Archive of Our Own

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JANUARY 20, 1948
Somewhere in the North Atlantic Sea
“I’m surprised that you have decided, of all times, to finally revive our lost homeland, my mistress…”
“I don’t mean to object but…isn’t it too early to gather our lost brethren, my mistress?”
The said female merely looked ahead of the vast ocean that was dotted by a few small rocky islands as two of her most loyal proteges were voicing out their opinion. In the large metal ship where the three were staying stood 40 more men and they were all wearing black, monk-like robes. Behind the large boat were 30 more metal ships which looked like WW2 LSTs, each carrying more than a hundred individuals. While some of the passengers were also wearing monk robes, more than the majority of the people were wearing ordinary clothes and, judging from their appearances, were from all different walks of life.
“The fact that the second great war had killed more than two million of our own kind should be more than enough to finally return to and revive our homeland, which was lost due to its ancient inhabitants’ costly mistakes. But fear not.” The mistress, presumably the leader of the whole fleet, finally replied while letting the strong winds flutter her long, red hair. “We have learned, we have gathered enough knowledge from other cultures, and we have finally had enough numbers to rebuild our thousand-year lost nation of Mother Akal-Elana, the progenitor of our race. Stand back and watch you little snot-nosed brats why I was appointed the Grand Magus by my mentor…”
And with that, she stood near the bow of the ship and after uttering what sounded to be phrases of mystic prayers for the gods above, she then raised up her wooden staff. And before the eyes of those who were present, the pristine water, which was cold and waving, suddenly halted and quickly, bubbles began to form as if something was boiling beneath the ocean floor. After a few more seconds, something began to emerge from the boiling-like watery surface.

At first, it was just more solid rocky islands but just as quickly, those solid rocky islands would later rise up even more, eventually forming solid mountains that looked soggy as if they were formed from molten lava. Rapidly, those mountains and other rocky natural borders will later expand into surface land that was broadening widely and with such fast pace that the LST ships were forced to quickly steer back due to the large waves slamming up and down as the water had to give away to the expanding land mass.

“A-Amazing…”
“That’s our Grand Magus!”
“At last, our people finally have their own land restored—far from that crazy Gindelwald’s reach, far from the ICW’s interference and certainly far from people who like to see things as black and white!”
“But how large do you think our newly-restored homeland is?”
“Does it really matter?”
Only a few months later will the people on the ships realize that their newly-restored homeland was the same size and almost the same shape of the Ukrainian SSR, with a wide snake-shaped river crossing from north to south, effectively creating a literal border between the east and the west. If someone didn’t know better, they think the Ukrainian homeland was magically transported into the Atlantic Ocean. However, it had Mediterranean weather dotted with mountains and rugged terrain, in contrast to the almost-entirely flat terrain and the colder climate of Ukraine. The passengers of the LSTs, though, need not to know that yet as they have other things to worry about.

The Grand Magus nearly falters back, probably feeling the effects of the strain in her body due to the magical energy needed to revive the whole island. Quickly, her two disciples ran forward to aid their master, with the male one giving her a soldier pill.
“Thank you very much, Walter my dear…” The middle-aged Magus smiled at the teen called Walter, who just nodded serenely. “Carol, quickly tell each of the captains of the ship to disembark to the shores so that the people can finally settle down and build transit camps deep into the land before we can finally properly settle our population throughout our new land.”
“Will do, my mistress!” Carol bowed low before turning around and jumping up from the ship.
Once she was out of sight, the Grand Magus then called one of her trusted officers, “Gideon, Maurice, and Sigisbert!”
The said three men, who all looked to be in his late 30s, jumped out and near Carol while bowing.

“Being the commanders of the three main paramilitaries of our race, it’s time for all of you to disband those paramilitaries and instead, form a single military force of this fledgling state that will combine all those who come from your military organizations. That way, we can start instilling unity.”
“If I may?” Maurice raised his hands up, intending to speak. “I believe that Gideon here should be the first commander of the chief-of-staff of the new armed forces, then. He had the credentials that we lack. He fought in the British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan, Nazi Germany, and in the USSR with the underground movement and he had extensive knowledge of how a military organization should be formed.”
“I had to agree.” Sigisbert nodded. “He also had a wide network of contacts who we could turn to in case we needed arms as well as aid.”

The Grand Magus thought of all of these before turning to Gideon. “Very well then. Gideon, would you accept the proposition of being the first commander of our fledgling armed forces.”Gideon sighed before bowing, “If no one is really available to take it, then I had no choice but to agree. I’ll accept it.”

“Perfect. Now, do what you have to do. Dismissed.” The Grand Magus ordered them and the three men jumped out, intending to carry out their master’s orders to unify all their divided forces. She then sighed.
As much as she wanted harmony and unification with the other magicals in the old world and in the Americas, she knew that the recent events in the last ten years would mean that any hope of making peace with the International Confederation of Wizards is basically zero as the ideologies and beliefs of the two groups are like oil and water—they will always clash. Which is why their race were forced to mingle with the non-magical population, or they went underground in several countries like Switzerland, Yugoslavia, and the Nordic countries.

She then saw several of her own people born from Greece and Poland began to survey the land and the unknown frontier in front of them with glee and genuine excitement. Such expressions made the heart of the Grand Magus quiver with an unexplainable feeling, yet she can only smile.

She knew that the task ahead of them would be a formidable one given that they had to rebuild their long-lost country from scratch but she and her brethren had already made up their minds.
They would succeed.
They will gather their remaining brethren that are still stranded in mainland Europe, North Africa, parts of America, and in the West and Central Asia and they would be free in their own lands, away from the interference of those wand-brandishing morons.
OCTOBER 31, 20XX
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Hermione Granger merely sat on her chair as she and the rest of the House of Gryffindor waited. At any given time, Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of the school, would announce the Hogwarts Champion for the Triwizard Tournament, which initially surprised her as the games was said to be so deadly that it wasn't held for more than a hundred years before this date. But anyhow, she would just hope that whoever gets chosen to be the school representative can survive the whole tournament.

Beside her, Ron Weasley was busy nibbling some biscuits as he, too, was waiting for the whole affair to start.

Ten minutes later, the selection of the champions had started, and she watched silently as the name of Cedric Diggory from the House of Hufflepuff was called, much to the glee of the house of the badgers.

The 4th year tuned out the rest of the headmaster's speech and the selection of the champions from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons when the Goblet suddenly flared up again. What made the whole thing even weirder is that the flames were a combination of red and orange hue. Hermione was pretty sure the fire had always been blue.
Something then erupted from the ancient artefact and a piece of parchment was thrown out of it. Dumbledore caught it and stared at the paper with an unreadable look on his face.

“Harry Potter.”

The room went silent.

Everyone—even those from the delegations—knew that the Boy-Who-Lived had not been sighted ever since the end of his first year in Hogwarts and numerous and often times, impulsive attempts to find him have resulted in a few foreign magical governments banning Dumbledore and his lackeys from entering their country.

Unknown to everyone except Ron, she had gotten some updates from Harry Potter himself as to his whereabouts and the two of them along with the youngest Weasley male had been exchanging letters up until last year. Even if they both don’t get as much correspondence this year, she understood it as he already explained why he can’t regularly contact them. That and, if she was to believe in rumors, he can’t just simply communicate them impulsively due to…external forces.

The bushy-haired girl was sure that if it hadn't been for the fact that her best friend was out of town, the Boy-Who-Lived would be considered literally dead due to the fact that a month ago, the Dursley family who were supposed to be his adoptive family was involved in a horrible “fire accident”.

According to the official reports, the gas stove suddenly exploded which caused the huge flames and engulfed everything in the house, toasting the Dursley family to their horrible deaths. But even then, Hermione can’t help but feel as if something about the report was fishy, but she shrugged it off. It simply won’t take the Dursleys back from the dead and even if she could, she won’t do that as a tiny part of her feels they deserve it.
But even worse, more than a month later, the news was still referring to Potter as “The-Missing-Boy-Who-Lived”. It was honestly annoying, and Hermione could understand why her close friend would want to disappear. Still, Hogwarts was never the same ever since he delisted from the school in an unofficial manner.
“Harry Potter?...Harry Potter!”

No matter how much the Headmaster called out his name, there was no sign of Harry Potter appearing. Ron would have snorted but he knew the power of the Goblet of Fire, based on what Hermione told him. If the ancient artifact couldn't summon his best mate (and it was supposed to be able to summon its Chosen Champion) that meant three things: either he was dead (which was unlikely because he and Hermione were still receiving letters from him once or sometimes, twice a month this year), he was behind very powerful wards, or whatever land he was standing at had something capable of preventing the Goblet from forcefully kidnapping Harry.
If Ron was being completely honest, he was just glad that Harry decided not to come back from Hogwarts this year. The last two years were completely bonkers, with their second year nearly killing his younger sister Ginny, and Ron doubted that this year would be different, especially if it involved a tournament that had a track record of killing the participants. Honestly, the glory, fame, and prize are nice to hear but he wasn't sure he could risk his life for such an entertainment.

It took Ron and Hermione a few seconds to register in their minds the silence that had taken over the Great Hall. Nobody was because of the sudden mist that had appeared in the room between the student's tables and the teachers' table.

“Wh-What is that thing?” Ron and Hermione heard Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw ask his seat mate.

“Eh, I don't know…”
The source of the Jewish boy's curiosity was the phenomenon that was staring in front of them. The mist rose from the ground and started to take form until it looked like a giant rectangle almost like a giant 4D television.
Ron blinked as he thought that he probably should have seen it coming. Weird things always happened when his best mate was involved, even if right now, he was physically absent.

……..
Only when it was concluded that the screen was there to possibly help shed a light on Harry's possible whereabouts did the normalcy come back. Two Unspeakables who had knowledge on the subject of Magical Artefacts had inspected the whole thing and deemed it harmless.
Near the two Unspeakables were a large platoon of Aurors led by Amelia Bones as well as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. When the commotion about the Goblet was up, Amelia, her aurors, and Fudge quickly went to help restore order although if the older Bones were to be believed, Fudge only went with them to score some brownie points for the next elections.
It was only then that the gigantic screen made of solid crystal lit up like neon lights.
“Hey Hermione. What's that thing going to do?”
Hermione frowned as she looked at the screen. “Honestly, I don't know, Ron. It won't transport Harry so it may try to help locate him instead. Besides, it's more concerning how Harry's name got out of the Goblet.”

There was just no way Harry put his name there anyway. He was not even at Hogwarts and he wouldn't have asked someone to put it there since coming back to Hogwarts isn’t a part of his future plans, based on his letters. Nobody would want to risk their magic like that so it had to be someone else. Even if he was here physically, it's not like Harry to chase something as frivolous as glory when he was already famous enough for allegedly defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and it was honestly distressing enough. Amelia already suspected some kind of foul play was involved.
Someone out for The-Boy-Who-Lived's blood or something.

Suddenly, the chatter stopped once more as the lit screen started to show something akin to a television episode.

The screen opens up on the façade of a large hospital. Hurried footsteps are heard as the angle changes to show a corridor where various nurses and doctors busy themselves with trolleys. A figure with an average height wearing a white shirt, blue shirt-sleeved checkered polo, jeans, and red rubber shoes while sporting a Miami Heat cap treads past them, restraining himself from completely running.

The young man had piercing green eyes and if Hermione's guest as to the identity of the boy was correct, it seems the things are about to even get wilder in the hall.
Soon enough, she was right as just then, the angle of the camera changed to show the figure's face and Hermione was not surprised to recognize her best friend's face as it finally got students and guests all around her muttering, wondering what the hell was going on and why is Harry Potter in a hospital of all places.
And to the surprise of many and the consternation of one old Headmaster, the scar that had defined the boy who lived was missing.

The teenage boy continued to briskly walk until he was in front of a room with a plate ROOM NO. 96. He's out of breath like he just ran all the way to the hospital. Besides the door were two armed men who looked to be posted as guards. They wore forest green and dark green fatigues and had balaclavas concealing their faces. They had a ballistic vest and were clutching their shortened M16A2 rifles while one of them had an extra Ithaca shotgun slung in the back. They also had pistol holsters in their belts.

Wait what? Of course, it got many of the student's, the staff, and the aurors thinking if the patient is an important one that there were armed guards with muggle weapons that are posted in the door.
It seemed obvious to Hermione that he was there to visit someone, but she kept that to herself.

“Name?” One of the guards asked the newcomer with a hint of authority.

“Harry Potter.” Likewise, the boy now identified as Harry Potter answered with no emotions detected.

“Punic name? Or do you use an official magic name?”

“Eh, no but I have a registered Punic name. Here.” Harry fishes out what looked like to be his Identification Card as he hands it to the guard. “Hillel Ben-Porat, at your service. Sounded more Hebraic than Punic but it was the best I could come up with the first letters of my real name.”

The guards looked at the ID for what looked like to be a minute or two before handing it back. “You're cleared. Actually, Commander Draper was already anticipating your arrival but we checked your identity just in case. We’re in dangerous times, after all.”

Harry nodded, he can agree to that.

The guard who checked his ID glanced at his partner and said, “Archer003, he’s clean. Let him in.”

The other guard merely grunted before unlocking the knob, ushering Harry inside.

Hermione and Ron exchanged a look, wondering what was going on. They knew that unlike what all people present in the hall believed, their friend had not lived with his adoptive family for a long time. Well, he did live with a male guardian (a magic user) who, surprisingly or not surprisingly, was not Sirius Black—or at least, according to their friend. Things do seem very tense, and Harry was pretty evasive about some things, but he did tell them a couple of facts about his old life. They knew that he used to live with his horrible relatives that hated magic but knowing him, he probably knew exactly what that was telling them but just didn't want to get deeper into the subject as it was far too sensitive. They could respect that—even if Hermione wanted to hex muggle relatives without any limit for their horrible treatment of their friend.

They knew that he had left the Dursleys when he was around nine and that he met his current male guardian before that. They also knew that Harry loved his new family and was willing to burn the world for it.

They got a couple of correspondences since Harry supposedly went AWOL after their first year. How Albus Dumbledore never realized Harry didn't live with his muggle relatives for a very long time was beyond Hermione but then again...for a supposed Headmaster, Dumbledore seemed to be oblivious of Harry’s condition in Little Whinging. Maybe it was because he was holding three different positions of power at the same time that he had a lot of things going in his mind but something as simple as checking his relatives should have been easy enough. As much as she wanted to deny it, there was something wrong with the way the Headmaster had treated Harry and was still treating him.

Still, even with the letters they'd been exchanging since last summer, their friend refused to tell them anything of importance since their knowledge of Occlumency was rudimentary at best. Heck, they just learned right now of their friend’s alternate name, which was also a topic around the hall as everyone was curious why he got a different alias or why the guards were asking for a magical name. He did share to them some details about his life somewhere he was, but they are vague at best and did not describe anything very clear.

So, in short, they had no idea what was going on. They had no idea who this male guardian was, and they don’t know if he had some friends in whatever place he is right now.

Slowly, he walks further in the interior and takes a step forward. He stills, frozen when he catches the sight of something in the hospital bed. His eyes widen in shock and horror and a gasp escapes him.

Ron squirmed in his seat, waiting for whatever the screen was supposed to show. He thought he was ready for whatever they would see.
He was not.
Well, to be fair, nobody was. Not even Amelia Bones and that was already coming from a veteran in her line of work.

The angle changed to show them the inside of the room.
From the other side of the table, Ginny Weasley gasped, eyeing the screen in horror.

A lone figure lies down on a bed. His arms are covered in bandages and so is half of his chest. An oxygen mask covers his mouth. They are connected to several machines through tubes.

Gasps echoed in the room when they saw the image on the screen.

It was a man in his early 30s. He had a faded hair that was cut according to military standards and looked very thin in the big hospital bed. From what they could see of his face and what didn't cover his arms, it looked like he had taken a beating or an explosion hundred times the worst that they think it's possible.

The normally icy-stoic Daphne Greengrass was staring in horror, eyes wide in shock and incomprehension her skin had goosebumps. From what Hermione knew, the Greengrass sisters had grown sheltered from the realities of life but even she, who had grown normally, was horrified at what she was seeing. She could tell from Pansy Parkinson's and, funnily enough, Draco Malfoy's expressions that they were feeling the same way.

It looked like half of the man's body was either crushed or eaten by a gigantic creature, judging by the thickness of the bandages. However, his rough face and hardened features of his skin was telling Hermione that this man is not a stranger in facing dangerous people or any dangerous kind and probably ran into some bad luck due to his recklessness. She wondered if the hospital was a muggle type or if it was an establishment that catered to people from both the magical and non-magical sector. It looked like a typical ICU. Hermione would know as she recognized some of the machines that the man was linked to—a heart monitor, a breathing machine and a monitor for blood pressure among other things. She had seen those when they visited a relative of the Grangers who got involved in a truck accident.
Meanwhile, Ron was staring at the screen. The room contained a single person and, from what was happening alone, he could tell that the man was Harry's adoptive guardian but the multi million Galleon question was...

How the fuck did he end up in this state?

On the teacher’s table, Minerva McGonagall tears Dumbledore anew while asking him if he knew who the man was. She later accepted the fact that her old mentor probably didn't know seeing as he never even realised until this day that Mr. Potter didn't even live with his muggle relatives anymore. She just satisfies herself with the fact that at least, the boy was no longer living with such horrible people.

Harry stumbles through the room to stand beside the unconscious figure and all but collapses on the chair next to the bed as let his face fall into his two hands. An anguished noise was heard as he stayed like that for almost ten minutes.

Hermione’s chest constricted painfully at the sight of her devastated friend. It was truly saddening to see—two people, one unconscious and in a critical state and one who seemed on the verge of a mental breakdown. If only she was just there to hug him, and comfort him…
The screen blurred as the scene then changed. It seems that time has passed, and Harry is leaving the room. One of the guards was leaning against the wall in the corridor. He listened as the boy asked in a quiet voice if there were already the results of the medical report.

“Are you sure you want to know? It's honestly very bad.” The guard asked with a sympathetic tone.

“I can see that, thank you very much.” A hurting Harry replied rather sarcastically and cynically.

The guard sighed as he stood up straight. “I am already being generous when I said that it was honestly bad. When me and the rest of the Special Rapid Deployment Brigade were dispatched to help find the survivors of Operation Trojan Horse, we found him near the Juniper River half-dead and was almost infested with nearby maggots. To his credit though, he brought down with him 100 enemies that were surrounding him…”

Now, that caused an instantaneous reaction from the student body as some of the people, especially the first years, nearly vomited just by trying to imagine their number of maggots that must have been crawling in the wounds of Harry’s suspected guardian while the rotting corpses of his enemies were lying while waiting to be devoured by a scavenging creature. In fact, Ron had to stop eating for the moment due to the maggot comment as he drank some pumpkin juice to try to quickly flush down the biscuits into his intestine before he could spit them out.

