard yet?”

 

“Actually, Hagrid,” once again, Harry finds himself startled by the voice of one of the Dragoon Warriors, this time, it is Justin’s, “we just couldn’t find these three.” His voice is a little monotone, and he looks a little tired… but Harry suspects that has something to do with the anti-muggle technology charms… he seems to remember Arrowny saying something about that.

 

Saphir appears beside Justin, holding a small bag. He shakes it, and it jingles in that way that only money can.

 

“We’ve got a lot of bets here… the party’s going to be great!”

 

Hermione looks puzzled.

 

“Party? What Party?”

 

Saphir just shrugs. “We’re going to use the proceeds from all the gambling to get supplies for a party. Just want to have some fun before we leave. Whoever wins will get fifty percent of the money… we’ll get the rest.”

 

“But… what are we gambling on anyway?”

 

“Oh… well… Ryan and Brad are going to have a little training session,” he sees the questioning looks on their faces and adds, “you know… they’re going to fight.”

 

Hermione looks outraged. Her face gets red, her arms start waving all around… but she manages to sputter at Justin and Saphir, “You mean, we’re betting on who will win a fight!?”

 

The Dragoon Warriors just look at her like she belongs in one of those small rooms with rubber padding.

 

“No,” Justin glances over his shoulder, but he being much taller than even Harry, the young Gryffindor can’t quite see what he’s looking at, “Ryan’s going to win… we’re taking bets on how long Brad can remain conscious.”

 

Hermione looks even more shocked by this.

 

“That’s… appalling!” She seems to almost be at the point of hysterics. But Saphir puts a hand on her shoulder and gets her to stop her erratic behaviour. He speaks in a clam, but deliberate voice.

 

“No… that’s training. It’s something people like us have to do. Brad’s a good fighter in his own regard… but Ryan just has a great deal more skill. It’s a test to show how much Brad has improved his methods… the longer he can stay conscious, the better he’s become. Also… it’s a test of restraint for Ryan. He can’t simply go and kill Brad as he would other opponents. It’s a perfect test.”

 

She seems to calm down a little bit… and Saphir leads the three of them to the front of the crowd, which has formed a circle about twenty meters in diameter, to stand beside Draco Malfoy. At one end of the circle stands Brad, clutching his dragon style axe, and at the other end, Arrowny kneels down on one knee… both are wearing simple t-shirts and blue jeans, and of course, Arrowny has his denim jacket on as well. The sword Sky Render is stuck in the ground about a third of the way between the teacher and his opponent. Harry’s not quite sure why everybody else is here to watch… but he figures that this is as good a chance as any to do some homework on Arrowny’s fighting style, so that he can tell the Protector what he’ll be up against as soon as the barrier around the school is dissolved.

 

Justin stands tall, and speaks clearly so that everybody in the crowd can hear.

 

“A protective barrier is in place around the fighters. Do not fear being hit by accident.” He points to Brad, who slings the axe up over one shoulder and nods his head. He points to Ryan, who remains crouching and nods his head. Justin himself nods…

 

“Begin!”

 

They rush at one another. Brad, being quite a bit faster on his feet, covers two thirds of the field in the same time it takes Arrowny to cover one. They meet at the point where Sky Render had been stuck in the ground. Brad brings the axe down from its resting position on his shoulder, but just before it comes in contact with Arrowny, the teacher pulls the sword from the ground, and blocks.

 

Their weapons locked, Arrowny stands in an attempt to get some leverage. This is difficult though… Brad is taller, has longer arms, and his axe is designed for this kind of thing, a sword is not. But Arrowny manages to keep his ground. Brad looks directly into his opponents eyes.

 

“One shall stand, one shall fall!” A small grin comes to Arrowny’s face as Brad speaks the words… and he returns them in the only way he can.

 

“Why throw away your life so recklessly?”

 

“That’s a question you should ask yourself!”

 

Ryan sidesteps and kicks out, catching Brad in the ribs. He recovers, and tries another swing, which Ryan blocks. Again, a swing… again a block. Swing, block. Swing, block, and each time the clank of metal grinding against metal. Brad, seeing that Ryan is on the defensive, becomes more aggressive, and lunges at Ryan, rather then swinging. It’s a manoeuvre which is rare for somebody who uses an axe to do, but if done right, it can be the key to victory. In this case, Brad manages to throw Ryan off balance, and at the same time, knock Sky Render from his hand. The sword lands quite some distance from its owner.

