Chapter 9 – An Unusual Friendship

Harry woke up earlier than he normally did the following morning. He now had to alter his sleep schedule a little in order to incorporate those classes starting out as early as they did. It was nearly four am, and he had approximately two hours to finish his morning physical and mental exercise routine if he wanted to make it in time to the dining hall for a quick breakfast before his first class.

Fortunately, he found himself making good time, and even managed to have a nice warm shower before he made his way over to the dining hall for breakfast. The hall was filled with people, the older students it seemed had reported back to school for the new year.

Scanning the tables for a familiar face, he found Alice sitting by herself as she sipped on a goblet, blood he presumed. Quickly making his way over to her table, he slipped into the seat across from her with soft greeting.

She downed the contents of her goblet with a satisfied purr, her eyes found his.

"You've been rather occupied this morning." She stated with mild amusement.

"Just a basic workout I do daily." He answered warily. His response only served to amuse her even further, unsettling him.

She spoke no more settling instead for watching him, and as he proceeded to eat. Throughout his meal, she did not for one second take her eyes off him, but Harry refused allow his discomfort to show and decided to focus on his eggs instead.

He was used to adults in his family observing him from time to time, but this girl truly took staring to unhealthy levels. He honestly couldn't tell if there was truly something about him that fascinated her or if she simply took pleasure in making him uncomfortable. He was starting to believe it was the latter. The girl's attitude so far screamed sadistic. He reminded himself to keep be vigilant around her.

Once he was done, the both of them rose from their seats and left the dining hall as they proceeded towards their first class. A brief study of his timetable told him that all his mandatory classes were scheduled in the early hours of the morning and his elective classes were mostly held in the afternoon and early evening.

Their first class was going to be held at the grounds outside the castle and they were amongst the last few to make it there. It didn't seem to bother either of them however, they had at least made it there in time.

There were still a few minutes left for class to start and their teacher had yet to show up which allowed Harry a moment to observe some of his new classmates. It took him only a second to realise that he really was the only eleven-year-old amongst their group. The others were easily at least thirteen year and older with one of his classmates looking like he could not have been younger than seventeen or seventeen at the very least. There a decent number of students that had been accepted this year, and it was quite a diverse crowd as well. He recognised a few veela, vampire and werewolves among their lot. What surprised him though was the sight of two goblins an orc and one druid who happened to be among their group as well. A few it seemed had left last night and now it was just seventeen of them that had made the cut. He wondered how many of them would successfully make it past their initiation.

And as he continued to observe his classmates, an individual among their group caught his eye. A female with a fair complexion, and glowing silver hair which tumbled behind her shoulders in a lustrous cascade. Simple black leather clothed her shapely frame. She was taller than most of them there, her stance perfectly balanced and relaxed, she stood there with effortless grace. Harry thought she looked strikingly beautiful. He couldn't recognise her race and thus he knew next to nothing about her, but her beauty and the power she radiated had him weak in the knees, she was simply ethereal.

For a second time in less than a week he had found himself in awe of a female to the extent that he was once more stunned speechless. This time though it wasn't just her beauty that accounted for that fact, but the power he sensed off her, something told him that she was absolutely deadly.

As if sensing his gaze upon her, shimmering violet irises found his and they locked onto one another in silence, oblivious of everyone around them.

Harry wasn't sure how long they stood, motionless and maintaining eye contact, he had truly found himself drowning into her deep violet eyes. And then he felt it, the familiar feeling of something brushing against his consciousness, like a feather trailing over his skin. For a reason he himself could fathom, he gave way if only slightly, inviting her in allowing her access to his surface emotions.

It was then that Harry truly felt her, and the sheer magnitude of her consciousness as it washed over his. He felt her curiosity, and she felt his. Her conscious was serene and pure, he sensed no maliciousness off her. He had never shared such an intimate connection with anyone before, but he found her presence calming and comforting. Feeling his admiration and respect for her, she graced him with a soft smile. Harry could swear that he felt his heart skip a beat. Her smile he mirrored.

Their little exchange was interrupted by their teacher who had begun addressing the students and they finally broke eye contact as Harry's attention was now on the new presence in their midst.