“Is it me or does the guard have an American accent?” Hannah Abbott said, taking note of the accent that one of the guards used.

“...I think so, but does that mean that Harry’s in America?” Ernest Macmillan asked, not really believing he could be in the United States. If it was, it should have been all over the news.

“Maybe but I doubt it. The Headmaster should have tried to bring him back from the Yanks long ago if that was the case and even then, it would have been a diplomatic nightmare if that occurred,” was the reply of Justin Finch-Fletchley.

“Can-can you tell me what happened?” Harry asked shakily.

The guard nodded as he then recounted what actually led to the man’s current critical state. According to the guard, the man was leading his 15-man squad for a sabotage mission inside one of their country’s remaining crime syndicates that was still active. If Harry remembered it correctly, they were mostly involved in extraterrestrial material found in their lands such as magical polar dust as those kinds of activities could lead to unwarranted attention towards their nation and it’s not something the top brass would want to happen.

The mission was largely a success, but the price was heavy. Harry’s alleged guardian managed to assassinate the ringleader of the syndicate but in turn, he completely exposed himself towards their platoon of enemies, who quickly pursued them as the man and his men were forced to fight their way out of the thick forest where the syndicate bailiwick was located. It turns out that in order for the rest of his men to flee to safety, Harry’s alleged guardian volunteered to stay behind in the banks of the Juniper River to fend off all their pursuers, promising them that he would come out alive.

Well, he did turn out somehow alive but right now, he’s in a catatonic state.

“I…I see…” Harry nodded numbly. “Well…thanks for the tip, sir. I guess I have to be on my way. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

But before he could completely turn around, the guard stopped him. “Wait…”

Harry then turned back to face the guard, who seemed to be gathering his courage to say something very deep before eventually, he started talking. “Harry, me and Ezra Black, your guardian, have known each other since our days in the National Service. He…he was like a brother to me…”

“A Black?! That can’t be!” Fudge screamed rather girlishly. “That rascal Sirius Black should have been the last of their cursed blood!”

“The guard didn’t say anything about that man Ezra’s relations with the runaway criminal…” Amelia reminded their prime minister, who looked like he was about to explode due to getting corrected on the spot. “And it could have been a coincidence that they have the same surname.”
“O-Of course. It must have been a coincidence that his name was Black…” Fudge sputtered.

“Look…I know it won’t help much but I’m sorry that this happened to your guardian. If it makes you feel better, he did accomplish his mission to bring down the syndicate and remove one less threat for our country.” The guard offered his comfort as he pats Harry on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about the cost of the hospitalization. Everything will be covered by the government, including his surgery. Your tuition will also be fully subsidized for the rest of your education years while Ezra would be awarded the Medal of Gallantry, which had its perks. Trust me. The government’s doing everything it can to honor your guardian’s sacrifice.”

Even if it’s small, Harry conjured a smile. “Thanks sir. I do hope that everything will turn out alright. I can’t lose one of the very few members that I call my true family. But I must go now. Knowing Uncle Ezra, he’d probably send a fireball in my arse if he learned that I’m skipping my studies even if the reason for it was his hospitalization.”

“Well, you better leave then but come back soon to visit him. He’d be delighted to see you if he wakes up. Oh and by the way…” The guard pulls out a letter from his pocket and gives it to Harry. “You need to report to the Bayit-Tamuz Palace in the national capital of Tubalel City…specifically to the Grand Magus.” He said the last part in a low whisper.

“Huh…do you know why?” Harry was confused.

“No, I don’t. Only that your presence is required, and the meeting is urgent. Go on, then. You don’t want to make the Grand Magus wait. And here’s some money just in case you go hungry while you travel…” The guard pushes the bills in Harry’s hands. “Don’t hesitate. Take it. Tubalel is just an hour away from here in Tel Hammon but the traffic can be crazy sometimes.”

“Th-Thanks for your kindness. Mister?”

“Samuel Redd. But don’t shout out my name. There’s a reason we use codenames. Your guardian’s the only reason why I gave you my real identity.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you again probably the day after tomorrow.” Harry nodded and bowed to him in respect before leaving.

“Well…that was very informative…” Hermione muttered to herself, but Ron heard her anyway.
“Hey, at least we now know that Harry’s totally safe in whatever country this Tel Hammon is…” The redhead assured her.

“I’m more curious as to what is this Grand Magus that they were talking about…” Ginny joined their conversation.
“It could be their leader…” Fred Weasley butted in.
“...Or it could be their headmaster…” George Weasley connected his twin’s sentence.
“Eh…I don’t know about that…” For the first time since the entire thing happened, Neville Longbottom shook his head. “I mean, the guard sounded like he knew about this Grand Magus of theirs more on a more personal level. And he did mention a palace called Bayit-Tamuz…and it honestly sounded like the seat of their so-called nation…wherever that is…”

Now, the scene shifts again and finally, it shows that Harry Potter is riding a motorcycle while he looks to be on his way towards the national capital called Tubalel. This time, he was wearing a futuristic-looking helmet and a leather jacket. He is on a national highway and it wasn’t long before he took a left-turn in a junction and fifteen minutes later, the skyline of Tubalel was finally seen as the skyscrapers were totally visible from afar.

Now, 20 minutes later, after paying the toll fee, Harry was first met with the vehicles not going to and from the city before he was eventually with familiar sights that he was long accustomed: cleaning robots, the blimp airships broadcasting daily news for the public to see, people from all different social strata converging and walking in the streets, and windmills providing electricity for the city.

To say that almost every student was amazed was an understatement.

“Blimey! It looks like something I would have read in a sci-fi comic!” Dennis Creevey exclaimed.

“Sci-fi is totally underselling it! Did you see those cleaning robots? I would totally kill to have those at home!” An unidentified Gryffindor added.
“I don’t get it. We have magic though…something that I’m sure that place doesn’t have…” a Ravenclaw first year scoffed.
“Then why would Harry Potter stay there if that place has no magic?!” Dennis shot back.
The argument would have continued further if it wasn’t for their prefects, who told them to shut it as the scene is changing.

It didn’t take long before Harry had finally reached the palace called Bayit Tamuz. A gated property with armed guards roaming around, it had a style similar to the White House from the United States except that it is pure grey in color and had a dome in the center. Showing his ID and letter to one of the guards there, Harry was permitted to enter the Bayit Tamuz grounds.

Whistling to himself, he jogged in the stairs leading to the entrance of the building and when he entered, he was glad that for this day, there are not many people in the building trying to request an audience to the ministers working in their offices. Having been in the building a couple of times, Harry wasted no time walking towards a room with the plaque “GRAND MAGUS OFFICE” and quickly knocked twice on the door.

A woman wearing a muggle suit and glasses peered over after opening the door slightly. “Good morning, young man. I presume you are here due to being summoned by the Grand Magus.”

“Uh…yeah…” Harry casually replied, a bit too laidback.

“Do you have your letter?” The woman asked. Harry nodded and gave her the letter. The woman signalled for him to wait for a few minutes. After some time, Harry was then ushered inside.

The office was fully furnished with a large elaborate table, bookshelves, a small aquarium, a coffee maker in the side, a cleaning robot, and large windows that enabled the Grand Magus to see the entire city from his vantage point.

Speaking of the Grand Magus, the man seemed to be either unaware of Harry's arrival or he was just simply building up this moment to create a rather dramatic introduction as his chair’s back was still facing Harry.

But as Harry was about to speak, the man suddenly stood up from his chair and walked around to face the young Potter.

The man looked to be around his late forties and had an impressive body build of 190 cm and was wearing a three-piece black suit with a blood-red cape draped behind him, giving anyone who does not know him the impression that he is a street magician.

If Hermione was just being honest, this man's looks can quickly melt a woman’s heart and this is coming from someone who is not generally interested in boys right now. Or at least, that’s what she likes to believe about herself.

“There’s something very off with this guy…” A seventh year student named Beatrice Haywood muttered.
“Yeah. There's this mysterious but scary vibe around this man…like you don’t want to get to his bad side…” Seventh year Gryffindor Adam Pickering replied.

“Peace be with you, Sir Winston Tel…” Harry placed his right hand in his heart before bowing.

“Peace be with you also, Harry son…” Winston returned the greeting as he also bowed. “Look Harry, I apologize in advance if I had to summon you quickly but it is very urgent.”

“It’s nothing sir.” Harry simply said but with a tone of sighness. “I believe you won't summon me here for mundane reasons.”

“Of course, but before we get to discussing important matters, I would like to convey my deepest regret upon hearing the critical state of your guardian, Ezra Black. Rest assured that the entire security forces of the State of Akalelana are currently doing all they can to hunt down the remaining perpetrators behind the illegal dealings in our country.”

“State of Akalelana?”
“Is that a new country? I haven't heard of it before.”
“So, Potter's in a mysterious country?”
But while the general consensus among the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang was that the State of Akalelana was an obscure new country that just simply got its independence recently, the same can not be said of the adults, who had varying reactions upon hearing the name of the unknown country.
“I-It can't be…” For the first time since the entire debacle had started, Albus Dumbledore was paling. Judging from his facial expression, he clearly had heard of the mysterious country and clearly, he did not have any good experience with its leaders.
“Akalelana? Isn't that the state that just became a member of the muggle United Nations just last year even though they were technically independent since the 1950s?” Minerva didn't honestly see the point of what makes Akalelana special.
Albus was about to reply but one of the Unspeakables beat him to it. “That's because while they were a wholly Magical nation similar to Magical Britain, they have been neutral from the affairs of the ICW as they were never admitted to the magical body, nor did they ever want to. Also, their type of magic as well as how they see magic and anything supernatural is…very different from ours. It’s difficult to explain if you’re used to the cultural norms of Magical Britain. I know because I got a chance to meet with one of them and we exchange ideas.”
“Preposterous! Whatever this upstart of a country is, they can’t just ignore the authority of the ICW!” Fudge bellowed.
“They did just that minister and they actually can do it.” Albus sighed.

He didn't tell them it was because the moment Albus once tried to send them a message as the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, the Akalelani representatives replied with a passive-aggressive tone that they “politely” decline the invitation to join the ICW and if their neutrality was threatened, it would leave them with no choice but to reveal to the existence of magic to the rest of the muggle world as well as launch Operation Samson—a Mutually Assured Destruction-type of attack against their hypothetical enemies, mainly from mainland Europe.

That and coupled with the fact that Voldemort's legacy and influence are far from dead, not to mention that he might resurrect someday, Albus felt it was a waste of time to try to pressure a 40-million strong magical population of Akalelana to join the ICW as he had far more pressing concerns to deal with, so he let them be.
Now, however, he was kicking himself mentally as looking back, he realized he should have exerted more pressure against the previous Grand Magus—a white-haired old lady who was said to have resurrected the sunken islands merely by using her personal magic in her younger years—into joining the ICW, if only because it was in Akalelana where Harry Potter, the Child of the Prophecy, would hide for so long.

“Thanks sir. I do hope that his sacrifice doesn’t go in vain.”

“Actually…that’s part of the reason why I summoned you here.” Winston sighed as he pulled out two pictures from his desk. “I’ll go straight to the point. While the ringleader of the group was killed, his second-in-command survived. Heavily injured but still among the living…”

“Wait…what?!” Harry was understandably upset.

“I’m sorry to make you upset but we never found any traces of his corpse if he was truly killed. Actually, we suspected that he was the one behind that…pretty gruesome handiwork of his…” Winston then showed one of the pictures and the moment Harry Potter saw it, he nearly dropped the photo as his stomach churned coldly and sickly.

It was a message branded in the belly of Ezra. It says…

HIS LOVED ONES, YOU ARE NEXT

The moment everyone in the hallway saw the message, the majority almost lost their breakfast upon seeing the crudely branded message in the flesh of Harry’s guardian. Fred and George’s face looked like they had their puppy murdered in front of them. Even some of the professors were on edge as soon as they saw the carved message.

“Th-This…”

“Fortunately, the nurses from the hospital were able to stitch it up as soon as possible to prevent further infection. We also knew how upset that you would be so it was advisable that you see it here rather than in the hospital where you might end up disturbing the personnel there,” said Winston, folding his hands while taking a seat.

Harry then breathed deeply and exhaled deeply, repeating this process a few times before standing up straight. “To be honest, I was totally upset that I was not informed of this but right now, whatever your decision on this matter is more important for me.”

“I’m glad that you see it that way. Based on the carved message and the way the local mafia operates, they would target the relatives, close friends, and loved ones of our Star Hunters for various reasons, with revenge, kidnap-for-ransom, and hostage deals among the reasons why they do so. Although that kind of threat has since gone down dramatically, it still doesn't change the fact that the remaining crime syndicates still pose a huge threat…no…” Winston shoots his head. “If anything, they'll even be more dangerous right now since they’ll be more desperate as they are now basically down to three main groups, so they’ll do anything, even go as far as attack all the distinguished kosemim and koshephim in our society, especially those still studying in schools…including you…”
Kosemim? Koshephim? What the hell is that? Was the general question lingering among the minds of the student populace.
Sensing the confusion among the teens and younger children, one of the Unspeakables murmured something to Amelia before the latter cleared his throat and said, “According to our expert here, a Kosemim and Koshephim are originally specific terms to refer to occultists, sorcerers, and all practitioners of all mystical and sacred arts whose powers are levels higher than the ordinary wizard. He said that they originated from the ancient Canaanite societies before they were eventually invaded by the Seleucids and then the Romans.”
“So is Harry one, then?” Hermione can't help herself but ask.
Amelia looked at the Unspeakable, who spoke to her in a discreet manner for a few more minutes. She cleared her throat once more. “The thing is, we don't exactly know how the cultural norms there work as they are somewhat very guarded of their magical society from non-citizens. Even the only Akalelani guy that our Unspeakable knows isn’t very open and they only talked personally one or twice in the past. Only one thing that is certain is that generally, the Akalelani had a surprisingly innate aptitude for combat-oriented skills and therefore, their natural battle prowess isn't something that you would try to underestimate, especially in a one-on-one situation.”
Hermjone frowned but nodded. As much as she wanted to know more, what the Unspeakable shared to Amelia was more than enough to sate her curiosity and can at least picture in her imagination what Harry's society as a whole look like.

“And the fact that Ezra Black is my current guardian would mean that the surviving mafia would go after me as well…” Harry connected.

“Precisely. Which is why me and the school heads, and all provincial governors decided to station some plainclothes agents near the homes of those possibly under threat with a 24-hour shift. We have previously thought of housing you all in one compound but could possibly alert the remaining criminals that we are after then and thus, we might end up sabotaging our agents who are also undercover.” Winston explained. “Additionally, I know that both magical and non-magical means of combat is being taught in all academies but for this situation, you and the rest of the NEFILIM 12 will train together with some of our personnel from the military wing of our security forces so in case someone from the criminal society attacks you, you have enough power to fend them off.”

“I see. Is this all?” Harry asked.

Winston nodded. “Yes, you may be dismissed. You still need to rest after everything that you have learned so far today.”

“Thank you very much sir. May Anat slay our enemies and bring the souls of our deceased warriors into paradise.” Harry gave his closing remarks.

“And may Baal Hammon bring prosperity to our harvests and richness to our lands.” Winston returned the greeting. Harry bowed and then turned around before leaving.

Hermione and Ron looked at each other.
Harry did tell them before that in the society that he now belongs to; it was very normal to worship a pantheon of gods and goddesses. In fact, he told them, albeit briefly, that sometimes, he had personally witnessed their main magical priests and priestess offer a chopped heifer as an offering to one of their chief deities in which the animal would be burned in an altar made of blocks of chiseled stone built near a large temple.

Of course, Hermione was outraged and horrified at that the first time, but Harry simply shrugged it off. It was just simply how their world worked.
They were also told that it was very common for a particular place, especially in a provincial setting, to venerate one particular deity and often, sects with different occultists, priests, priestesses, saints, sages and wise men form to dedicate their veneration towards that particular deity. Having said that, Harry said that conflicts between different sects rarely ever happen and if it does happen, there is a council dedicated to settling down their differences.

“You surely don't intend to throw young Harry on the battlefield?”

Winston grimaced upon hearing the secretary slightly scold him.

“Of course not, my dear. However, considering it’s him, he will need every training that’s available.” The secretary raised her eyebrows. “Why? Is it wrong to be more relaxed around my dear wife? It’s just the two of us, Elena. My secretary got sick, so I had to ask you to help me.”

“Not that…” The brown-haired lady seats on the table as she crosses her arms. “I mean, don’t you think Harry’s too young to join in the fight against the remaining criminal groups?”

“We’re 13 when we had our first kill. And my father was barely 12 when he had to join the strike companies of the underground National Akalelani Military Organization to defend their communities from being persecuted by the supremacist factions of the ICW…”

“That was before.” Elena retorted. “Times had changed. Though of course, I personally won’t stop him as it is his right to avenge his family figure under the Shalem Charter, it does make me uncomfortable when youngsters have to go through the same kind of experience as us.”

“First of all, I don’t intend to throw him there unless he himself insists that he joins the manhunt against the remaining criminals. However, the reality is that people who would want to harm him won’t stop until they finally get to him. Have you forgotten the case of the prominent Benbenisti Family murder case?” Winston said, much to the exasperation of his wife. “They murdered almost everyone in the clan just because the grandfather had put behind bars their mafia godfather. Fortunately, the former redevelopment areas where the majority of the criminal groups used to flourish have finally been pacified for the last ten years but this is not to say the threat has been vanquished completely. “

There was a moment of silence between the couples before Winston continued. “I promise that he won’t be asked to join the manhunt against the remaining criminals but if he ever comes face-to-face with his guardian’s remaining adversary, he has no choice but to fight back. That’s why we’re giving him and the rest of those under our security net additional training. So that they can survive should they need to defend themselves.”

Elena sighed. “Okay, you win this round, dear but I will hold you to your promise unless you want to be the next target practice for me and my son’s daily elemental archery practice. “

Winston’s face suddenly fell upon hearing that. “O-Of course, my dear.”

Elena then changed topics. “Enough of this. There’s another thing that’s bothering me about young Harry. What’s the update on Harry’s original guardian—his supposed godfather, a man named Sirius Black?”