 

Ryan quickly rolls, just in time to avoid the axe blade, which digs deep into the ground where his head just was. He grabs hold of it with one hand, and kicks Brad in the side, forcing him to back off long enough for Ryan to regain his footing. The teacher reaches into his jacket, and pulls out a number of throwing knives. In one swift motion, he hurls one of the blades, and Brad just barely has enough time to raise his axe and use it as a shield. The knife bounces off, and hits the magical protection barrier, startling a few students, and a couple of teachers.

 

Brad breaks out into a run as Ryan starts throwing knives at him, one after another after another. Once or twice, a blade actually cuts through the denim of Brad’s jeans, but luckily, they never hit flesh. Harry wonders if this is part of the ‘Ryan doesn’t want to kill Brad’ rule to the game… or if Arrowny is just missing. Brad manages to dodge the knives with relative ease, and turns back toward his opponent… axe raised high above his head.

 

But Ryan, apparently not wanting any more ‘axe play’ as it were, raises his arm, and points a single finger at the charging Brad. The air inside the protective bubble becomes charged, quite literally, as electricity arcs along Arrowny’s outstretched arm. Brad tries to jump out of the way, but his forward momentum is just too much… and he doesn’t quite manage to avoid the lightening bolt which erupts from Ryan’s hand. It doesn’t hit him though… rather, the very center of the axe blade. The force of the blast knocks the weapon from Brad’s hands, and the two warriors face off once again… both unarmed.

 

Brad’s longer reach gives him more than one advantage in a case like this… one being the fact that he can, theoretically, stay out of Ryan’s reach and keep up his attack… the other being that if he swings wide, in the old ‘barnyard’ style, he can build up enough torque, and put enough power behind his punch to, most likely, knock Ryan out. Thing is, Brad knows enough about fighting to know that he doesn’t have a chance of hitting a barnyard swing unless Ryan’s nearly unconscious to begin with… so he opts for a more scientific fighting style. Though he’s never received any official training, Brad has adapted his own style… and apparently, it’s a quite formidable style!

 

It almost appears as though this part of the fight was choreographed by a Hollywood professional… each punch is blocked… each kick is deflected. Ryan keeps the pressure on Brad by continually switching the part of the body he is targeting… first throwing a few punches at the taller man’s head, then kicking out at the knee, jabbing the ribs. It becomes quite clear, as Ryan connects with a thrust kick to the stomach, that, although Brad’s style is excellent, Arrowny is a superior hand to hand fighter. Brad goes down to one knee, but not being one to back down, puts all his power into an uppercut, which connects with Ryan’s jaw.

 

There is a sick crack of teeth colliding as Ryan staggers back a few steps, and Brad rises to his feet. Sensing the opportunity, he spins, outstretching his arm…balling up his fist… and connecting with a vicious punch to the left side of Arrowny’s head.

 

Ryan spins, and falls to his knees… a small trickle of blood flowing from his mouth. Brad rushes across the battlefield, and retrieves his axe. He rushes at Arrowny, axe raised above his head… and swings down, as hard as he can.

 

At the last second, Arrowny, still on his knees, falls back to lay flat on the ground, allowing the axe to pass harmlessly overhead. Brad once again finds himself victim of his own momentum… and cannot stop the swing, nor correct the trajectory enough to connect with his target. The axe blade hits the ground just in front of Arrowny’s knees with such force that they get stuck in the cold earth.

 

Brad grins. “Well, that was a mistake.” He knows that his over swing is the last thing he’ll get to do in this fight… but he sounds light hearted… almost cheerful. Ryan reaches one hand out to his chest, and mutters what is undoubtedly a lightening spell under his breath. The taller man stands still for a moment, as arcs of power surge through his body. When the spell dies down, Brad falls to the ground, unconscious.

 

Ryan, still lying down, turns his head ever so slightly toward Justin and Saphir…

 

“Call it.”

 

“Eleven minutes and fourteen seconds,” comes Justin’s reply. “Meaning that the winner of,” the technomage holds the bag of money in his hand for a moment, “twenty two Galleons is this guy!” He tosses the bag over the heads of the students, and right into the oversized hand of Hagrid, who seems delighted.