"Good morning my name is Arion Draxler, welcome to your first class of survival tactics and battlefield scenarios." He said, his rough voice exuding confidence.

Everyone's attention was now on the very tall man that stood before them with light brown hair and pale blue eyes. He wore a dark grey shirt tucked into black pants with a black leather belt and dragonhide boots.

Harry felt her presence gently recede from his mind, and he was surprised at the thought that he now missed it. What made it worse was that once more, he found himself in a similar position as he did with the girl in the store. He didn't even know her name.

"I would like to know what I'm dealing with and as such I have planned a small event for this morning. Bear in mind, a select few of you will find the results highly rewarding." He stated, eyeing them all carefully.

Harry shared a brief glance with Alice, he had a bad feeling he wasn't going to like what was coming next.

Everyone was listening attentively now; this possibility of a reward was proving a good incentive.

"You will engage in a free for all, effective until there is but one of you standing. Everything goes and you have but one rule, abstain from inflicting fatal injuries, if I find anyone breaking that rule, I promise you, you will suffer a fate worse than death." Arion promised, glaring at them all to drive his point home.

"When will this event be held sir?" A boy seeming very alarmed, asked.

"Why, right now of course!" Their instructor grinned and dissapparated out of sight.

Harry's wand was out in a flash. "Fumos!" he bellowed as large torrents of smoke streamed out of his wand in every direction engulfing them all in complete darkness.

But Harry hadn't stayed to admire his handiwork. That very second while maintaining his spell, he had rolled to the right. From his new position, he had immediately cut off his previous spell and cast the disillusionment charm on himself as softly and discreetly as possible, proceeding then to cast sound, and scent masking charms on himself as softly as he could, desperately hoping that his words may have been muffled by the chaos that broken out.

Not less than ten seconds later, an unnaturally strong gust of wind had blown across the field dispelling all the smoke along with. However, it didn't bother Harry much, the smokescreen had already served its purpose.

But Harry did not have a chance to mull over his thoughts any further. The smoke had dissipated to reveal twelve bodies lying on the floor, effectively incapacitated.

Harry could not believe his eyes. They were barely ten seconds into the fight, and twelve of them were already down.

He scanned the field, taking note of the ones that remained.

To one end he found Alice locked in what looked like a fierce battle with an orc. Standing alone to their right was a werewolf, possibly the one responsible for the strong gust of wind, Harry deduced.

Right as he had he decide to make his move on the werewolf, a female appeared right before the werewolf, seemingly out of thin air and landed a thunderous kick right to his face, with effortless grace. The werewolf Harry realised hadn't stood a chance, he simply fell to the floor, knocked out cold.

Harry watched on in complete disbelief, her leg had struck so fast, it had been a blur, too quick for even his eyes to follow. Not only did she possess inhuman speed, he could only imagine the power behind that kick for it to have knocked a werewolf out cold.

To his left, Alice had now incapacitated the orc and had sunk her fangs into his neck drinking freely.

Her eyes now on the new threat standing before her, she let go of the orc allowing him to collapse to the floor as she continued to observe her new adversary.

Only three of them had remained now and Harry was thanking his stars for his quick wit. A part of him felt like a coward for not taking the fight to them, but his strategy had been very effective. It was down to just three of them now and considering the ones downed he didn't not know how well he would have managed taking them all on openly, there were far too many variables to consider.

His thoughts went back to the two females that begun circling each other, it seemed they were still unaware of his presence which he was very grateful for. He briefly considered waiting it out and taking them both by surprise, but eventually he dismissed the thought. It might possibly win him the mock battle, but he now felt the need to stand and fight.

The two females had drawn weapons and were fiercely clashing faster than his eyes could even follow and he silently cursed his luck of having to put up with their inhumane strength and speed. Harry continued to allow them to fight it out as he slowly made his way over to them, trying to be as discreet as he could.

Harry was a lot closer to them now, and within good striking distance of a spell. There were still too fast for his eyes to follow, sparks flying with the clash of their blades. Withdrawing from another violent clash they jumped back and proceeded to circle one another once more.

But Harry could see a clear winner now, Alice was standing only a little ahead of him and was gasping hard for breath. She had long and precise cuts lining her body in various places, impeding her ability to fight. Blood freely oozed out of them.