Now, this got the attention of Fudge, Amelia, and the rest of the Aurors as well as Dumbledore and the other professors.
Ron merely looked at the adults with a frowning look. Based on the information from The Daily Prophet as well as some tidbits from the Hogwarts grapevine, Sirius Black was the traitor of the Potter family who squealed their charmed located to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named as well as murdering the Potter family’s secret keeper Peter Pettigrew.
Now, he exactly wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but even he secretly knew that there were inconsistencies with the fiasco involving Black, who has since escaped from Azkaban since last year and is a wanted fugitive on the run. For instance, the older Weasley twins told him about the appearance of the supposed dead Pettigrew on the Marauders’ Map that they possessed. Second, when he checked upon the older papers about the supposed night Sirius murdered Peter and a dozen muggles out of mere curiosity, the bodies of the latter were found in the photographs but not of the former, save for a severed finger. Third, Harry’s reaction towards the escape of Sirius from Azkaban last year was…rather odd.
While Ron expected Harry to feel some fear—and a tinge of anger—towards the last line of the Blacks of Magical Britain, his response of “Oh, okay, mate. I thought it was something important” was completely beyond his expectations.

Whether Harry knew something about the peculiarity of Sirius’ case or not, he can’t completely tell.

“What of him?” Winston said, clearly not understanding what his wife meant.

“Well, didn’t Harry seek your petition to try to give that man a political asylum in our lands or at least, give him a trial in the Tribunal Palace of the Sophet?”

“No! I will not allow it!” Fudge screamed angrily

“Hmmm. It seemed that I remembered now.” Winston said as he pulled out a folder from his desk. He then opened it and began to scan a printed document. “And based on the newspapers given to me by Harry and the testimony of one of our undercover agents in Magical Britain, it seemed that Mr. Sirius Black wasn’t even given a trial to determine whether he did truly commit those crimes that he was accused of doing.”

Now, it all makes sense.
Fudge was now on hot waters as he was trying to dismiss the words of the Akalelani leader while sputtering gibberish about Sirius being a part of the infamous Black Family which is why it just makes sense that he would hand over the Potter Family towards He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Meanwhile, both Amelia and Albus were thinking very hard about the implications over Winston's words. The DMLE Head was busy trying to remember if Sirius had faced the Wizengamot tribunal and, to her surprise, she couldn’t remember any instance that the last remaining male Black alive had a hearing while being physically present at the Wizengamot chambers. Although she can’t tell for sure as she was sworn in as the DMLE Head only a few months after the fiasco happened. .
Albus, for his part, just kept getting surprised and surprised. First, Harry shows up in an upstart land where he is sure he is now Public Enemy No. 1. Second, Sirius Black could be possibly innocent? Admittedly, all the evidence back in 1981 was totally stacked against Black and honestly, his familial background, especially having a brother like Regulus Black, would have made him a likely candidate for a traitor, right?

And most of all, how did Harry manage to get to know all of these before he did? The thought that the young Potter is actually secretly colluding with Sirius is slightly worrying to Albus.

“Now, that’s a strong assumption coming from Harry.” Elena raised her brows as she sat on the table while crossing her legs.

“And I believe I can see where he is coming from. You see, their papers say that Sirius Black murdered this chap Pettigrew but their so-called Auror cops found no trace of his body, save for a severed finger and even that is highly unusual.” Winston shook his head as he showed another photograph which is actually the severed finger of Peter Pettigrew. “One of our forensic pathologists whom I asked to examine the pictures said that the only possible explanation for his death that he can think of is that Mr. Sirius Black had blasted everything in Pettigrew’s body and even then, the cut’s too clean and suspiciously straight-lined for a possible blasting spell. And even if that’s the case, scattered body parts should have been seen as well.”

Suddenly, Elena’s eyes shot up. “So, you’re saying that…this Pettigrew could have framed Sirius by cutting off his finger to escape alive?”

“That’s the same conclusion the pathologist came up with. I believe that and their DMLE had a lot of shortcomings with this issue. Though of course, if rumors are to be believed, the British side of the Blacks are somewhat…messed up which kind of contributed to his hasty imprisonment.”

There was an uproar as the Aurors, as well as Fudge, were angrily displaying their outrage at what they call an insult to their capabilities while a few were firmly insisting that Sirius Black is the guilty party of the Halloween attack against the Potters.

But more importantly…
“...British side? Is he saying that there are other branches of the Blacks?” Terry Boot asked around.
“None as far as I’m aware. If there are, they’re probably squibs that got banished from Magical Britain.” Lisa Turpin replied.
Amelia frowned at that. While it’s true that the last male Black alive was Sirius and any squibs or those who married to muggle-borns were banished from their family, he can’t help but wonder if there are those who managed to flee to Akalelana to hide. She just can’t seem to shake off the feeling that there’s the possibility that there were since blood-kin of Sirius who managed to flee to foreign lands. And if this Ezra Black was proven to be a distant relative?
Well, things can quickly become chaotic.

“Well…did Harry do this to try to help his true guardian evade illegally from the law?”

“Well, he did swear to the National Comptroller the Oath of Sedek or as the ancient Greeks or the Ancient English call it, the Oath of Athena before he gave his testimony to our national police…”

Now, every adult and majority of the sixth and seventh years as well as many of the Pureblood family heirs gasped loudly in shock at what Winston just said.
“I-it can’t be…” Fudge stuttered while many of the Aurors were rendered speechless.

“What is this Oath of Athena that caught everyone by surprise? Is it something that’s deadly?” Hermione asked anyone she could see at the Gryffindor table.
Neville shook his head. “Hermione, that Oath’s one of the most powerful supernatural vows in existence…possibly even the most powerful one. Basically, when you make that vow, you have to be very careful of every wording that you say as even a slight deviation from what you’re swearing will end up taking away your life.”

Hermione and some of the muggle-borns paled at that.

Amelia decided to enlighten every youngster in the building. “In the old days, the Oath of Athena was mostly used by magical tribunals to determine if a person accused of committing a crime is lying or is committing a perjury. However, it’s fatal reputation was mainly because it can also kill a guarantor who’s trying to defend a person as long as the latter has actually committed a crime, even if that oath-taker did not know that. It was the latter reason why eventually, the Oath of Athena was done away by the English and Byzantine magical authorities during the 1300s and was replaced by the Veritaserum or the Unbreakable Vow. Although it appears right now that the Akalelani must have successfully preserved the knowledge and use of that dreaded oath and is still being permitted by their law enforcers in the present times.”

A first year squeaked. “I-Is that why that Oath is not being taught in Hogwarts?” She looked frightened at the prospect of an oath killing a person just because he did not know that

Amelia nodded. “It was removed from the annals of English historical record and any surviving knowledge of the Oath was mostly passed down in the books of Pureblood families.”
Hermione nodded at that. If so, Harry must have been confident enough to use that oath if he feels like Sirius Black was not given a fair trial and by being alive after swearing that oath, that means…
Her eyes widened in the sudden epiphany that she had.
“Si-Sirius Black must have been innocent then, if Harry’s still standing alive…” She muttered mostly to herself, but she was heard anyway. At that moment, chaos ensued as every adult was now starting to angrily question Fudge, who can only become red with embarrassment as he hides behind Amelia, who sighed and said that she will try to rectify the whole issue about Sirius Black.

“I see. The fact that he’s alive means that this Sirius Black person is innocent…” Elena said.

“But that’s not all. There’s something more interesting with Sirius Black. Did you know that aside from those who were descended from the Phoenicians and other Canaanite race who absorbed the divine powers of the Holy Rocks of Elyon which fell from the heavens, there were also those who intermarried with the Akalelani?”

“That’s honestly common knowledge, Winston. From Magical Britain alone, there were those who were English non-magicals, squibs or those who did not want to be part of the newly established ICW hundreds of years ago who caused a schism with their Main Families and ended up marrying with their own. Most famous are the Weasleys, Bones, Jones, Abbotts, Bocklehursts, Turpins, and…the Blacks, unsurprisingly.”

“The Blacks…does that mean that this Sirius Black might be, in some ways, be related to Ezra Black.”

Winston nodded. “In fact, there’s actually a stronger connection between those two than I had first suspected initially. I have here the birth certificate and the testament of Marius Black, an Englishman who said that he was banished from his main family back in Britain because he was a squib. Based on research, Mr. Marius was the third child of Cygnus Black and a certain Violetta Bulstrode and upon further inquiries, Sirius Black’s Uncle was actually a brother of Marius, by some stroke of fate. But in the end, Marius decided to marry a commoner who happened to have a Punic heritage and had five sons, one of which was Zechariah, who would later on marry Rachel, the lone daughter of Gideon Steiner, who was the very first commander-in-chief of the newly born Akalelani National Armed Forces. As everyone knows, Ezra is the eldest of the three offspring of Rachel and Zechariah.”

“Well…bloody hell…” It’s extremely very rare for Amelia to be vulgar in her speech but in this kind of situation, she felt her reaction was justified based on all the new stuff that they are learning currently.

“I didn’t know that the Blacks had squibs…” First year Romilda Vane exclaimed.
“I think everyone does not know at all. Most members of The House of Black are blood supremacists which is why it’s not surprising to think that they will banish someone just because they are squibs or are married to muggle-borns.” Her best friend and seat mate replied.
“Are you glossing over the fact that the Grand Magus guy and his wife said that some of the English magicals had distant relatives over there in Akalelana?” Someone from the first years of Ravenclaw mouthed off.
“Considering that there were indeed two splits between members of all magical families—first when the ICW was established and second,
when the British Ministry of Magic was put up…it was strongly possible that some of the ancestors of our British students here fled rather than to be under the restrictions of the two supreme bodies and ended up joining underground with the progenitors of the Akalelani population or mingled with the muggle population.” One of the Unspeakables said.
This made some of the family heirs even more curious as they want to see if they have Akalelani relatives present in the viewing of Harry Potter’s life in Akalelana. Of course, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George were all eager to see what kind of relatives they would see as it was mentioned that a branch of Akalelani Weasleys is present in their country.

Not everyone liked this development, though. Dumbledore was somewhat nervous as he realized that if Sirius isn’t freed sooner or later, this Ezra Black would basically have more control in Harry’s life and considering that the man seemed to have a more militaristic approach in life based on what was said in the video projector, he feared that Harry Potter might end up having a similar mindset to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And worse, he was sure that he was the subject of a prophecy that he had kept a secret from almost everyone barring Severus Snape.
It wasn’t wise, in his opinion, that Harry Potter moved out from his relatives’ house as the Blood Charms were broken quickly, evident by the fact that the Dursleys were murdered brutally although he decided to keep the latter part a secret from the others to prevent a mass hysteria from happening.
“So, if Sirius does manage to get his trial here in front of the Tribunal Palace in the event that the British Ministry fails to give justice to his case, will it mean that he will have to wrest the guardianship of Harry from Ezra?” Elena raises his eyebrows. “Currently, Ezra Black is the legal custodian of Harry Potter in the eyes of the Akalelani Basic Laws as his rights are protected under the Shalem Charter. I know because I was the representative of young Harry when he made an Oath of Loyalty to the State of Akalelana in the Tribunal Palace of the Sophet.”

“Then the Law will have to prevail. Sirius will have no choice but to make out-of-court settlements with Ezra if he wanted to gain access to young Harry and even then, he’d do so under a strict probation period.” Winston said.

The Grand Magus then stood up and stretched his arms. “Look, it’s almost lunch time. Do you want anything?” He said as he made weird hand signs before making a heart sign in his chest and before him, a large ring of sparkling fire appeared before the two of them.

“Considering that you made me go here just to fill up the time of your sickly secretary, at least give me some of the most expensive coffee in town.” Elena smirked as she puts her hands on her hips.

“All right, dear. The bill’s on me this time.” Winston sighed as he took Elena’s arm and they both entered the ring of fire portal in which they both disappeared as the large ring popped out of existence.

The giant television then went static before a sign saying “LOADING FOR THE NEXT VIDEO” was seen.
At that moment, pandemonium occurred as everyone was basically screaming, asking what the hell just happened.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“How did he manage to create a portal like that? Is he a magician?”
“Idiot. If he’s not a magician, Harry won’t even be there, much less be protected!”
“It looks even better than the usual floo network that we have or even apparition.”
“I want to go and see Akalelana personally. It looks better than what we have in Diagon Alley!”
As all the students had differing opinions about the first video displayed by the magical television-like artifact, Amelia was busy talking with the Aurors about the situation of Sirius Black when suddenly, Dumbledore appeared behind her.
“Madame Bones, would it be too much if I request that we revisit the case about Sirius Black? I wish to ascertain that he properly gets a trial this time, if it is indeed true that he didn’t get one.” The Headmaster wanted to get Sirius freed not only because he truly deserved to get justice for getting framed up but because he was sure he is the only one who can get back Harry Potter from the hands of the Akalelani people.
“That’s what we’re talking about right now.” Amelia sighed as she wanted to take a Calming Draught Potion as she was feeling a bit of a headache right now. “The problem right now is that we don’t know how we can contact him or even find him. He’s pretty much hidden everywhere.”
“I…”
“Blimey! Look! It’s Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew…again! They seemed to be chasing each other in the Transfiguration Courtyard!”
Dumbledore was about to comment about how to find Sirius Black when the twins Fred and George beat him to it as everyone turned their attention. Dumbledore and Bones then saw what looked like a piece of folded parchment being brandished in the air.
Amelia obviously didn’t take them seriously at first. “Do you think you’re being funny right now?!”
“What? No! I swear, it’s real! This map is an old artifact that we got before and it tracks everyone down accurately!”
Dumbledore decided that it wouldn’t hurt to check if Sirius and Peter are in the courtyard. “Perhaps, we should verify what the Weasley Twins are saying.”
A few second later, Albus, Amelia, and the rest of the Aurors stationed in Hogwarts were not running towards the courtyard and when they reach there, they found a rough-looking and obviously unkempt man with ragged clothes now aiming a wand at a prostate person who had rat-like features.
But even with the years passed and the obvious physical changes, Amelia can’t believe her eyes as everything that was told in the video was bloody accurate.”
“Sirius Black! Peter Pettigrew! Wands down!”
Both Sirius and Peter looked towards the now-large group of Aurors surrounding them but before the rat animagi could attempt to escape, Albus took the liberty to stun him quickly before saying, “Sirius, it’s time to correct a grave injustice.”

An hour later, Sirius was given a fresh change of clothes while Pettigrew was binded and silent before being transported to one of the holding cells in the DMLE.

It turned out that Sirius has been spending most of his time as a runaway hunting down his ex-friend as well as finding his godson, whom he did not immediately find when he tried to check the Dusrley residence in Little Whinging. He was somehow successful in his first endeavour but not so in his second. Nevertheless, he still has a lot of business to fix before he can resume finding his godson.
Although an official retrial would have to be conducted, Amelia had promised Sirius that he’s unofficially a freeman now, much to the happiness of the dogman although it was quickly deflated as Amelia also ordered Sirius to quickly register by next week so that he doesn’t have to pay anymore penalties as his prison time in Azkaban was credited as a punishment for his failure to register as an animagi.

She and Dumbledore also gave Sirius a rundown about what happened this morning and why there were a lot of people witnessing what seemed to be the revealing of what was happening with his godson, who had since left the United Kingdom after his first year in Hogwarts.
“So let me get this straight…Harry was selected as the Fourth Champion of that cursed artifact despite him not even being anywhere near the British Isles to put his name…what the hell are you doing right now to even sort this out?!” Sirius was practically yelling right now.
“We’re doing everything we can to find out who put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire but right now, it’s much more important to see what else the video will show so that we can finally know how to reach young Harry.” Albus said with his usual twinkle.
“Okay, I see.” Sirius calmed down as he ingested everything he was told. So Harry’s in that neutral but somewhat hostile country called Akalelana and is being taken care of by someone who seemed to be distantly related to me while their national leader or something also happens to know Harry personally. Hmph, it looks like his situation is a lot better than I expected.
From where she was seated, Hermione took a brief glance at the person who was supposed to be Harry’s official godfather. So this is Sirius Black. She was honestly intimidated by Sirius’ rather ragged looks before she reminded herself that this was probably due to his time in Azkaban.

Before anything else can be said or done, the video started to play again. This time, there was an opening spiel with the title A DIFFERENT SIDE OF ME which some viewers thought was too bland.

The screen opens up to a reasonably-spacey bedroom where a prone Harry Potter was seen lying in his bed while looking aimlessly at the ceiling. In the wall were posters of basketball player Alonzo Mourning as well as posters and memorabilia of their city’s local basketball club, the Red Vipers Tel Hammon. In front of the bed was a glass cabinet with a lot of photos, trophies, medals, and surprisingly, a two-edged sword that looked like a lengthened Egyptian dagger with a longer blade while covered with a wooden scabbard strung with leather straps.

Not surprisingly, many were taken aback by the appearance of the sword, which looked well-crafted and well-maintained.
“Mr. Potter shouldn’t even be handling those kinds of weapons at his age!” For the first time in a while, Minerva spoke while looking outraged at the sword in Harry’s cabinet.

“I mean, Akalelana might have a different policy and culture about holding martial weapons…” Filius Flitwick suggested.

“That doesn’t mean that he should be having a sword in his possession. That’s not how we teach magic here in Britain.”
“Well, he’s in Akalelana right now so what happens here doesn’t really matter in their place…probably…”
Well, look how lovely he had grown up . Tears were threatening to fall from Sirius’ eyes as he watched how matured his godson looked right now. Although he was somewhat concerned at the look of his eyes. Did something happen? Why does he look very depressed? Oh yeah…Amelia told me that this distant relative of mine…this bloke Ezra got hurt critically in a mission.
As Harry was musing on his own thoughts, a vibration was heard on his phone. Quickly, he fished out his device and checked the caller. Well, shit. Kate’s going to kill me for not telling her that I would miss classes. I guess I needed to come clean.
“Eh? What’s that thing on his hand?”

“Yeah…it looks scary. I mean, it sounded like a vibrating apparatus.”
Hermione took this cue to enlighten some of the confused pureblood. “Basically, it’s what muggles and muggle-born call a phone, which can be used for texting and calling other people. Just think of it as a mechanised floor network but you see a tiny gadget.”
“Seriously?! I didn't know such advanced apparatus existed.” one of the Ravenclaws exclaimed.

“I admit that it looks more convenient.”
Hermione shrugged. It wasn't really that advanced, but it was really useful back at home. She herself owns one and looking at Harry’s, she realized that they both use the same brand, except perhaps that he had an updated model.

“I’m more interested as to who this Kate person is.” One of the female Hufflepuffs said with a thoughtful look and then suddenly, she sounded mischievous. “Orrr…she must have been his girlfriend!”
Hermione and Ron sputtered at that while the others were whispering at that possibility. Ginny, who was beside the person that teased about the possibility of Harry having a girlfriend, frowned as she did not like that thought, for some reasons.