 

Ryan lets out a long sigh as Justin and Saphir take down the protective bubble around the area of combat. Saphir kneels beside the fallen Brad, while Justin gives Ryan a hand getting back to his feet.

 

Arrowny’s face is badly bruised. He spits a mouthful of blood to the ground, and gently touches the side of his head.

 

“Damn… that hurt.” He looks down at Brad, who is just starting to stir. “He’s gotten a lot better.”

 

Harry walks up to Arrowny, shaking his head.

 

“That was pathetic. How can you feel alright doing that to each other? There are much better ways to test skill and talent… you don’t have to beat the bloody hell out of each other!”

 

Ryan turns to face Harry. The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team stands behind their captain, and the Dragoon Warriors, including a singed, smoking, but none the less awake, Brad, gather around their leader. Draco stands near the face off, but not quite in the midst of the conflict. Arrowny cocks his head slightly to the side, staring down at Harry.

 

“And, just what exactly do you think is a better test of skill? That weak ass sport you magic folk play? Physical combat is the truest form of competition… if humanity ever hopes to evolve we need to know who among us is truly a superior being. You think we can find out who’s really better by playing football on brooms?”

 

Harry gives a small, cocky grin…

 

“You want to find out how much of a… test… Quidditch is?”

 

Ryan raises an eyebrow…

 

“Are you challenging us to a Quidditch match?”

 

“Yeah… I am. Do you intend to accept… or are you to chicken to play us?”

 

Before Ryan can answer, Brad pushes through to the front of the Warriors…

 

“Don’t be so stupid… of course we intend to accept… just give us a moment, alright?”

 

The Dragoon Warriors turn away from the Gryffindors, and stand together in a huddle. Arrowny looks at his friends…

 

“Four of us, seven of them… hardly seems fair.”

 

“Maybe we should give them a chance to forfeit.” Saphir’s light hearted voice gives an air of humour to the statement… though he doesn’t intend it to.

 

“Excuse me…” Draco makes his way over to the group… the traditional Malfoy smirk on his face… “But there are five of us!”

 

Justin pushes him away. “It’s not your fight.”

 

“It’s not a fight at all… it’s a game… one that I happen to be pretty good at. And… looking at you guys… I don’t think that any of you are fit to be a seeker. Doesn’t matter how well you play… without a seeker, the match goes to Gryffindor.”

 

Brad, Saphir and Justin look to Arrowny… who nods.

 

“All right…,” he points to Draco, “seeker… Justin, keeper… Brad, beater… Saphir and I are chasers.”

 

Brad claps his hands.

 

“Everybody ready?” With nods from everybody else, he turns to face the Gryffindors.

 

“Now… we are prepared to accept!”

 

Harry nods.

 

“Game starts in one hour.” The crowd starts chattering about the upcoming match as the Gryffindor team walks away. Brad turns to Draco, a large smile on his face.

 

“This is going to be fun! But… I have one question…

 

What’s Quidditch?”

 

*        *        *        *        *        *

 

The whistle blows, and thirteen brooms fly high into the air… seven carrying Gryffindor team members, one for Madam Hooch who volunteered to referee on short notice, four for the Warriors team… and one empty one. Harry can’t help but laugh as the broom Brad was supposed to ride shoots up through the sky leaving him standing on the ground, with a dumbfounded look on his face, holding his beaters club.

 

“And the Warriors team getting off to a slow start here,” A third year Hufflepuff girl, Harry can’t remember her name, became the new announcer after Lee Jordan graduated last year. She’s not quite as good as he was… but apparently nobody else wanted the job. “They’re not even all in the air yet!”

 

Harry continued to laugh as Brad runs in to the stairs of one of the fifty foot high stands, where Dumbledore and Snape, as well as some of the other staff, are watching the game. Harry doesn’t even see each of the three rookie Gryffindor chasers score a goal, one right after the other… but he hears the crowd’s reaction, and the voice of the announcer.

 

“GRYFFINDOR SCORES! It’s thirty to zero for the home team!”

 

Draco flies up beside Harry, but he doesn’t look too happy at the predicament his team has been placed in… he has the same look as he used to when Slytherin would get trounced.  Ron and Alexander have free reign over the Bludgers, what with Brad being missing in action and all… and both Arrowny and Saphir get knocked off course by the Gryffindor beaters.