The female that stood across from the vampire was the same violet eyed beauty that graced Harry with a smile but a short while earlier. The girl hadn't even seemed short of breath yet. She simply stood there her stance perfectly balance, almost relaxed, two silver hunting knives in each hand as she patiently waited, watching her opponent.

Harry's eyes widened as he noticed that she didn't have a single cut on her, Alice had not even been able to land a single blow, he realised.

It was only a matter of time; Alice was soon to fall. Almost taking pity on the girl Harry cast a well powered stunning spell at the girl, from nearly point-blank range and she crumbled to the floor, surrendering to darkness.

Dispelling all his masking spells he knelt before the fallen vampire and cast a few episkeys in quick succession focusing on some of the deeper cuts that lined her body. Ensuring that she was well out of harm's way, he then stood, his entire focus now on the girl before him.

He bowed slightly, showing his gratitude for allowing him the time to heal his friend's injuries and she smiled back in understanding.

Harry knew that he was well out of his depth. The girl he was facing was unbelievably fast and unimaginably strong and even post a well-drawn fight with a strong and fierce vampire, she had shown absolutely no signs of fatigue. She was entirely in a league of her own.

Taking up a familiar combat stance he observed her, wand at the ready. She sheathed her weapons and he watched on curiously. She was bare handed now, but she seemed ready.

Slowly she raised her hand, palm facing him and whispered a word inaudible to Harry's ears. Out of sheer reflex, he raised his shield. His protego protected him against the onslaught of the powerful winds that slammed against his shield, but he barely stood his ground, having slid back a couple of feet.

The continuous onslaught of the winds relentlessly pushed against his shield, but Harry held on through sheer determination. He refused to lose, not like this. Slowly but surely, he began taking determined steps towards her attempting to close the gap between them both. If it were somehow possible, the winds got even stronger and now held him in place.

She made it look so easy, so effortless. One glance at her made him realise that she wasn't even trying. Harry growled in frustration. Thinking quickly on his feet, he settled for another approach. Staying of the defensive was not working for him.

Releasing his shield, he rolled to the side and quickly sent a few stunners her way firing them in quick succession. But she didn't even move, effortlessly redirecting them away from her with the flick of her fingers. But Harry didn't stop, he continued to press forward rapidly firing spell after spell as quickly as he could, progressively adding more power into each spell as he sent them her way.

But it didn't matter, it wasn't working. However, the instant that thought has crossed his mind, he realised that something had changed. Instead of redirecting the oncoming spell, she gracefully danced around them and leapt towards him at an alarming speed.

In fright and out of sheer desperation, Harry resorted to the one spell he had hoped he wouldn't have to use. His trump card.

"Fulgur!" He cried, putting everything into his spell as he held on to the elder wand with both hands. Massive bolts of lightning emerged from the elder wand and flashed towards their intended target.

Violet eyes widened in surprise as they registered the oncoming threat that would all but obliterate her.

And as Harry watched with dread as his destructive magic nearly reach its target, a shimmering glow of silver encompassed the girl, and she flashed out of the way, appearing right before him, her slender blade drawn and at his throat.

The elder wand slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor.

"I yield." Harry whispered, quickly scanning her for injuries, his eyes found hers.

For the second time that day, he felt her conscious brush against his, and he allowed her access almost instantly. She must have sensed his dread, for her reassurance washed over him, calming him significantly and he sighed, conveying to her his relief.

His lightning spell was utterly devastating. It could easily have killed her, and it sincerely wasn't his intention to use it.

The guilt of his actions made him decide that he would apologise to her in earnest. He further determined that the most effective way to convey his thoughts was through the mind arts that she seemed to have preferred.

His mind made, he permitted her further access into his mind, now allowing her to bask in all the emotions he was feeling, hoping that it would convey his feelings of his actions to her.

It seemed like it was the right thing to do, for her she reciprocated his actions, allowing him even more access to her mind which resulted in them taking their mental link one step further than what they had initially established.

Harry nearly lost himself in the depths of the vastness that was her mind, as their bond now exposed him to all her emotions as well, allowing him to bask in them.