Harry stood up from his bed and ran outside of his room, through the living room, and towards the main door. He dashes through the pavement dividing the grass before going to the iron gates to see a girl standing outside the property, her arms crossed while her feet were tapping impatiently.

About the same age as Harry, the girl with dirty-blonde hair had an obvious athletic build with a pale skin tone, rosy cheeks, and prominent baby blue eyes. In short, she was incredibly beautiful by high standards. She was wearing a black tennis skirt, sleeveless white shirt, and athletic rubber shoes. She had a sling bag on her shoulders.

“Ooohhh…”
Needless to say, the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang can’t help but admire the natural beauty of the girl that was meeting with Harry while noticing how much confidence radiates from her. A few women even felt their self-esteem become smaller as they think these are the types of girls that Harry Potter favors the most.
“Oh, what a smart boy!” Sirius praised his godson while smiling in the most lecherous way possible that a few of the Hogwarts staff and Amelia were beginning to get disgusted by his perverted smile.

“She’s very lush, mate! And she’s quite tidy too…” Ron approves Harry’s choice.
Hermione blushed while looking at the girl. She definitely is a keeper and if Harry even dared think about cheating on her, she’d hex him ‘til infinity.

“Hey, Kate…” Harry wasn't even finished greeting her when the girl named Kate launched a barrage of lectures towards the male.

“Hey? Hey? Is that all you have to say to me after you ditch school and run straight to the hospital?! You could have at least taken me with you so we can cut classes together!” Kate ranted.

“Eh? She'd also cut classes with my mate?” Ron couldn't believe it. In his experience, cutting classes could also mean getting an earful from Hermione and he did not expect this Kate girl to be the total opposite of the bushy haired girl.

“Look…I’m sorry I did not go to school today. I…”

“Stupid…” The girl lightly bumped his head before pulling him closer to her to hug him tightly. “Do you know how much worry you caused me a while back? Mom and dad were worried that the stupid mafia would be targeting you after what happened to your adoptive guardian. Heck, dad even thought of hunting them down before they went for your head!”

As they both hugged affectionately, Kate’s ID was seen flying in the wind that briefly breezed past them, exposing her full name “KATRINA BONES” along with her signature.

“...”
“...”
Amelia and Susan Bones can only blink. Remembering in the previous video that there was an Akalelani branch of the Bones Family, they leaned forward to get a better look at Kate.
“Your cousin's pretty…” Hannah whispered to her best friend.
“I know. I wonder what kind of magic power she possesses.” Susan whispered back and in all honesty, she wished that she could meet her in person, if ever it is proven that she shared the same lineage as hers.

It was understandable as almost the Entire English branch of the Family of the Bones got annihilated during the First Wizarding War and her parents were among the casualties.
Amelia was similarly having such thoughts. It would be nice to meet a family branch from outside Britain and from the looks of it, this Kate person seemed nice and lovely to be around with, if it’s proven that she’s a distant relative.

“Look, I’m sorry to have caused you so much distress. Honestly, I was in a bit of a mess myself the moment I received the text message that he’s in critical condition that I entirely forgot to tell you since I had to rush to the hospital.” Harry apologized as he caressed her hair. “By the way, thanks for seeing me here and kindly tell your mom and dad that I am just fine.”

Kate’s frowning features softened as she looked at Harry with loving eyes. “Harry, we’ve been close friends for so long since you first landed here in Akalelana so of course, I’d have a heart attack if something horrible happens to you.” She then blushed. “By the way, Monday’s a General Assembly and we’ll have to hold an Assessment Demo in front of the panelists.”

Kate then touched Harry’s hand, making the face of the latter grow red as he looked away and said. “W-Well, okay. But first, I’ll have to visit Uncle Ezra again tomorrow and Sunday to leave something for him.”

“And here, I thought they were already a thing.” Parvati Patil was clearly disappointed.
“I think it’s very clear that they’re not even dating.” Ginny said, a smug expression carved in her face.’
“…Yet. Maybe they have not admitted their feelings towards each other. Are you jealous?” Parvati replied, a smirk forming in her lips when she noticed Ginny fidget with her question.

“Of course, Harry. Anything, for you.” Kate winked at him.

“By the way, who’s going to assess us Monday morning?” Harry asks as she lets Kate go inside while he locks the gates.

“Rab Reshek said it’s Sir Benhur from the same unit as your Uncle Ezra, Mr. Tekoa, Miss Stephanie Grey, and of course, Sir Alexis Weasley from the city’s local defense brigade.”

“Wicked!” Fred and George Weasley said the moment they heard that someone named Weasley was going to be seen on the video.
Even Ron and Ginny were somewhat excited as they quickly fixed their seats to make themselves more comfortable as they wanted to have a better view on the video.

“Ah shit, Sir Benhur and Sir Alexis? Looks like it will be hell day on Monday.” Harry sighed.

Meanwhile, the video then went static again before another scene was opened. This time, it showed what looked like to be a wide field of lawn surrounded by a huge number of structures, most of which are normal three-story buildings similar to the schools found in Japan while there are also a number of smaller structures as well as a large gymnasium. As it was a bird’s eye view, the whole place can be seen from above.

MONDAY 20XX

Upper Bayit Tanit High School of the Mystical Arts

It was Monday morning and a throng of students were all marching towards the large gates of the school, which covers an area of 10,000 acres, making it the largest school in the whole of Akalelana. They were all wearing dark blue track pants, white t-shirts, and white rubber shoes. The gates lead straight to the grassfield as the gate was connected directly to the field by a paved road, which is surrounded with trees and buildings.

Once more, many students were shocked when they heard what the narrator said about the school’s overall length and width.
“Eh, that’s wider than the whole grounds of Hogwarts…although the castle itself seemed to be taller than all of their buildings…” First Year Steart Ackley commented.

“Yea, their whole grounds…that’s like the size of a small city, if I am being honest.” Fellow freshman Orla Quirke replied.

After entering the gates, almost every student then converged at the back of the field while some of their teachers and instructors were around them, trying to maintain orderliness.

On the other farther side of the field was a raised platform with a table with four people sitting behind the long table.

“Looks like the wet-behind-ears-kids are ready to rumble, Steph.” A redhead wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and rubber shoes was seen with a sword slung in his back.

“At least, the batch this year was early to report, unlike last year’s mess. And didn’t you contribute to last year’s royal rumble, Weasley.” One of the panelists, a woman named Stephanie Grey, raised her eyebrows at Alexis Weasley, who merely shrugged while lighting a cigarette using a lighter that he hid in his socks.

“Hey, my excuse is that there were some of the mafiosi who entered the school grounds the night before last year’s regular assessment tests. How would I know that they carried with them a bomb powered by polar dust?” Alexis raises both his hands. “And I already paid for the damages caused by my Flame Meteor Technique.”

“He looks cool!” Fred and George Weasley said simultaneously while Ron and Ginny were busy looking at their Akalelani distant relative, who looked to be in his early 20s. Sporting a military fade cut, the Weasley in the video looked obviously imposing in the way he presents himself despite his muggle choice of clothing.

Though, they were somewhat unnerved by the scar that ran across his left eye.

“Scary…” Neville was somewhat taken aback by the straight scar that looked like it got cut by a sword.

“I’m more horrified by how much he smokes those things.” Hermione was disgusted by the appearance of a cigarette.

“By the way, how many students are enrolled for this year and how many will be participating for the first assessment?” Sir Benhur Blythe, a comrade of Ezra Black, asked while looking at the papers.

“All in all, there are 35,000 students and that doesn’t count yet the teachers and trainers. For the general assembly, everyone's obligated to perform but after the assembly, we'll have to select specific students for the specialized assessments. You can't rate them all in one day, afterall,” Mr. Sebastian Tekoa, a martial arts grandmaster working for Tel Hammon’s city government, replied, waving the enrollment data papers given to them.

The eyes of Hogwarts’ staff widened.
“3-35,000 students?” Flitwick’s jaws dropped at the large numbers.
“The whole student body of Hogwarts doesn’t reach 1,200 people.” Herbology teacher Pomona Sprout looked like she was about to cry.

Only Potions master Severus Snape wasn’t impressed although with how he regularly sneers, it was hard to tell if he wasn’t impressed or it’s just him being his usual grumpy self.

“I mean, we shouldn’t be surprised with how large their school was but still…35,000 is a huge population…” Bathsheda Babbling, the Ancient Runes teacher, said.

“Looks like the kids are here. Do you all want to start now or do you still have some things to prepare?” Sebastian asked.

“Look, let’s get this over with. I want to go home and drink some Horilka.” Alexis said as he stood up and took out what looked like to be his modified OTs-27 Berdysh service pistol from his belt and cocked the slide before he fired it in the air.

Miraculously, the sound of the 9mm bullet roared all the way to the Hogwarts Hallway, causing many students to cover their ears as the sound pierced their eardrums like a knife.

As if the gunfire had managed to create a miracle, the student body, which was just noisy moments ago, suddenly grew quiet before one by one, the horde began to run across the field. One by one, all the students present formed columns of perfect lines as they take formation in front of the platform.

“I like their discipline.” Durmstrang Institute Headmaster Igor Karkaroff merely said. Beneath his stoic expressions, he was actually surprised to see that a school other than their own was actually teaching their students combat skills, if his analysis of their basic martial arts movement was correct.

“Of course you would.” Albus blandly said to him with a hint of disdain.

“Let’s see what you kids got.” Alexis roared as he then shouted. “First step: Basic Rest Stance!”

All of the students clenched their fists while shaping their arms like a hook outwards. They then shifted as they slowly squatted their knees like they were sitting on an imaginary stool and folded their arms into a praying position. As they do that, a miasma of purple and bluish energy begins to emerge and envelop all of the students.

“Wh-What are they doing and what is that…whatever it is that is enveloping their bodies?” Amelia asked, a bit creeped out by the scene.
“I believe they are doing a form of martial arts that is similar or is basically developed from the martial arts culture of China, Korea, and Japan. They took the concepts of the East Asian fighting tradition and combined it with their largely-Canaanite style of fighting.” The Unspeakable replied. “As for the fog-like miasma surrounding them, it’s actually a form of supernatural energy that’s present in all humans—at least, that’s what I heard from my lone source. You could say that it’s similar to how we produce magic but it’s something that's more specialized to suit their needs. The difference is that they rarely or never use any wands at all. Oh look…it’s Harry Potter.”

Harry, like the rest of the student body, was enveloped in a bluish miasma and was doing the basic steps of the martial arts system that was largely derived from Shaolin Kung Fu. He, like the others, shows off his flexibility like how he moved from his Horse Stance to a Sidekick stance as he quickly rises and kicks his right leg above his head and goes back to his rest stance before kicking into his left.

“That seemed pretty hard to do!” Hannah said. “Just running alone for five minutes already makes me so tired.”

“I don’t think we all can do that…” Ernest muttered.

“Not only that…they’re pretty much well-coordinated and they are all in-sync in doing so, especially since there are more than 30,000 students there.” Fifth Year Kenneth Towler commented as he can’t help but watch how simultaneous they are in moving.

The scene then shifted inside what seemed to be a large gymnasium, with only female students present. Kate was one of them and she joined all the students in getting swords (similar to the one Harry has) that were stacked in the wooden crates while the assessor, Stephanie Grey, were waiting for them as she, too, had a sword in her hand while she was wearing a white tank top and athletic slacks.

The moment everyone got a sword in their hands, Stephanie called out one name. “Katrina Bones! Forward!”

The blonde teen then steps forward, about ten feet away from Stephanie while the others merely stepped away from them and watched from the sidelines. The moment the two are facing each other, they bow to each other as a sign of respect and after bowing, something was glowing in the feet of the older woman and after one of the contestants just blinked once, Stephanie leaped up in the air sideways and ran…in the wall literally.

She then leaped from the walls and aimed her own sword before she swung it towards Kate, who stood there aimlessly, as if she was frozen on her spot.

Then in the split second, she managed to evade the incoming blade as she stepped sideways and let Stephanie gide past her. The latter then stopped as she twisted her body to face Kate before swinging her sword towards the young blonde. Kate, though, managed to parry all of her blows as they both clashed.

“Is that Stephanie teacher trying to kill Harry’s girl?!” Ron was shocked to see how fierce their duel is.
“Really, Ronald?” Hermione was exasperated with Ron’s stupidity. “Of course, not! She’s merely testing Kate. It’s an assessment drill, like it was mentioned a while ago.”

Kate then went on the offensive as she grasps her sword with her before she takes a deep breath. Stephanie blinked once—just one fucking blink—but as soon as the scene shifted and she had opened her eyes, she was forced to retreat backwards as all of the sudden, Kate appeared in front of her with a vicious smile.

“How did she appear in front of Miss Stephanie Grey that fast?!” First Year Graham Pritchard wasn’t able to comprehend what just happened.
“I…I don't know. It’s just like she appeared or teleported in front of Miss Grey.” For the first time in her public life here in Hogwarts, Daphne Greengrass stuttered as she herself cannot explain what just occurred on the screen.

“Trackless Step…How annoying…” Stephanie had to give props to her opponent as she was forced on the defensive by Kate, who kept up her attacks. The POV then changed to show Kate jabbing her sword before making a couple of thrusts that looked like an imaginary kite figure with isometric lines…as seen by an imaginary line drawn where the tip of the blade passed through. Then she slashes again, this time making a series of upward barrages of jabs that look like the waves of a sea represented by slanted lines inside a square figure.

“A-Amazing…” One of the Durmstrang students was in awe of her sword style as he couldn't help but be drawn to it.

“Wow…” From the Hufflepuff Table, Susan can’t help but be attracted by the fighting style of her kin. Hannah noticed this and then smirked. “You wanted to be a swordswoman too?”

“Eeeek!” Susan was taken by complete surprise by Hannah’s teasing.

“Harry’s lady is so cool!” George and Fred exclaimed.

Not everyone seemed to enjoy the scene, though. Minerva was raging at what she thought was excessive violence that would fit with You-Know-Who’s sadistic pleasure. Albus, for his part, was frowning, seeing that the girl whom young Harry could possibly be in love with can prove to be a detriment to the progression of the prophecy. In his opinion, it would have been better for Harry to be back in Britain so he can be safe and enjoy his youth before he could face off in a fated clash with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rather than with a company of people who are ready to kill for survival.

Stephanie then blocked a downward cut from Kate before she retreated. “That was close. But just as I expected from a member of the Bones Family.” She then smiled. “Did your father Kamon or your mother Keturah teach you that style? I haven’t seen it before.”

“Dad and mom taught me the usual Bones Style of Swordsmanship which is an art of the mystical combat arts of the Akalelani side of the Bones family, though every Bones from Magical Britain and Magical Australia can also use it as long as they prove to be compatible with it.” Kate explained. “But with that said, I modified it so I can fight even those wand users who fire spells from a long distance.”

“Well…I would like to see that…you know, one of my ancestors was a former student from that accursed Hogwarts School so I know a thing or two about curses…” Stephanie doesn’t wish to do this but she was in front of a NEFILIM 12 member. If she was as good as advertised, then this should be easy to evade, if not block as she wasn’t expecting her to block it without severe repercussions.

All of the sudden, she took out a wand and cried, “Avada Kedavra!”

“What?!”
“What?!”
“What?!”
Almost everyone shouted in horror and shock as they watched Stephanie Grey unexpectedly launch one of the most sinister Unforgivable Curses in their Wizarding World.

Out of worry and automatic panic, Susan latched onto Hannah’s arm and squeezed it unintentionally so hard that the latter felt like she was losing her blood from her arms.

“Not only does she know how to use a wand, but she actually launches the Killing Curse towards a human?!”

“Kate should duck quickly!”

Kate merely frowned but as the spell raced towards its intended target, she quickly imbibed her sword with her own supernatural energy. She then swung upwards the moment the spell was near her, with her sword hitting the energy core of the spell cleanly. There was a ping sound as the spell then looked like it bounced off from the metal like a ping pong ball as the spell was redirected towards the ceiling and it ended up exploding.

“Sh-She managed to knock it off using her own sword?!” Draco can’t believe what he just saw.

“But I thought they were supposed to explode right away when they hit something solid?!” Pansy Parkinson looked like she was beginning to question everything she had previously believed in.
All of the professors and aurors can’t believe their eyes. The Killing Curse—the same Killing Curse that was the favorite of You-Know-Who and what was used to murder the Potter couple—was intercepted by a teenage girl using her own sword and managed to get away unscathed.

“N-No way…” George and Fred whimpered.
“She didn’t hesitate to knock off the bloody Killing Curse and more incredible, she made it out alive. She’s not daft, isn’t she?” Ron asked, his brain still reeling from what he saw.

“She must have known she could stop it with a power only known to her or otherwise, she won’t be able to.” Hermione said seriously.

Meanwhile, Severus Snape found himself stumbling on his chair while thinking hard. The Potter spawn’s girl had somehow managed to hit the Killing Curse with only a sword?! The Dark Lord won’t be happy to see this once he returns. He grimaced as he knew that anything that can challenge his Trump Card would serve to greatly anger him. And once that happens, he would torture someone with the Cruciatus Curse. And that someone being him, unfortunately.
Albus Dumbledore was similarly feeling weak upon seeing how the girl easily bounced off the Killing Curse from her sword. This complicates things. He sighed.
Meanwhile, both Amelia and Susan released the breaths they did not know they were holding as they were relieved that nothing bad happened to the girl.
Impressive. Stephanie Grey said in her mind as all the girls cheered.

She then walked forward to Kate, who was just waiting for the next attack. “May I inquire as to how you managed to bounce off the Killing Curse when you have more than enough power to just evade? I was originally thinking to see if your reflexes are sharp enough to evade or even take a small step aside but instead, you did that? How?”

“Well, my grandfather developed spells that are specifically used to counter the three deadly curses of the Wizarding World and I simply used the one that was made to counter the Killing Curse in conjunction with an amulet made from a meteorite made out of pure manna…” Kate explained while showing her stone amulet. “Although I have to be fast and have pinpoint accuracy so it must cleanly hit the energy core of the spell for the counterattack to work so if it's a mass attack, I would have no choice but to retreat…”

She then muttered some words and true enough, connected magical lines began to appear on the blade before

“Even so, being able to bounce off a Killing Curse from a sword is unheard of…at least in classes where we are taught how to combat those wand-brandishing Wizards. The common thing the Grand Magus and the higher-ranked koshephim do is open a portal to an alternate location to divert the spell somewhere, use a physical shield, substitution technique or simply step aside. Someone else might have done your method before but this is the first time I have seen someone do it.”