 

The game quickly becomes very one sided… forty to zero… fifty… and then sixty! Harry flies toward Arrowny, trying to get a look at his face… to see just how shocked the teacher is at his team’s poor performance. But… when Harry gets close enough to see his face… Arrowny is just smiling. Harry looks around at Saphir, and then back at the goal posts to Justin… only to see that both of them are also smiling.

 

“OH MY GOD!” The announcer’s amplified voice booms out over the crowd, drawing everybody’s attention to the area up in the stands that she is frantically pointing at. Even Harry risks pulling himself away from the search for the snitch to see…

 

Brad… standing on the railing of one of the highest bleachers… right in front of Professor Dumbledore… still holding his beaters club… looking as though he might jump. Harry realizes that the very thought is laughable… who would jump off something that high, unless they wanted to kill themselves? But… Brad wouldn’t… he couldn’t…

 

“OH MY GOD HE’S JUMPING!”

 

And jump he does! Brad makes a fantastic leap from the railing… there is a large gasp from the crowd… reaches out with his free hand… and grabs onto his runaway broom as it zooms by! He hadn’t fallen more then two feet!

 

Nobody even realized that just as Brad made his leap, Arrowny and Saphir had grabbed the Quaffle… and scored four times. But, once Brad starts to pull himself up onto his broom, the Gryffindor team pulls all the stops.

 

As quickly as they can, Rupert and Ethan make their way down the field, passing the Quaffle between them, not giving either of the Warriors chasers a chance to intercept. They fly straight at Justin… Rupert takes aim… and throws… and before the Quaffle is even near the center goal post, Justin reaches out and takes hold of it. There is a shared look of puzzlement among the Gryffindors… who expected to score as easily as they had the previous times.

 

Justin throws the Quaffle out to Arrowny, who passes over to Saphir. The shortest Warrior heads right down the middle of the field… right toward the Gryffindor chasers… and, as Harry recognizes the play they’re attempting, he looks behind Saphir for his teams beaters, who are supposed to hit both Bludgers at the approaching chaser. However… neither Ron, nor Alexander, have a Bludger to hit… in fact, both of the magical cannonballs are hurtling toward Harry’s own chasers!

 

As the Bludgers force Rupert, Ethan, and Constance out of Saphir’s way, Harry looks to see where they had come from… and is shocked to see Brad, still hanging by one hand, flying sporadically through the air, shouting to anyone who would listen, “I hit them! I hit them!”

 

Harry curses under his breath as Saphir easily scores… and he makes a mental note to ask Colin how he managed to let the game slide from sixty to zero… all the way down to sixty to fifty. They still have the lead… but Harry realizes that they won’t be able to keep it much longer if he doesn’t get the snitch soon.

 

As if on cue… Harry sees a glint of gold down very near the ground at the Gryffindor end of the field. He shoots toward it… but Draco had apparently seen it a second earlier… because the Slytherin boy is just slightly closer. No matter though… Harry’s Firebolt broom can outrun whatever Draco’s flying… after all, it’s not like he has any of his father’s money to buy new brooms with now, is it.

 

He catches up easily, and grins as he passes by, reaching out for the snitch. He stretches out… almost has it… and SMACK! A Bludger hits the very tip of Harry’s broom, sending it sharply downward. Harry falls off, unhurt, and looks up just in time to watch as Draco’s much slower broom catches up with the snitch… and the blond boy wraps his hand around the one hundred and fifty point prize.

 

The crowd is silent… and the announcer’s voice is a bit shaky as she calls the final result of the game…

 

“Draco Malfoy has caught the snitch… final score is two hundred to sixty… Gryffindor… lost…”

 

Harry looks up into the sky… and sees Brad, performing various loops and spins on his broom… no longer holding on by one hand… but rather looking like he’s been flying for years.

 

He looks toward Arrowny, Justin, and Saphir, whom have just touched down on the field beside him.

 

“How is he doing that? He couldn’t even fly a few minutes ago…”

 

Arrowny just shrugs…

 

“Battle strategy… diversionary tactics… Brad knows war. If you thought he was a bad flier… you wouldn’t count him as a threat. Same goes for us… why do you think you had such an easy time getting those first six goals? It’s all part of a strategy… to throw you off guard… and it worked, didn’t it?”

 

The Warriors walk off to congratulate their Seeker, leaving Harry alone in the middle of the Quidditch pitch.