Her positivity having enveloped him, gave him the strength he needed to follow through with his apology.

I'm sorry

It seemed like she had understood the miniscule tendril of his formulated thoughts, for she gave him a reassuring smile conveying the same through her emotions.

Although maintaining a mental connection such as this made Harry feel extremely vulnerable, he had come to realise that it was communication in the purest and most intimate form. It had its advantages and its disadvantages, but Harry decided that it had an unprecedented beauty to it.

Their instructor had returned and had begun healing and enervating the rest of the students. Those with rather serious and somewhat fatal wounds were sent to the healing ward, but fortunately it was only students that had been whisked away for that purpose.

After everyone had been checked upon, he addressed them once more.

"Most of you as usual, were an awful let-down. I doubt you'll even survive the year much less the initiation ceremony." He sighed, watching them with disappointment.

"However, some of you have shown real promise," he added, making eye contact with Alice, the orc, another vampire, a werewolf, Harry and lastly the female who he surprisingly still had his mind linked to.

"It has been a while since we have had a moon-shadow elf among us." He said, his eyes on the silver haired beauty. She nodded her acknowledgement.

Harry's eyes returned to the girl with surprise. It all made sense now, moon-shadow elves were beautiful, immensely powerful and a highly magical race. There wasn't much information about them, they were very secretive and rightly so. But the little there was to know about them, he knew. They were the fastest beings on the planet and the strongest, and their knowledge and proficiency in the arcane arts was simply unparalleled. Coming across one these days was simply unheard of for they rarely left their hidden forest.

Harry had only just realised how privileged he was to have been in her presence.

Sensing his thoughts, he could actually feel her blush.

He further wondered if it was their race that preferred this medium of communication or it was a personal preference of hers. It didn't matter really, for he realised that he liked this bond they now shared. It wasn't something he saw himself sharing with anyone else. The thought of doing so truly scared him. Yet the very same idea of sharing such a bond with her, he had found unusually comforting.

He had allowed her free access to his surface thoughts, and her eyes searched his once more as she proceeded to envelop him in the folds of her emotions that his thoughts had invoked, holding him with an intimacy no physical embrace could replicate.

Harry smiled.

He wasn't going to bother questioning how or why she had chosen to share such an intimate form of communication with him, especially now when they only just met. They didn't even know each other's names yet!

But for some reason she had decided to trust him of all people, just as he had chosen to trust her.

She blinked.

I am Artemis of the moon-shadow elves. Her musical voice resonated across his mind, sending shivers down his spine.

And I am Hadrian of the House of Black.

He had left the rest unsaid, and instead he chose to envelop her in the feeling of gratitude and happiness he felt in light of their new friendship.

"And true to my word," Arion continued. "I do in fact have a reward which will benefit exactly three of you."

"Your main focus as newcomers to Beauxbatons as your Headmistress earlier pointed out, is to prepare for your initiation as an apprentice of this institution. It is upon completion of our initiation that your education shall begin in earnest and as such it is your priority."

"Now each of you, have to prepare for this by yourself through your own preparations and self-study. However, this year, three of you have the fortune of being designated as mentees to three senior students that have already passed their initiation and will serve as your mentors." Arion paused making sure everyone had understood the meaning of his words.

Harry immediately saw the merit to this, the additional one on one teaching and guidance would serve as a gigantic boost to his preparations. Furthermore, someone who had already completed their initiation would be able to provide them with insight into what they could possibly expect, and it would further be an immense help to his preparations.

"It is not me who will make the choice, but the very individuals that will be mentors themselves. They have watched you showcase your skills throughout your mock battle. If they so happen to pick you, you then have the right to accept or decline." Arion finished eyeing everyone carefully.

When no one raised any questions or objections, he snapped his fingers and three more students had appeared beside him.

And as Harry observed the three new seniors among them, his gaze fell upon on a familiar girl with beautiful blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes.

Harry's heart skipped a beat.

Author's Note:

It has been awhile. I've only just finished editing this chapter and dealing with the numerous grammatical errors. I'm not sure when I'll start writing the next one, but I hope it will be soon.

I like to believe that we will now see a lot more of Fleur soon.

Thank you,
Serenity