“Thanks Ma'am but aren't we supposed to continue with our duel?”

Stephanie waved it off. “No. I have seen enough. You may sit down now. Next, Kristal Benel, go in front!”

“She’s a prodigy…and a quick thinker on her feet.” Sirius can't help but praise her while inwardly, he was also praising Harry for snagging someone like her. What a good catch, Harry. She's the perfect girl for you .

Minerva only frowned as she felt the girl had powers that should be banned as she thinks they were too dangerous.

Ginny felt her self-esteem get smaller as she pouts while watching the blonde girl do those stuff. Bloody hell! How am I supposed to compete with her?!

The scene then changes back to the office of the Palace of Bayit Tamuz. Five minutes later, Alexis, Stephanie, Sebastian, and Benhur were seen entering the office after a group of four people were finished presenting their papers to Winston.

“Good Afternoon, Your Excellency, and Peace Be with You.” Benhur bowed as he greeted.

“Peace be with you also, Sir Benhur.” Winston greeted back before he smiled. “Out of all schools from the 24 Makhoz being jointly funded and run directly by the Office of the Grand Magus, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Justice, you were the last ones to report your assessment from yesterday.” He then chuckles. “Well, it’s to be expected from the largest high school campus here in Akalelana. What’s the report, by the way?”

“Everyone from the four-man group looked at Alexis, who just sighed before speaking up. “Well, as expected, the students performed satisfactorily, perhaps even better than last year which was a disaster. And of course, the Nefilim 12 of Upper Bayit Tanit High performed beyond what we were expecting. Although the ratings were a bit…not balanced, shall we say…”

“Oh…do tell…” Winston was all ears.

“First of all, the highest scorer of them all, Lucas Weaver, had complete mastery in both theory and practical application of the mystical arts and the performance of the fundamentals of the martial arts. He also had a good control of his Nepesh and his non-magical grades are also at the top of his batch.”

“Hmph. A natural prodigy then but why do I sense that there’s a but in all of these…”

“You’re right Grand Magus. From the reports that we heard, he was a bit withdrawn and aloof from the rest of the student body and every time some of his fangirls would try to go near him, he would lash out at them to leave him alone as he will say in verbatim, they’re not worthy of his time.” Alexis sighed. “I believe this was the result of the murder of his whole family at the hands of his own older brother Matthew, who was a member of the remaining mafiosi, which is why I understand why he’s all acting out.”

“His family was killed by his older brother…” Ron paled. He could not imagine his older brothers Charlie, Bill, Percy or even the twins going batshit crazy like that.

“Unfortunately, it does happen here in our society. Some people would really commit things that would make you question their sanity,” Sirius said while remembering his brother Regulus as well as his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange.

“But at the same time, he needed to move on at some point. Moping around won’t bring his family back.” Benhur argued. “Had he approached any peer that could help him break out of his shell?”

“I’m sorry but that sounds stupid. Moving on isn’t that easy, especially when you lose a lot of your relatives.” Amelia was speaking from her heart. After all, the majority of the English branch of the Bones Family was murdered by You-Know-Who, among them Susan’s parents. “It takes decades and even then, there are those who would be affected psychologically and mentally due to the distress of remembering everyone that quickly left the earthly realm.”

“Hear, Hear!” Many of the viewers agreed with Amelia.

“You’d think that was not tried?” Alexis drawled. “From what I heard, he severely threatened any peer or even schoolmate who tried to talk to him. Not even therapy which is being paid by his uncle was helping…”

Winston sighed. This kid’s going to be a headache if he does not learn how to connect with his peers. “Let’s move on from him for now. So who’s the second?”

“Katrina Bones. One of the only two girls in the Nefilim 12.” Stephanie can’t help but smile when the teenage blonde’s name was called. “Like Lucas Weaver, she had excellent grades in her theory and practical application of the mystical arts and performance of the basic martial arts. She also had good control of his Nepesh and her non-magical grades are also holding up. If there’s anything I noticed from her though, it’s that her powers are so enormous and yet, her surprisingly small Nepesh reserves are quickly getting obliterated after an hour so had to rely on her sword more often than not to compensate for her streaky stamina.”

“That can be fixed with proper stamina training. I had the same problem too when I was her age and I came out just fine.” Stephanie argued.

“I agree. She still has lots of time and is still young. Long-term training and Nepesh exercises will help her.” Alexis agreed. “On the other hand, she seemed to be a lovely one to be around and is a team-player, based on observations noted by her teachers. Although when needed, she can play dirty as well and has a hidden mischievous streak that most people don’t often see. On to the next students…”

“Well damn. That makes Harry even smarter for his choice of a long-term partner.” Sirius said.

Now, the third to tenth members of the Nefilim 12 featuring Neil Zalunsky, Hanibal Ben-Nun, David Weisz, Camille Klieger (the only other girl and Kate’s best friend), Ray Perel, Julian Vanloo, Samuel Agnon, and Hamad Ben-Hadad, all had one thing in common—they had average grades lower than the first two but were equally adept in the martial arts. And they were noted to not have any misconduct in school—with the exception of Vanloo, whom Stephanie noted as a subtle pervert when no one is watching him.

“And the last two…” Alexis said with a grimace. “...the eleventh Nefilim 12…Alijah Dumbledore…”

“...”
“...”
“...”
“Eh?”
Instantly, the reaction from the whole hall was mixed with silence with that of cricket-like mutters as they did not expect that a possible relative of Albus was seen in Akalelana, a state where the Hogwarts Headmaster might have a not-so-nice reputation.
“Albus? Do you know that young man?” Minerva asked her old mentor.
“N-No…As far as I’m aware, only my younger brother Aberforth had an offspring and even he did not live that long…” Albus was stuttering though he did not care how it looked to his audience. It did not take long for his interest to spike as he wanted to see how this Alijah boy was related to him.

“Well…for starters, I wasn’t sure if he’s making a mockery out of us…” Sebastian said while massaging his forehead.

“Why do you think that’s the case?”

“First and foremost, both his mystical arts and martial arts ratings are…abysmal as he’s only giving the effort needed to barely pass the tests. It’s the same thing with his non-magical grades and oftentimes, some of the teachers that I have talked to are telling me that he always sleeps in his chair when things aren’t interesting enough in his opinion. Heck, I already caught him taking a nap on the rooftop after the drills had barely finished.”

“Wow…” Hermione had a sarcastic reaction. “Even Ron wasn’t that bad and he’s already the most unmotivated student I have ever seen…”
“Hey, I heard you Hermione!” Ron said with a glare.
The bushy haired girl merely sticks her tongue out at the youngest Weasley male, much to the amusement of the other Gryffindors in their table, before turning her attention back to the screen.
At the teacher’s table, the adults were discussing. “Of all the Dumbledore’s that I have heard about, that young man’s probably the laziest already. A complete opposite of Albus.” Muggles Studies teacher Charity Burbage said.”

“...I don’t know. There’s probably a big BUT in all of that if he managed to be in the same list of whatever this Nefilim 12 is as Harry’s close friend.” Sirius pointed out.

“But on the other hand, Alijah’s IQ is something I haven’t seen before and it’s honestly unnerving to witness it.” Alexis pulled out a printed document. “They had their tests on their IQ taken and to my shock, his scores bordered over 200.”

Many of the muggleborns had their mouths dropped off at that.
“200?!” Hermione was somewhat outraged.
“Eh? What does that supposed to mean?” Ron asked.
“It’s hard to explain on its own terms but in the equivalent Wizarding tests, that is like making 12 straight Os in an O.W.L. examination.” Hermione explained. “Which is why I find it hard to believe that he’s that intelligent if his schoolwork is terrible.”

“Also, during the Escape-And-Evasion Drills coupled with the Capture the Fort Game simulation game, he was the only one who managed to capture many enemy flags without even using any of his own abilities as a kosemim . Not even Lucas Weaver, the so-called face of the Nefilim 12, was able to do that. Perhaps the only other guy who beat his record is…well, the last boy that we’ll be discussing shortly…”

“Any bets that the last member of their so-called Nefilim 12 is Harrykins?!” Fred and George said that while standing up to act as bookies.

Despite the frowning glare of Minerva, many in the Hogwarts student body discretely passed along money to the twins, with Hermione betting on Harry’s favor, stating that it was already mentioned in the previous video that Harry was one of the Nefilim 12, if anyone bothered to remember it.

“Lastly, the only problem that he’ll be facing moving on is that, aside from his chronic laziness, is that his situation isn’t entirely his fault, to begin with.” Alexis scratched his head.

“Let me guess…it’s his distant relations with that old man Albus Dumbledore…” Stephanie said, already knowing where the conversation was going.

“Pretty much it. Ever since that old man tried to pull that stunt of attempting to read the mind of the previous Grand Magus and force us to submit to the whims of the ICW, he’s pretty much a Persona non Grata here in our state.”

“You WHAT?!” Minerva screamed angrily at Albus while the others were at loss of words at what he had actually done.
Albus grimaced, realizing that he had to explain his actions before a misunderstanding could occur. “Please, you all have to realize that the State of Akalelana had a population where the magical and their version of a muggle population actually interact with one another—something that is unimaginable in our Wizarding Society. I was merely concerned that it can have a negative repercussion to the Wizarding Society that we have grown to know. Although I admit that I was acting rather rashly in trying to invite their previous leader to join the ICW.” He defends his actions though in hindsight, he knew that what he did was something very stupid and he was kicking himself mentally for being too impulsive.

Hermione frowned at that. She thought that it was a good thing that their headmaster was rebuffed by whoever was the previous Grand Magus as it meant that Harry was able to stay safe by not leaving the shores of Akalelana. She is also beginning to get the idea that while their Headmaster is a genuinely good man who tried to do everything in his power to protect their world against Voldemort, he also made mistakes that ultimately contributed to Harry being forced to leave their Wizarding Society.

Winston sighed at that. “I remembered that. The backlash was so strong that a few of the provincial government units even had a Shoot-To-Kill Order against him or any of his lackeys, if any. It even prompted the Education department to add the study of countermeasures against wizard wands and the three deadly curses to the current curriculum that we’re now using.”

“Well, damn.” Sirius was now starting to get worried that he won’t be able to see his godson personally if the State of Akalelana was willing to go as far as to even have Albus and, to a long extent, the members of the Order of the Phoenix, executed if ever either one of them tries to step foot on to Akalelani land once more.

“Safe to say that you’re no longer welcome in their country, Albus.” Amelia merely commented.
“I know.” Albus sighed.

“We can discuss Albus Dumbledore another time. Let’s talk about the last member of the Nefilim 12 and probably the most confusing.” Alexis started. “None other than the prodigal son hailing from Britain…Harry Potter…”

“Wooo! I knew it was Harrykins!” Fred and George cheered for the money that they managed to rake from betting on whether Harry was one of the students in the list.
Some of the students cried at losing their money while the others were frowning.

“...First of all, he’s the most polarizing guy that I have met from all the students that I have met, probably even more of an enigma than Alijah was.” Alexis continued. “His martial arts and mystical arts grades as well as his non-magical grades are…bizarre.”

“Bizarre in what way?” Winston asked.

Sebastian decided to take this cue to continue for Alexis. “I have seen the records from his teachers and all four of us agree that he seems to be holding back. Why? Almost all of his grades are always the exact minimum needed to pass much like Alijah. However, if you remember the emergencies which required the Nefilim 12 to help alongside the authorities, his ranking should be higher than it is currently based on field application.”

“Oh?”

“When he did his own version of the Flame Meteor Technique originally created by Alexis here, we’re shock to see that the flames were not a single giant flame bomb that Alexis usually spouts out of his mouth but instead, he released a volley of small Nepesh-infused fireballs into the air which would later shape into giant arrows that moved rapidly onto their targets. It’s astonishing really, considering that early on in his schooling here in Akalelana, it was reported that out of the 12, he actually had the poorest control of his Nepesh reserves,” Sebastian said.

“Harry was able to do what?!” Flitwick was surprised to hear that Harry was able to create something out of his own body without using a wand.

“...Make arrows made entirely of fire…” Draco seethed to himself in his chair as he was slowly getting jealous of whatever abilities his nemesis were possessing while he was here, being stuck in Hogwarts while being surrounded, in his mind, by the three idiotic Houses and the senile old man running this place.
“That’s because his Nepesh reserves are actually the biggest in the whole school of Bayit Tanit…no, I believe his reserves even surpass those of some of our Class X Ashaf operatives here in Akalelana.” Alexis then noticed everyone staring at him with a look that expressed their disbelief. “I would have not believed it too if I hadn’t tested it myself. His guardian, Sir Ezra, also told me tha Harry’s like a giant Nepesh battery which is why early on, he had trouble diluting it into smaller amounts whenever he had to perform any of the mystical arts.”

“I see…”

“On the other hand, he doesn’t really have any issues but…” Alexis stalled for the moment, not really sure how to bring up a rather unusual thing about the last teen that they’re discussing. “...Harry Potter’s quite known to be a somewhat perverted person with a lot of…should we say fetishes, for the lack of a better term…”

“,,,”
“...”
“...”
The hall had grown silent on that information.

“Why? Did he do something to attract that kind of perception?”

“Well, him, Alijah Dumbledore, and not surprisingly, Julian Vanloo were caught peeping into a group of young female detectives fresh out of the police academy while they were in that public bath in downtown Tel Hammon. There was a goose chase between the three boys and the cops but unfortunately, the three idiots got away.” Alexis explained. “There was also the time where he loved flirting with other girls just for the fun of it and he even had those limited editions of the very infamous comic series Sexy Crimson, if the information coming from an informant was right. What makes it even more surprising that his closest female friend, Katrina Bones, wasn’t even bothered by it.”

“What? That git!” Hermione cried angrily. “How does he know about those comics?”
“Wait? What are Sexy Crimson comics?” One Gryffindor female asked.
“Well…uhm…it’s…” One muggleborn in their house struggled to answer that although his reddening cheeks indicated that it’s something embarrassing and he would not want to talk about it openly. “...Look, it’s just very…sexual in nature and I meant it in an explicit way…”
“Well Hermione, how did YOU know about those comics?” Parvati Patil sent a teasing look at Hermione.
The bushy haired girl blushed wildly at the question. “I…I…” She did not want to admit to everyone that she also had those limited stacks of the Sexy Crimson comics which were gifted to her by her cousin and when she read it, her brain was reduced to a mental sloppy mush as her imaginations were sent into a wild ride.

Patil laughed, “It seemed like Harry’s not the only naughty one now being exposed!”
But before Hermione can retort, the video continues playing, prompting many to return their attention to it.

“But even so, he did have some good standing with the rest of the school, probably with the exception of his first time here in Akalelana as he came straight from Hogwarts and like Alijah, he was suspected of being a Dumbledore drone at first. But then again, he's a good-hearted kid and sure enough, his academic ratings don't reflect on his real ability when he’s on the field. I think of all the Nefilim 12 kids that are currently in Bayit Tanit, he’s honestly the one to watch out…perhaps even more than the rest of the Generation of Miracles.”

Generation of Miracles? What is that? Some of the students were pandering upon that tag.

“It’s crazy to hear that whereas in Wizarding Europe and in America, the Headmaster’s reputation is greatly respected, it’s the total opposite in Akalelana where it can get you almost ostracized from the rest of the community.” Ron said.

“Well, he did try to perform Legilimency on a state leader and he got condemned by everyone there as a result,” Hermione didn’t try to defend him. “But more than that, it shows that whoever was their previous Grand Magus was no slouch or powerless. He or she might be on the same level as Dumbledore.”

“Eh? Maybe. It seemed like the Headmaster wasn’t able to convince them to join the ICW, after all.” Neville shrugged. “But more importantly, at least Harry seemed to be thriving there. He even got praised by their Grand Magus and their assessors—well, except for his perverted streak and his very average grades.”
Hermione frowned deeply at the perverted part. That would be one topic she would bring up when she writes another letter to Harry.

“Well, that’s all I needed to hear for now. Thanks for the reports. I’ll have to forward it to the concerned higher ups as soon as possible.” Winston dismissed them but before Alexis could even take a step back and turn around, he called. “Mr. Weasley, please stay.”

The redhead merely raised his eyebrows but nevertheless, he just stood to his spot while the others already left. As soon as the others left, Winston then asked, “Mr. Weasley, how do you think the Nefilim 12s of the 24 other provinces stack up against Bayit Tanit’s prodigies?”

“Honestly, I don’t want to give a clear answer on that. The fact that the media already called them the Generation of Miracles is enough to put them in a distressing situation as they are being put on a pedestal that might end up isolating them.” Alexis gave his two cents. “No matter how strong and advanced their capabilities are, the fact is that they’re just 13 to 14 year old teens and are just beginning to mature, both physically and mentally.”

“I agree with you to be honest but the thing is, they also needed to face the morbid reality that because they have quasi-celebrity status and honestly, it can’t be helped. They were branded the Generation of Miracles because of the fact that for the first time since our country was reborn, all the Nefilim 12 of each of the 24 proper institutions for the mystical arts had all come from the same year and same class in high school and their advanced and special abilities makes their peers and even many of the veteran kosemim of our country indistinguishable,” Winston sighed.

“Eh? Seriously?” Sirius was honestly surprised. “I initially believed that Harry would eventually be as talented as James but to become so powerful that even some of their older veterans would struggle with him? Well, I need to write to Remus as soon as possible. He would want to hear this.”
“Even if Harry has not yet shown on screen what he can do, the fact that he’s in that list of theirs means he has grown rapidly ever since he left after a year in Hogwarts.” Amelia was in a thinking pose. “I’m not sure if he would get the same growth here in Hogwarts but given the total mishaps that happened in the past two years, I think he made the best decision for him to leave.”
Albus did not totally agree with what Amelia said. He then ranted that had Harry stayed with his relatives, they would still be alive although he did not explain why and that he also believed that fighting the Akalelani way would mean agreeing with the principles of You-Know-Who and that love is the most important thing Harry must learn first.
Everyone who heard him merely sighed.

There was a pause before Winston continued. “Aside from that, there’s still the syndicates to worry about. All the three remaining criminal groups would target them as bargaining chips or for retaliatory reasons. We’re doing everything we can to eliminate them and really, the situation is better than it was in the past but knowing how desperate these scum are, it’s better if they can defend themselves if they are in a situation where they have to face these criminals.”

“I see. That aside, shouldn't you know about Potter already? I heard that you’re quite familiar with him on a personal level so why the question?” Alexis looked annoyed as he already wanted to go home.

“While I already have my own opinions on the young Potter based on my personal observations and interactions with him, I also wanted to hear feedback from other people,” Winston replied. “And sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed. Harry Potter is a Nefilim 12 and a member of the Generation of Miracles but at least, he still gets to enjoy his teenage years amidst the last stage of finally putting an end to the hoodlums in our state. By the way, you may go now.”

“Thanks sir. May Anat slay our enemies and bring the souls of our deceased warriors into paradise.”

“And may Baal Hammon bring prosperity to our harvests and richness to our lands.” Winston returned the remark. Alexis bowed and then turned around before leaving.

The screen then turns static before another message that says “LOADING FOR THE NEXT VIDEO” appears.

“Well…that was very informative…” Amelia said while Albus was merely twisting his beard, no doubt that the cogs in his brain are now turning rapidly as he tried to create new schemes out of the information that he got.

Based on the video, it seemed that Harry Potter had a magical power that was unparalleled by many and matched only by a few. Thus, earning the tag “The Generation of Miracles” along with his peers.

Albus shook his head at that. He then rants about how The-Boy-Who-Lived is not enjoying his childhood by getting the prodigy tag and thus, everyone in Akalelana will make it hard for Harry to live normally. Before he eventually faces Tom in the near future . He added mentally although he didn’t want anyone to know it. Understandably, there is something inside Harry that he knew would be a key instrument in making sure that You-Know-Who has not completely died and that is why he was now alarmed when he saw that the scar that made the boy famous had vanished like it wasn’t there at all.
Did Harry use a special kind of charm to conceal his scar?

He was in this line of thought when suddenly, Sirius stood up and said to no one else in particular, “I needed to write to Remus about all what is happening right now and tell him I’m already a freeman in an unofficial manner. He might want to come here to watch Harry.”
“Yes, you may do that,” Albus nodded. The full moon has passed, after all, and it’s just very early in the morning.

Sirius hasn’t even started walking away when suddenly, a loud explosion was heard near the Dungeons, causing every student to suddenly drop down on the floor while the aurors and Amelia scrambled to take charge of whatever situation was unfolding.

A few moments later, a Slytherin student was seen running back inside the hallway and screamed, “Headmaster Dumbledore! Something happened back in Professor Snape’s office! It seemed like someone tried to steal his stocks of Polyjuice Potion!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Headmaster Dumbledore! Something happened back in Professor Snape’s office! It seemed like someone tried to steal his stocks of Polyjuice Potion!”
“What?!” Dumbledore’s voice boomed throughout the hallway as he quickly rushed out of his seat, followed by Minerva, Amelia and the rest of the aurors. That probably explains why Severus has been taking so long to get back from the washroom . The old aged headmaster thought as the large group headed straight towards the office of the potions master and as soon as Albus and the whole crew filed into the door, they can finally see a ragged Snape pointing a wand at a portly but rugged-looking man with scars, a wooden leg and an artificial eye.
“What in the bloody hell are you two doing, Snape, Alastor?!” Minerva tried to get the man to put down his wand, “This—”
But before she could notice, something was happening to the man Minerva just called Alastor. His broad arms and legs began to twist and get thinner while his bodily form was rapidly changing. His skin was also melting away, much to the horror of those witnessing it. After a few more seconds, the prostate man had shapeshifted into another human.

Amelia, being the first to recognize the said man, nearly gasped as she quickly pointed her wand towards the man, “Th-That’s Barty Crouch Jr. Impossible! He should have died back in Azkaban.”
“Looks like the Elder Bartemius must have helped him escape,” Albus said as he then looked at the large trunk which was strangely moving—as if someone was stuck inside trying to get out by kicking it.

Albus then walked towards the trunk and let it open for a few seconds before the last panel had been unlocked, revealing a weakened and dehydrated but alive plump man.

“Hold on there, Professor Moody. We’re getting you out of there.”After the short break and before the video started playing again, everyone seemed to be in a somber mood as the on-the-spot questioning of Barty Crouch Junior led to uncomfortable facts.
One, Voldemort was certainly planning to come back to life by having the younger Crouch put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire using the Confundus Charm. In turn, it would have transported Harry into the Triwizard Cup that serves as a portkey towards Little Hangleton Graveyard had he been present. Two, Peter Pettigrew was undeniably working with the two of them.
Needless to say, Barty Crouch Junior was kissed-on-sight courtesy of a Dementor that Cornelius Fudge brought along with him although he was, with a frustrated manner, angrily denying that Voldemort will be resurrected, not that he was taken seriously by everyone surrounding him. Barty’s father, meanwhile, had to be taken into custody and was temporarily locked up in one of the cells of the DMLE.

“Glad you brought me out of there. He managed to one-up me…” Alastor grumbled as he took a nutrition potion to help his body recover.

“I’m happy to help,” Albus smiled genuinely.

On the other side of the teacher’s table, Sirius and the newcomer Remus Lupin were busy chatting and catching up. The latter travelled quickly to Hogwarts via a Floo Network and was sobbing heavily for not believing his friend. Sirius reassured him that everything is in the past and that it’s time to focus on the present. He also filled Remus with what he needed to know, including Harry’s time in the State of Akalelana and his life there.

“So let me get this straight…rather than the Goblet of Fire transporting him here, it instead showed us what his life was like in Akalelana with your distant relative…a bloke named Ezra Black?” Remus asked. He was even more curious now that he learned that whoever was the previous leader of that semi-mysterious country had managed to fend off Dumbledore and, to his memory, he has yet to find anyone who can match the old warlock’s capabilities.

“Pretty much it. And from what we have seen so far, it looks like Ezra Black had raised Harry like how Prongs and Lily would have wanted to. Although it also seems like a group of criminals are after his and his future girlfriend’s heads—just because Ezra cut down a hundred of them gits,” Sirius honestly had no choice but to respect Ezra’s own power if he managed to slay his opponents that outnumbered him 100-to-1.

“Look. The video’s starting!” Someone called out and everyone then went silent as the title CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU was displayed.

The screen then opens up to a very larger-than-usual classroom which is obviously in Bayit Tanit High. There were 30 students all wearing civilian clothes while there was a large screen in front. The doors are opening automatically through a scanner and locking machine while the tables are per individual. The door had a simple plaque with the title CLASS 8-31.

A teacher, wearing long red sleeves and black tailored pants called to a blonde male with hair combed stylishly. “Lucas Weaver!”

The blonde stood up. He was wearing checkered long sleeves, tailored black pants, and shiny leather shoes. In high standards, he was quite handsome and had the vibe of a model that was not missed by many of the females in his class.

“Well…I had to admit. He looks good-looking and has the hots…” Parvati said.
“Agreed. He’s even hotter than some of the boys that we have here in Hogwarts…” Another Gryffindor agreed with her while many of the boys within her earshot merely grunted.
However, some of the adults don't seem to like the boy.
“I don’t even know the lad personally and yet, something about him and his obvious rabid fangirls there is making me want to kick him in his arse muggle style,” Alastor said, quite getting irritated by just looking at the blonde. It just reminded him of a more handsome Lucius Malfoy, as much as it disgusted him to say it.

“Yea but then again, if I remember correctly, his family did die at the hands of his older brother. I guess him being that grouchy is a result of that incident…” Sirius gently reminded him.

“Lucas, can you tell me what the Nefilim 12 of each mystical school are?”

Lucas then answered with pomp and a hint of aristocracy, “The Nefilim 12 are the 12 highest ranked students in the whole high school, regardless of their year level. The rankings are mainly based on their theoretical and practical knowledge of the broad mystical arts, the mastery of the basic martial arts, and the field application of the mentioned studies into the fields. It also takes into account the one-on-one duels which the high-ranked students are required to do at least once a month if they want to maintain their standing in the Nefilim 12. It can be done with available instructors or with fellow students if consent is given from all important parties.”

“He sounds like he was reading it from a textbook’s paragraph…” Seamus Finnigan said.
“Maybe he’s just that smart…or at least, can accurately remember what he read in a book,” Dean Thomas replied, “You know, like Hermione Granger over there.” He then glanced at the mentioned bushy haired girl, who just rolled her eyes at him.

“Excellent, take your seat. Katrina Bones!”

“There’s Harry’s girl!” Ron exclaimed.

The blonde girl stood up as the teacher asked, “Kate, can you explain to me what a Nepesh is?”

“Eh, yes sir,” Kate sounded confused but answered nonetheless. “A Nepesh is the source of the power of the supernatural population of all the Canaanite peoples, be it the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites and the Hebrew Tribes but most of all the Phoenician and their Punic descendants. It also included the non-Canaanite Semitic peoples like the Akkadians, Assyrians and the Babylonians as well as the entities like the Sumerians and the Nabatu tribes. Basically, it’s kind of present in all of the Akalelani, all of which had at least a quarter of Canaanite-Semitic ancestry, since birth.”

“Well, that answers what is this Nepesh that they were all mentioning in the previous video,” Flying instructor Rolanda Hooch said.
“So it’s basically magic energy that was somehow exclusive to their race,” Flitwick noted while thinking what made it very special from the magical energy of the mainstream wizardry.

“Excellent. You may take your seat,” the teacher nodded before resuming his discussion. “The Nepesh is basically our own magical energy flowing in our bodies. Basically, it allows us to perform feats that any normal human or in some cases, even ordinary wizards under the ICW can’t perform,” he said with a heavy emphasis. “Another thing is that it’s called the All-Encompassing Element in the sense that it can be used for all mystical arts from different civilizations. For instance, everyone with even a tiny amount of Nepesh can perform the basic magic of all European wizards. Here…”

He then took out what looked like an ordinary wand before uttering the words “Expecto Patronum” before a bright and silvery light appeared and took the form of a large and wide-brimmed Golden Eagle which flew briefly into the room before it disintegrated. He then smiled, “I had a confession to make, though. This is my first time being able to cast such a mainstream wizardry spell although I have seen others do it a lot of times, being able to witness it when I was assigned as a scout in the Magical Community of Britain for a year.”

Everyone was silent for the moment when they saw that.
Then everyone began to shout again.
“Even the Akalelani can perform the Patronus Charm?! That’s got to be the hardest to perform and it took the beating of the lifetime in my arse to cast it correctly!”
“And yet, he did not even break a sweat performing it!”
“And he said that it was his first time casting the Patronus Charm! Bloody bugger, these guys must have been too blessed!”

Such was the scene in the hallway and among the aurors while in the teacher’s table, everyone was having their own discussion. Albus was sighing for like the 50th time of the day (even if it’s just the morning hours) as the others were in whispers.
“The Patronus Charm requires positive thoughts, right? He looks bored and yet, he successfully produced one,” Sirius muttered.

“I don’t know. Maybe he was thinking of his positive thoughts in his own way,” Remus replied back.

The teacher then called someone else, “Camille Klieger!”

The student named Camille, who had dirty blonde hair like Kate and is tied in a twintails style, stood up.

“Camille, do you know how the Akalelani had eventually managed to obtain Nepesh in their bodies.”

“Uhm…” Camille looked like she was struggling to remember the facts before she replied, “If I remember correctly, they are from an extraterrestrial element called Manna which came from the Holy Rocks of Elyon.”

“Well, that’s part of it…” The teacher said as he motions for Camille to sit down. “Actually, even before the Holy Rocks of Elyon fell from the cosmos, there were, in fact, already a lot of magical elements that exist here on Earth which formed the basis of the mainstream wizardry that most of the Magical World see today and like Nepesh, they were brought to Earth by a lot of natural forces, either by meteor showers or other cosmic phenomenon. However, the Manna from heaven was far different in a sense that it pushed the limits of what magic can humans do to borderline divine level.”

“Well shit…for the first time in my life, these kinds of people are making my hairs stand up,” Sirius was honestly already intimidated with the Akalelani when he watched the second video and the fact that their powers actually transcends beyond the limits of the mainstream wizardry wasn’t helping at all.
“Tell me about it,” Amelia, at this point, had already accepted that the State of Akalelana were doing a lot of things that she thinks should have been done years ago by Magical Britain

He then paused for the moment before he continued, “The Holy Rocks of Elyon phenomena isn’t just only a single event but a series of Manna-laden meteors that rained what is now Lebanon, South of Syria, north of Israel today, and our current country. From there, the Phoenicians and the other Canaanites who had contact with these divine rocks, would then spread towards Carthage where Mother Akal-Elana, our progenitor and the first priestess to record every important Nepesh-related abilities, would lead our nation to escape towards where our state is now standing since if you remember correctly, the Romans had just razed down Carthage to the ground after their third showdown. Unfortunately, due to continuous pursuits by the Romans as they were after the manna of the Punics and their allies, the defenses were quickly breached and Mother Akal-Elana used her entire power to submerge the entire island country to sink all the invaders with her while the rest decided to flee to the heathen lands to hide or to intermingle with the local populace somewhere. Of course, due to Mother Akal-Elana’s foresight of writing down everything related to the Nepesh and the Canaanite society in general as well as the verbal and secret transfer of knowledge from generation to generation, the Punics and their descendants managed to preserve their knowledge of their original roots even as they intermixed with different races and absorbed outside knowledge in order to adapt to the changing times. Well, in the present, our land is still blessed with the rocks of Manna that can still be found littered around the country but they are continuously guarded by the authorities so don’t ask me where they are as only a selected few actually knows. They are also continuing to search any remaining traces of the rocks of Manna in the Maghrebi regions and in the parts of Israel, Palestine, and the rest of the Levantine Region so they can quickly ship them off to Akalelana.”

“That’s some boring-ass lecture. Not much different from ours…” Ron grumbled.
“I don’t know. He looked more lively than our own history teacher, who happens to be a ghost. At least, they don’t look like they’re about to fall asleep…” Hermione said while filing away all the knowledge she desperately needed to understand Harry’s current society even more.

“It’s bugging me but how did these Manna meteorites end up influencing humans?” One of the students asked.

“Well, that’s a good question. Imagine a nuclear bomb hitting a densely packed city and the devastating radiation fallout ended up affecting all living creatures even to the point of transforming their cells and tissues. That’s roughly how Manna would transform into Nepesh in the bodies of the proto-Akalelani,” the teacher explained, “When the meteorites fell, the radiative fallout of the Manna-infused rocks affected fertile parents planning to have children and already pregnant mothers. Taxonomically speaking, the ancestors of all Akalelani people can be considered an evolution of the human species into a more transcendent species and by default, are superhuman in nature as they are born with Nepesh that passively enhances their body beyond normal human capabilities. But don’t let it get to your head as we're still humans, after all. We can still be killed with a bullet straight into the head and we can still die of old age. Don’t forget that, kids.”

“Yes, Sir Arik!”

“Good. Since I’m your class supervisor, I’ll just send your assignments in your online portal later. Well, that’s it. Wait for your basic entrepreneurship teacher. She’ll be late as she was summoned by the city council for a budget review.” The teacher then leaves.

“Eh? What’s entreprenuship?” Ron asked.
Hermione sounded exasperated, “It’s entrepreneurship and seriously, do I have to explain to you what that is? Fine. It’s like dealing with the studies of conducting businesses as well as handling money for a lot of reasons, but most of them are to help grow your personal finances, make savings, as well as to invest them in a meaningful business.”
“Oh? So something like we see in all stores in Diagon Alley?”
“Yes. A bit rougher but you can think of it that way.”
CLASS 8-69

“...”
“...”
“...”
“Yeah. Of all class numbers, that has to be the most…disturbing class names to be called…” Neville said, quite disturbed.
Most of the people in the hall agreed with the Longbottom heir.

The scene then shifts to another very larger-than-usual classroom. There were also 30 students all wearing civilian clothes while there was a large screen in front. The doors are also opening automatically through a scanner and locking machine while the tables are per individual.

A male teacher was busy speaking to the class as he was writing something on the board. He was tall, standing 195 cm and had a muscular build, indicating that he always worked out. He also had bruises and cuts in his arms and possibly his upper body, indicating that he was also a combatant—a heavy hitter. He was also wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and slippers while his shiny bald head was radiating.

“Look at that body…” One of the Beauxbatons students whispered dreamily while drooling while the rest of her female classmates agreed as they fanned themselves to keep the imaginary heat rising from their bodies down.

“An Akalelani with that kind of body?” Roger Davies from the Ravenclaws paled at imagining that someone like him had to go fight the muscular man one on one.

“Yeah, I’m just going to pass on that chance…” Even Ron had to agree that only a moron would want to fight such a brute human in a one-on-one fight.

“He’s got a shiny head, though,” a freshman commented and a few others couldn't help but laugh at his bald head.

Meanwhile, Sirius Black was busy looking at the man. For some reason, he suddenly looked familiar to him as he tried to remember anyone from the batch who looked remotely like the male teacher. Seeing his face, Remus asked.
“Do you have a problem, Sirius?”
“Yeah…don’t you think that guy looks…I don’t know…feels familiar?”
Frowning, Remus also looked upon the teacher before frowning even more and said, “You’re right Sirius. He does look familiar. I just can’t place how and where…”

“Alijah Dumbledore!” A yell jolts the whole class awake as the male teacher who has been talking for an hour suddenly screams towards a student in the back who has been dozing off.

The said student had an auburn hair which is covered by a green bandana. He was wearing an unbuttoned checkered blue polo shirt, jeans, and white rubber shoes.

“I SAID…ALIJAH DUMBLEDORE!” The teacher roared as walked to the back portion of the seats and smacked his notebook towards the scalp of the boy, who managed to wake up and jerk off from his seat in pure reflex. It wasn’t until he saw the teacher in front of him that he was forced to wipe off the saliva from his mouth.

“Eww…” Some of the girls were disgusted by the sight.
Albus merely wanted to cover his face while hiding away in shame. He can’t simply fathom that an undignified brat like the redhead in the screen was related to him in some way.
“He looks just like you in your youth, Albus.” Minerva commented.
“I also noticed…though his manners are a bit unpolished…”

“Look Dumbledore. If you’re going to sleep in our class, just step out and go to the library…” He coolly said although the next words would terrify everyone in the whole class. “And by the next day, you’d be sent for community service in Hannibal’s Stone to clean the dragon pens. I’m sure you would like that.”

Everyone shivered at the threat while the scolded teen frowned and looked to his right.

“You should have tried to wake me up, homie…” Alijah grumbled as he fixed his bandana.

“Look, I tried pal but you’re snoring so deep that you were like in a different dimension…” Besides Alijah was none other than Harry Potter replying to him. He was also wearing an unbuttoned checkered polo shirt, albeit in deep red and black, jeans, and Nike sneakers.

“So that’s Prongslet…” Remus said, now looking more closely at the son of their late friend James.
“Yep. Looking healthy and looking wicked,” Sirius said, looking proud.
Albus then took this chance to take a closer look. Again, the scar that made him famous has vanished like it didn’t even exist. And his trademark round glasses weren't there but instead, he’s wearing glasses that looked more like muggle goggles. It was concerning him even more.

He was feeling that something wasn’t right.

“I know I’m stating the obvious but they’re not wearing wizard robes. It seems that they’re quite lax when it comes to attire code,” Cedric Diggory said.
“Yeah. Looks like they have a lot of freedom there…compared to here,” Angelina Johnson whispered the last part.

“Now, with Alijah awake, let’s continue,” the teacher grumbled. The scene then shifts slightly towards the bird’s eye of view where everyone’s notes on their notebooks can be seen. In Harry’s case, his book was open but above the page was his phone with a picture of a Kate Bones in a posing manner in front of a camera as his screen wallpaper.

“He-He must be madly in love with that Kate girl to make her photo as a wallpaper…” Hermione concluded as the way Kate posed seductively in the photo was so intense that when her eyes first landed on it, she turned her head away to prevent any leery thoughts from invading her brain.

“I still can't believe they’re that…I don’t know if “liberal” is the right word,” Cho Chang said while putting some air quotes in her sentence.

Marietta Edgecombe nodded, “Yeah, they’re pretty much liberal and free-spirited over there if they’re allowed to wear anything comfortable.”

“Does Kate even know that you made her modelling picture at Eshel Magazine as your wallpaper?” Another boy behind Harry asked him. He was a blonde with green eyes and was wearing oversized baggy pants, a sleeveless shirt, and a black cloth headband tied in his head.

“Are you an idiot? Of course, not. Hahaha. That’s just going to ruin the surprise. And besides, I was the one who took the picture for her to submit at the magazine and my personal camera was used,” Harry replied while showing off the photos with the boy who asked him that question.

“Look, it’s troublesome to question him on that, Julian,” Alijah drawled as he leans his head on his straightened arm, “Perhaps, you’re better off asking Camille from the other class on a date rather than to meddle with our friend here. You and Klieger always have that sexual tension thing that it makes me want to throw up with how nauseating it is.”

“H-Hey, I don’t view Camille as date material,” Julian was obviously lying while stuttering to get his point across.

“Huh? Why not? She has that hotness-type of beauty and she’s spunky and feisty like Kate. I believe you two are a good match made in heaven,” Harry pointed out, “Well, not that I am better as me and Kate don’t even have that label yet but try to get close to Camille and know her likes, dislikes, and everything in-between.” He then licked his lips while smiling lecherously. “And who knows, it can go more than just friends. As a great philosopher said, the best things in life make you sweaty. Sex is a body-contact sport. It’s safe to watch but even more fun to play with.”

“PER-PERVERT!” Hermione angrily said while her veins were twitching angrily the moment she got the meaning behind the sexual innuendo.

“Why does it sound like he’s speaking from experience…” Neville noted with a blank look in his face.

“Of course, not! Right?!” Ginny said with a hint of irritation. Just seeing Harry Potter flirting openly about his alleged crush was somehow making her angrier than she ever was just a few moments ago.

In the other table, the teachers were also speaking, most reeling from horror upon hearing what Harry Potter just said while a few were somehow proud of him.
“What on earth happened to Mr. Potter?!” Minerva was aghast to hear her former student saying such lewd remarks. “He wasn’t like that when he was still here in Hogwarts.” She was beginning to think that there were bad influences in Bayit Tanit and that the lone son of her two deceased Lions were hanging out with people who shouldn’t be associated with him, in her opinion.

Sirius looked like one proud father as he said, “Remus, I feel like he is just doing fine in his life. Very, very fine, in fact.”
“Sirius…” Remus sighed, already knowing about the former’s somewhat perverted tendencies from time to time.

“Did you just make that up or you’re just hanging out with the self-confessed pervert here? Because ain’t no way you actually smashed someone. We’d get our asses thrown into the Juvenile Center if we did that,” Alijah said while sounding sleepy.

“Come one now, Ja!” The boy named Julian was hurt, “Did you really think I’d go out there and act like a degenerate?”

Harry and Alijah merely looked at Julian with blank expressions on their faces, “Uh, yes…”

“Harry doesn’t have the right to talk about being degenerate, considering his lecherous remarks a while back…” Hermione muttered, now planning to lecture her best friend after all of this is said and done.

“Hey, you two have no room to talk, especially you Harry! I…”

“Hey, Julian Vanloo! Were you saying something there?!” The hunky teacher turned his head to call out Julian.

“N-No, Sir Rafael…” Julian muttered as Harry pockets his phone while returning his attention towards his book and notes.

Sometime later, the three boys can be seen exiting the large building where their classes are being held. Harry had his backpack while sucking the lollipop in his mouth while Julian Vanloo had one end of his earphone jack on his right ear while he could still listen to his two friends. Alijah was merely yawning while his duffel bag was lazily hanging on his left side.

“Oh…so they had those, as well,” Hermione eyed the earphones that Julian had. From the looks of it, it’s a different brand from the one the bushy haired girl has and it looks like an advanced model.

“Yeah, what is that?” Ron, having never seen a phone or any particular electronic gadget before, asked with a confused expression.
“It’s what we call an earphone. I have one back at home and I use it so that I can listen to music all the time while I don’t disturb anyone in the house by loud songs,” Hermione explained.

“The assessment was last Monday but until now, my body feels sore. Thank Baal it’s Friday…” Julian said while finding any songs in his touchscreen phone. “Let’s see…Boyz II Men…Ginuwine…Haddaway…Brian McKnight…Brandy…Jodeci…”

Eh? Who are those singers? Almost everyone in the hall had question marks hanging in their heads when they saw the list of songs on the screen.

Harry had just finished sucking the lollipop in his mouth and was about to take out another one before he heard rapid footsteps coming towards their general direction. Before he can even turn to see who it was, two fair-toned arms wrapped around him from behind.

“Are you thinking of leaving us behind, Harry?” The familiar sultry voice asked her.

“Eh, Kate…please let me go. I can’t breathe.” Kate let’s go off Harry. “That’s better…oh, and Camille is here. Hi.”

“Hi Harry. Kate just dragged me here,” Camille said with a smile before her lips turned into a frown as he looked at Alijah and Julian with a particularly nasty look, “Alijah. Julian. “

“That's it?” Julian looked depressed.

“Be thankful that I even acknowledged your presence,” the girl with the dirty blonde twintails rolled her eyes, “By the way, Kate said that she wanted to go to this new cafe in front of the school. You Harry and those two idiots want to come?”

“Yeah sure. I don't mind some extra time before going home,” Harry shrugged. “You two?”

“No problem. Camille is kind enough to invite us,” Julian shrugged. Camille briefly blushed before she shook her head to get a hold of herself.

“Teenager problems…” Alastor grumbled. He apparently wasn’t a fan of every phase that all teenagers go through.

“No matter how we look at it though, they’re still, after all, normal teenage boys and girls who experience the same things that the kids here in Hogwarts are going through,” Remus said, “Even though they were tagged as once-in-a-lifetime prodigies, they still act like normal kids in peaceful times. But admittedly, they do seem to have more freedom over there, and their lessons look broader and more diverse.”
“Yeah, I noticed that they’re not a boarding school since the majority of their students seem to go back to their residences, Harry included,” Sirius agreed. For him, that’s a huge win since Harry’s not stuck at Hogwarts for the whole year and he gets to enjoy life in-between schooling and practicing magic. Although he himself didn’t mind the boarding style as he was at odds with his family back in his younger days.AN HOUR LATER Ashenat Cafe Studio

The cafe studio was larger than an average coffee shop, almost as big as a regular restaurant. It is a three-storey building with a Mediterranean touch in it. The entire building was made of red bricks and adorned with large windows and two lion-like statues guarding the gates of the courtyard. The three boys and two girls quickly took their seats at a vacant table just near the gates.

After they have given their orders to the waiter, they just chat randomly while waiting for their food to be served.

“Damn, Camille, you look blooming today,” Harry suddenly said while making a pointing gun-like gesture at Camille, who suddenly blushed while she hides behind Kate, who was slightly frowning at Harry’s rather promiscuous expression, “You do have a name but can I call you…mine?”

“How dare he flirt so brazenly in front of Kate?!” Hermione angrily roared as everyone else looked a bit awkward at the sudden turn of the conversation.

“Well, he did say that they’re not even official together yet but even then, that’s kind of pushing his luck too far,” Neville said.
“D-Damn, mate…” Ron was honestly amazed that Harry hasn’t been killed yet by Kate for being an open flirt.

For the 100th time of the day, Minerva looked like she wanted nothing more than to hex Harry for not behaving like a true Gryffindor and instead, is lowering himself to the level of a devious sexual offender.

At this moment, Kate smiled while suddenly, he grabbed Harry’s right ear and began to violently pull it down. “Ow...ow…ow! K-Kate, please stop it!”

“Harry…” Kate started in a sweet tone, “What did I say about flirting with other girls in front of me for no reason?”

“Hey, I do have a reason! Julian seemed to chicken out whenever he had the chance to talk to Camille about taking her on a date so I decided to try out my luck on her,” Harry shrugged and Kate decided to twist his ear sharply, “Owww!”

“The hell, Harry!” Julian glared heatedly at the boy that had his ear getting pinched while Camille only had a pink tint on her cheeks that was slowly spreading throughout her face.

“Please, let me say sorry for the wrong things that came out of his mouth,” Kate said while shaking Harry rather violently and would have done so repeatedly had not their order arrived quickly than they expected.

Little did they know that there was another person watching them closely…or more specifically, was looking intently at Kate Bones.

“Eh? Is that the Lucas Weaver guy that they tagged as the best in that school?” Ron can’t forget the styled blonde hair of the teen. It eerily looks similar to that of Draco Malfoy.
“Yes, it seems. But why would he even look at Kate like that? She wasn’t even doing anything towards him…or at least, based on what the video was showing,” Hermione was frowning. This Lucas Weaver character was confusing at all.TWENTY MINUTES AGO
The top-ranked student, Lucas Weaver, was busy eating all alone while looking like he was waiting for someone. As that happens, he was being watched by his rabid fangirls who are
After a few minutes, two people—a female teacher and her male colleague—came and sat in front of the blonde by taking the two free seats on the other side of the table, “Lucas, here’s the documents that you asked for leeway at your modelling agency.”

“...Thanks…”

“Oh so he’s a model?”
“Kind of explains why he’s very good-looking and had those stupid fangirls,” Alastor said.
“But that boy looks like he’s always thinking darkly all the time. I have yet to see him smile just once on the video,” Minerva was slightly taken aback by how morose and cold the blonde boy looks.

Seeing the demeanour of the blonde teen, the female teacher sighed and said, “Lucas, not that I am meddling with your life choices but ever since the incident with your family, I was already worried with your well-being and mental health. My piece of advice, try to open up with your peers. Heck, you have a lot of people your age group wanting to get close to you…”

“I don’t need it!”

“He didn’t have to be so rude towards the teacher. She was honestly just trying to help,” Hermione muttered. While she does sympathize with the blonde, it wasn’t a reason to just be angry all the time.

“Leave him be, Laila…” Her male colleague sighed, “Although I honestly feel bad for his fangirls as he kept them from arm’s reach, it’s probably distressing him more since they were all chasing him from Day 1 and got worse ever since his family got put to the sword by his older brother.”

“Fine but don’t say I didn’t try to help him enough,” Laila said as she and her male colleague stood up and left. The moment they disappeared from view, Lucas merely grunted darkly before another voice entered the scene.

“Really, Lucas? They were just trying to help you…”

“What do you want…Samuel Agnon?” Lucas tersely asked, venom dripping his words as his attention turned towards a boy his age, who was sitting on a table near his. Samuel Agnon was a tall guy with olive skin tone and messy haircut. Suddenly, some of the remaining fangirls who are around them grew nervous as they sensed a possible fight between two members of their school’s Nefilim 12 happening.

“Can’t his brooding get any worse?” Parvati sighed as she felt that Lucas’ good looks were being wasted by his rather feral attitude towards others.

“Honestly, I don’t want to be left in the same room as Lucas…” Neville was shuddering at the thought of having to talk to someone of Lucas’ character one-on-one.

“Hey, I am just watching the whole spectacle as entertainment. No need to get worked up,” Samuel raised his hands up, “But seriously, something’s bothering me about you. What's it like having all of these girls from our class and almost the whole school always around you constantly wanting your time and attention? It can be a bad thing…or a good thing, if you know how to use it.”

If anyone noticed it, the question actually caught Lucas off guard.

"What does that matter to you?" Lucas asked warily.

"Out of mere curiosity," Samuel shrugs as he replies, "I mean, I’m pretty sure that all boys in our class and in our batch would love to be in your shoes right now and yet here you are not flaunting it in all of the boys' faces that you're the attraction of all of these girls and they're not. Most boys our age and even some of the older students would be jealous."

"Like you," Fangirl No. 1 started, "They don't have what Prince Charming here has. He's smart, handsome, cool, comes from a rich family, and his rank as the number one of the Nefilim 12 means he has a promising future."
“I feel like I am going to vomit sooner or later,” Moody was apparently close to getting irritated with the fangirls on the screen.“I…I’m just glad that there’s no such vile creatures back in our heydays,” Sirius said. He might be a self-proclaimed greatest prankster but that doesn't mean that he wasn’t feeling the irritation that these types of people bring.

"And yet, none of you even gained a single acknowledgement from your so-called Prince Charming," Samuel pointed out, "I mean, even I see that he has no interest in any of you and I’m someone who doesn’t even care for such frivolous stuff."
"Shut up!" Fangirl No. 2 retorted, "You're just some stupid imbecile who luckily got into the Nefilim 12 by suckerpunching our teacher from one of the monthly tests! You’re probably wishing you’re in the same position as Lucas!"

"Nah," Samuel drawled, already getting bored with the fangirls, "Lucas can have that all by himself and to rebut, I’m still in the Nefilim 12 and if you want any honorable fights, go to Japan or something. But ignoring that, I’m just wondering what kind of girl does your Lucas Weaver really want and why doesn't he give you girls such a look."

"My preference is none of your business, you moron," Lucas replied, "I have no need to share anything about myself with you."

"You’re right there, buddy," Samuel nodded, "But I speak for almost the entire male population of Bayit Tanit when I say that I'm just tired of seeing these girls waste their time trying to gain your attention while not knowing what you seek in a female. These girls could have been using their time to do something more productive in their lives."

"So why don't you enlighten these interlopers, Samuel," Lucas replied sarcastically, "You seem to know more about me than they do from what I'm hearing."

"That's just sad," Samuel concluded while mocking him, "The Almighty and All-Knowing Lucas Weaver can't speak for himself and needs a frontman to speak for him about what kind of girls would suit his preferences. Sorry girls, but the truth is, if Lucas isn't willing to speak for himself about his feminine preference, then it simply means that none of you are worth his time."

The fangirls weren't happy about what Samuel was saying but they couldn't help but see the truth in his words.
“Well, at least someone else seems to know how to knock these stupid girls back to their senses,” Remus deadpanned.
“Hehe, I also like the Samuel kid. He seemed to have the wit and the intelligence to sod off these girls,” Alastor chuckled.

“...Or, Lucas here might actually swing the other way, not that I am judging him for it. I don’t mind it, actually,” Samuel shrugged.

The fangirls were horrified upon hearing that possibility while Lucas’ face reddened with anger. “I am not!”

“Okay. Okay. Now that there are other guys coming here, like Katrina Bones and her man and the rest of their gang. I better leave now. No point in making it a bigger spectacle than it already is,” Samuel gave a mocking salute before he strode away.

As they walked off, Lucas thought about what Samuel said and asked in terms of what kind of girl would interest him. When he thought about it, he saw that Samuel was honestly right in that the girls in their class always sought his time and attention.

But when he thought more about it, he suddenly realized that for almost every girl that loves to get into his face, there’s that one girl in their his own class that never gave him so much as a look but only sought to be with a certain other boy instead.
That girl … Lucas contemplated. Katrina Bones…or just Kate…Unlike these annoying idiots, she doesn't try to be around me or even want to be with me. If I remember correctly, she's the daughter of the famous lawyer and former member of the Seven Holy Swordsmen of Akalelana, the great Kamon and his wife, Ms. Keturah, one of the richest entrepreneurs in the country and yet, she seeks to be with that guy Harry Potter instead of me. Interesting…What's so good about that Potter that would draw Katrina to him? What makes him so special to her? Everyone watched this scene with varying reactions, some with worry and others with excitement at what can possibly happen.“I-I have a bad feeling about this…” Hermione said, now worried that there’s something about Lucas’ words that would make Kate a target for his sudden interest towards the latter.
“What do you mean? That this git Lucas would suddenly try to take away Harry’s girl?” Ron asked, not really believing it. “I don’t know but he’s probably just curious about it, not that he’s even attracted to her.”For the first time since all of these started, Luna Lovegood, the quirky third year from Ravenclaw sat down besides Ron and spoke, “No, that’s exactly the reason why Hermione Granger and some of the people here are worried. The moment his curiosity just got piqued by Ms. Katrina Bones’ apparent nonchalance to him, there’s the huge possibility that it can grow to a one-sided attraction that can trouble both Harry and Katrina if left unchecked by whoever their teachers are. He does seem to favor girls who do not bother him all the time and are just equally skilled, if not more powerful, as him. Unfortunately, Katrina fits both bills.”Luna’s words sank to everyone from Gryffindor and those who heard her and slowly, they are beginning to get worried that it might not end well both for Harry and Kate.

"Lucas," Fangirl No. 1 snapped at him from his musings, "Are you fine? You spaced out there for a minute."

"It's nothing for you to worry about," Lucas replied, "Just thinking about what Samuel said a moment ago. It got me thinking. Now, leave me alone!"

All the girls scampered away, frightened by his sudden anger towards them as Lucas remembered that Samuel mentioned Kate Bones being in the same place as him right now. He then looked around and truly enough, he saw the girl in question together with Harry Potter, her best friend and classmate Camille Klieger, and the two idiots Alijah Dumbledore and Julian Vanloo who are, unfortunately for him, in the same Nefilim 12 rankings as him, Harry, and Samuel.

He saw that they were having fun in the moment, with Kate even playfully pinching Harry’s ears, much to the latter’s misery.

What could she possibly see in that guy? Lucas wondered. Before his thoughts on the subject could go any further, his older brother Matthew’s cold glance to him during the night of his family’s downfall came back to mind. Remembering Matthew’s bloodied sword and having the power of the Belial Eye, Lucas resolved himself to continue in his training to become stronger to defeat his older brother to avenge his family. But yet, deep behind that resolve was the interest that Kate wasn't pursuing him like the other girls.Seeing the bloodied sword of the older brother from Lucas’ brief flashback displayed by the screen made everyone nearly recoil back in fear.
The older brother's green eye that transformed into a flower-shaped iris didn't help stop the stomach-curdling reaction.“Yeah, I’m getting worried for Harry. It seemed that this Lucas person is starting to put Kate in his sights,” Neville was genuinely fearing that this would be the start of a conflict that won’t end peacefully.
“I'm more terrified of his older brother…” One of the younger Gryffindors squeaked.

Luckily for him, the three males stood up to take what looked like a washroom break, leaving the two girls to themselves. Lucas then stood up and approached the table where two girls were sitting.

It wasn't long before Camille noticed him and she almost gasped as she covered her mouth. Internally rolling her eyes, he nevertheless ignored Camille as he sought the other girl at the table.

“Excuse me, Katrina.”

Upon hearing her name being called, Kate turned around and was surprised to see Lucas, of all people, approach her, “Yes?”

"I have a question I would like to ask you," Lucas asked rather bluntly, "What's so special about Harry Potter that makes him worth your time and attention?"
“Wow, straight off the bat…” George Weasley was amazed at the frank questioning of the blonde.

Immediate silence followed the question.

Kate was taken aback by his blunt questioning while Camille was also giving the blonde a dubious look. So Kate decided to ask back, “Excuse me but I don't understand that question of yours.”

"You clearly like to be around him and you two look like close friends," Lucas explained, "No offense as he’s also a ranked member of the Nefilim 12 but why do you wish to focus your time on him who constantly get himself and those two idiots in trouble by constantly peeping in the female public baths, collecting those pornographic materials, flirting with women from other schools, and worse, someone who came from that baloney Hogwarts school led by that senile old man?”
“H-Hey, Hogwarts is not bad!” One of the first year Gryffindors said.“Harry is flirting with other girls from other schools?!” Hermione had a vein popped in her head as she cracked her knuckles. She was sure she needed to hit something as Harry’s not around.
“He was right about the senile old man comment, though,” Draco said rather in a subdued manner but was heard anyway and he yelped when he saw their Headmaster frown at him intensely.
In his whole life at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore always smiles or if a situation is serious, he just has a blank face. To have him frowning angrily at you is a surreal experience that Draco wasn’t sure he’d like to experience again.
Kate simply sighed as she looked for ways to answer his question.

Honestly though, it was no secret to Kate that some locals in Tel Hammon didn't initially like Harry Potter when he first got here for reasons she probably could understand. When she had asked some of the old folks why, the reasons she got from them varied but it ranged from Harry coming from Hogwarts, a reviled school in almost the whole of Akalelana to him being the puppet of a certain Albus Dumbledore. The former reason kind of had an explanation—two reasons actually. Some of their nation’s pioneers that would eventually become their first national leaders were actually first educated in Hogwarts and since majority of them were either non-pureblood or half-bloods that championed meritocracy rather than blood-based policies, they experienced severe discrimination at the hands of those who are pureblood wizards or had connections with the elite. But ultimately, the deaths of almost two million of their kind by the hand of the army of You-Know-Who—a Hogwarts alumni—ultimately put Hogwarts in a bad light.

It was only after an incident that forced Harry to use at least a drop of his true power to save a lot of people did the locals finally accept him as one of their own.

Hermione had a lot of things running in her head when that scene was shown.Harry did tell her, in one of their correspondences, that he really had a hard time adjusting to the more chaotic society of Akalelana. In one of their letters, he mentioned about having to deal with a few grumpy old people who would tell him to ‘go back to that backwater hellhole’ although he also said that the younger ones, especially those around of their same age range, were actually very fun to be around with and taught him a lot of things, including stuff that he wouldn’t think of doing back when he was still living in Magical Britain.
The bushy-haired girl frowned. If those things included things that influenced him to become an unashamed pervert, she was planning to hunt down those who made him into a lecherous person and simply hex them endlessly.
“I did not expect that level of hostility towards us…” Andrew Cleveley, a muggle-born Gryddindor student, said.
“I mean, if they were referring to the pureblood discrimination, I honestly don’t blame them,” Adam Pickering, another Gryffindor and a fellow muggle-born commented. While the Headmaster was trying to make things better for the muggle-borns, the blatant discrimination was simply too large to ignore. Both of them had seen how cliques based on family ties and kinship were formed, especially in the House of Slytherin although not all of them, many students, especially in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, just had this holier-than-thou attitude against the non-pureblood students that a place like Akalelana, no matter how many flaws it got, is becoming more and more appealing to transfer to.

"Look, despite what you may see in public, Harry has potential for great things," Kate said, "He just needs a chance to finally showcase what he can actually do and for him to reach beyond his ceiling. And we’ve known each other for so long already. Despite his rather perverted nature, he’s loyal to a fault and he’s a reliable comrade. He’s always ready to drop his Sexy Crimson magazine when I’m down and always texts me every morning to do my best in our studies."

“I see that. It’s just that…he always associated with those two idiots in performing activities that could have kicked them out in the other schools,” Lucas raised his eyebrows in skepticism, “I won’t deny that he’s a powerful individual since he’s in the Nefilim 12 like the two of us, but he doesn’t seem to bother upping his own studies. In fact, it's highly hypocritical of him to say about doing best in your studies when everyone in his class says he doesn’t even take his classes seriously and only manages to pass barely.”

“Look, he isn’t hypocritical…it’s just that’s his way of doing his own thing,” Kate defended rather tersely, making Camille look tense. She did not honestly know where this conversation was going, “By the way, what’s it to you? You never even showed any interest in the business of other people before so why now?”

Lucas' skeptical-looking face changed when he shot a grin at Kate but that grin wasn't one of cockiness but rather one of admiration. It was so out-of-the-blue and showed sudden attraction towards Kate that Camille dropped her tuna pie from her mouth out of sheer shock.

"You're totally different from the other girls in class. Kate," Lucas complimented, sounding intimate.
“What the fuck?! He’s making a move towards Harry’s girl! Where is Harry anyway? He better return fast!” Ron exclaimed, not minding that he used foul language.“Let’s just hope he did not do an escapade to flirt on more girls from other schools,” Nevilled chimed in.
“Yeah but it was mentioned that they went to the washroom. But still, if that's the case, then he and the two boys were taking too long!” Hermione nearly yelled.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Kate asked, a bit unnerved with the way Lucas’ expression changed and how he is looking at her right now. She found herself trying to move away from the blonde boy.

"The things you said and how you conducted yourself showed me what kind of girl you are and it honestly attracted me towards you," Lucas interjected, "You're not some shallow and petty person like the rest of those fangirls. They’re repulsive to me. But you're the kind of girl I respect and admire. You stand out from the rest of them."

“Uh…thanks, I guess…” Kate murmured. She honestly just wanted to find Harry and get away from Lucas as soon as possible. Unfortunately for her, Lucas seemed to have other plans as he slowly moved himself closer to Kate, much to her discomfort.

“It’s Saturday tomorrow. How about we—”

“Hey, Kate, Camille! We’re back!”

Thank Merlin for Harry’s back. Most of the students were relieved when Harry Potter’s voice was heard announcing that he’s back.

Both Amelia and Susan relaxed their stiffened postures seeing that Harry was finally back just in time before the blonde Lucas managed to do something horrible, in their opinion.

The three raised their heads to see Harry and the two other boys already back from the washroom or wherever they went.

Seeing that the normally broody Lucas was here too, Harry frowned as he was too close to Kate for his liking. Suddenly remembering a text message that he received back in the morning, he then said, “Fancy seeing your arse here, Weaver? What’s your business with Kate?”

Lucas frowned at the obvious condescending attitude towards him, “It’s none of your business.”

“It’s mine if it involved Kate, your dimwit,” Harry returned heatedly before turning back to Kate, “Kate, Uncle Ezra is finally awake. I’m going to the hospital later. Wanna come before we go home together?”

“Oh, sure,” Kate did not think twice accepting the invitation and she stood up from her chair and went closer to Harry, “Bye, Camille, and you two boys.” She did not even spare a glance towards the other blonde in the group.

“Hey, sweet! Ey, we’re leaving now. You can probably just escort Camille back to her home. Bye!” Harry and Kate began to walk away.

Lucas weaver merely bristled as he walked away as well to the opposite direction. As he did so, Harry turned to see Lucas leaving and walking away from them. Almost as if it was sensed, Lucas turned back to look straight at Harry face to face. The blonde shot Harry a smirk before the latter returned it by rolling his eyes, as though he was reading Lucas' thoughts and intentions.

“I’m not even there physically and yet, I can already feel the tension and the alpha male hormones already working overtime from here,” Ross Gibberd, a random student from the crowd, said loudly, with everyone else agreeing.
The growing tension between the two boys for Kate Bones was honestly stifling the otherwise peaceful atmosphere.

Seeing the whole exchange, Alijah Dumbledore, for once, frowned as he said, “Well, well, it seems that for the first time ever, someone had actually caught the eye of that Lucas bastard. Just unfortunate that it’s Kate…”

“Did you see how he actually tried to get close to Kate even if it’s obvious that she does not like it? If I was Harry, I would have already punched him in the face, hot model or not,” Julian Vanloo gave his two cents as he narrowed his eyes towards the fading Lucas.

“Not only that, he actually admitted that he actually likes Kate and he sounded like he was about to invite her into something if it wasn’t for you three coming back,” Camille still can’t believe it happened before her eyes, “I swear when I say that he’s attracted, it sounds like he’s about to ask her out as a potential girlfriend.”

“Well, to be completely objective, Harry and Kate are not yet an official thing although they’re honestly already headed towards that direction,” Alijah yawned, “Unless if homie decided to just go screw it and ask Kate out already.”

“You do realize that if he does that, he still has to serenade her in front of her parents and closest friends. I mean, I know it’s a bit old-fashioned but it’s still a big part of our tradition when couples launch their relationship in public,” Camille pointed out before smiling, “And I actually like the serenade part.”

There was a lot of “oooohhhhs” when the serenade part was mentioned.

“Look, let’s just wait for Harry and Kate to get together officially first,” Alijah drawled as he gave them a sign that he’s already going home, “No point in getting worked up with something that has yet to happen.”

The scene changed into the hospital where Harry’s guardian was confined. As the two close friends were entering the edifice, Harry and Kate were busy conversing and the center of the discussion seemed to be on the blonde boy that had Harry honestly getting worked up.

“The fuck did the bastard say?!” Harry swore he would smack Lucas Weaver when school resumes on Monday.

“Look, there’s nothing to be worried about. He just asked a few questions about you,” Kate reassured him.

“As if he doesn’t know enough about me…” Harry replied.

“He doesn’t really know you at all,” Kate shrugged, “He just came to us out of the blue, asking me the questions about you. After hearing me out, he said that I'm different from the other girls in class and that he respects me for that."

That only made the glasses-wearing teen frown as he was deep in contemplation.

"Really now," Harry then remarked skeptically, "The haughty and all-knowing Lucas who thinks everyone else is beneath him says he respects you? That's totally surprising considering his arrogance."

Snape murmured something about the hypocrisy of Harry Potter as the latter’s father was very arrogant himself as well as very condescending towards his Slytherin origins.

During their walk, Kate noticed that Harry never released his hold on her hand. It almost felt as though she were on a date with him considering that he plans to treat her out to eat after they fetch his Uncle Ezra, even if it was that spicy chicken with melted cheese that he usually craves after school.

“Looks like that will finally put a stop to Harry doing his lewd activities,” Hermione hoped that was the case. “If he doesn’t want to lose Kate to Lucas, he better make her happy.”
“I mean, would Kate even like that Lucas chap?” Neville questioned, “It was obvious that how he treats Harry and his potential rival is like day and night.”
“Still, it’s better if he stops his stupid perversion if he doesn’t want to drive Kate away…”

Entering the room after they were permitted by the guard, who is a substitute from the one Harry met last time, they finally saw Ezra Black already sitting up straight in the bed while his vitals were being checked.

“Hey, Uncle Ezra!” Harry’s eyes shone as he ran forward.

“Harry…” Ezra was somehow relieved to see his adoptive nephew safe as he accepted the hug from Harry.

Sirius can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy hit him straight in the heart. Dammit, that was supposed to be me comforting Harry! If there was any small amount of consolation, it was probably the fact that Ezra was a Black related to him and the fact that he had taken care of his godson pretty well.
Seeing his distraught face, Remus tapped the shoulders of his fellow Marauder.

Sirius then decided to look closely at Ezra. From the looks of it, he seemed to be the same age as him and that his body build was really brawny and chiseled with the harshness of warfare. His military-fade haircut as well as his burnt olive skin does give Sirius the first-hand impression that Ezra was a formidable fighter who had spent the majority of his career in the field.

“Damn, Uncle Ezra! I really thought you were gone for good!” Harry said once he broke away from his adoptive guardian.

“Gone for good? Nah, I simply passed out setting up the scum’s eventual meeting with the gods. Too many of them, you know.” For someone who was in a critical condition a few days ago, Ezra seemed to be in high spirits as he then saw Kate behind Harry’s right shoulder, “Katrina, huh? Looks like Kamon’s daughter aged gracefully the last time I saw you and that was just a few weeks ago. Did Harry goof off again?”

“Thanks, uncle and no, he didn’t do anything too egregious, this time,” Kate responded, enjoying the fact that Harry’s guardian trusts her with making sure that his young charge doesn’t do something too stupid.

“Hey, young buck, it’s fine to me if you’re attracted to the opposite sex or even the same sex all the time,” Ezra started a lecture, much to Harry’s chagrin, “It happens naturally. But beyond that, you might end up degrading not only yourself but also those who you truly care about.”

He then made a motioning gesture towards Kate, who blushed.

“If you’re flirting with a lot of women for the sake of amusement or teasing, you’re free to do so but remember that there’s a 50 percent chance that you can get socked in the face for doing something stupid and 500 percent chance if that woman happens to have her own man,” Ezra sternly told him.

Harry then sighed as he said, “Fine, I will control my hormones next time I see a smoking hot shawty…ooowwwww!”

Kate responded by pinching his ears hard again.

Everyone blinked at the scene.
“...Uhm…what does “shawty” means?” A first year Ravenclaw asked in pure curiosity.

Everyone looked at each other, most of them not really knowing what the term means.
Surprisingly, it was Daphne Greengrass who replied, “Shawty is actually a Yankee’s term for “shorty”. Basically, someone who is short in stature. Though if we’re going by Potter’s context, it means…something else entirely…”
Hermione snorted at that. She was sure that it was used in a very obscene manner since the way Kate reacted when Harry used that weird term, she realized it must be something perverted.
“But Harry’s adoptive uncle sure knows how to make him tow the line when needed,” Parvati said while admiring the rather well-toned body of Ezra.

“Yeah…maybe when Ezra Black or Kate is around. I just don’t know about that Julian Vanloo dude or the Headmaster’s rather lazy relative…” Sixth Year Ravenclaw Roger Davies had a feeling that Harry only chooses who to listen to.

“At this rate, your ears are going to get chopped sooner than later,” Ezra deadpanned, “After this, I needed to report straight to the Grand Magus. There’s something he needed to know as soon as possible.”

Harry and Kate looked bewildered. “I’m sorry uncle but…this early? You haven’t even been discharged yet and you need to get some rest at home…”

“I wished I could go home to rest but some startling information about the remaining mafiosi needed to be relayed to the Grand Magus as soon as possible and honestly, it cannot wait until tomorrow. I’ll be picked up by one of my colleagues as soon as possible. I might honestly be home by Monday already.”

Harry was somewhat startled at his guardian’s rather serious look. Judging by the tone of his voice, it must be something that needed the attention of the Grand Magus quickly as it could spell a difference between life and death.

“Okay fine but uhm…I’m going to bring Kate out for a treat and we might actually have some fun before heading home. It’s Saturday tomorrow, anyway…”

Ezra blinked before sighing as he scratched his head, “Well, fine but be sure you bring her home already by 11 pm. I know you’d be normally fine past that time if it’s just you and your friends playing streetball with your fellow Nefilim 12 from the other schools but Katrina’s different. His mother’s going to rip you apart if something as simple as a simple scratch happens to her and you don’t even want to think what Kamon can do to you.”

Harry paled at the thought of Kamon getting furious at him while Kate was simply suppressing her laughter although she was failing, “Yeah, I’d seen what Uncle Kamon can do. Look, she’ll be home safe and sound.”

“That’s good to hear. Otherwise, you’ll also get it from me as well.”

“Well, shit…”

The video went static before another message that says “LOADING FOR THE NEXT VIDEO” appears.
“Well…I guess Ezra Black was able to raise Harry like his own son and honestly, there’s nothing much I could ask for.”
As much as he wanted to vent out his jealousy, even someone like Sirius Black knew that would change nothing to his current situation. Right now, his godson was in Akalelana the whole time while he almost rotted away in Azkaban before making a successful gambit to jump into the icy-cold North Atlantic waters to escape. At least, the bastard Peter Pettigrew is now locked up and currently awaiting official trial.

“Well, let’s just wait for the next video to play,” Albus announced while inwardly, he realized that the situation involving Harry Potter was getting more and more complicated.
First, it looks like Harry had become attached to that Akalelana place all thanks to Ezra and that blasted blonde girl. The latter was even more of a concern as she was a powerful individual who had shown that she can combat the famed Killing Curse of You-Know-Who as well as a competent combatant as her abilities clearly showed that she’s highly capable of beating even the strongest of the seventh year students of Hogwarts.

If his analysis of Harry’s scar was correct, Albus knew he would need to seek out the other objects that are the keys to You-Know-Who’s resurrection and that he would also need his two original friends in Ron and Hermione to be by his side so that he can also learn to rely teamwork and trust on his friends in order to fully end You-Know-Who when the time comes.
The appearance of Katrina Bones as well as his inclusion into that Nefilim 12 list could prove to be a wildcard in the effort to end the reign of You-Know-Who. In his opinion, what Harry Potter needed right now is guidance and humility, not anymore pampering and more accolades that could go to his head as well as the violent methods being taught in their school. In his experience, it will only lead to a non-ending cycle of bloodshed.

He sighed. His own stupidity in the past had cost him dearly and right now, there was nothing much he could do as he was considered a hostile entity to the State of Akalelana. He would have just to wait for the video to provide more details about Harry’s life abroad.