Chapter 16

October 15th

The next morning Harry and his group carried out their normal workout. When they had finished Harry handed Hermione and Neville the copies of the rituals he had made last night and then asked them "is there anything y'all wanted to ask me?"

Hermione shook her head, but Neville nodded and asked "would you be willing to test how my Occlumency defenses are going sometime in the future?"

Harry nodded and said "I have planned on checking Hermione's and yours once a week. How about on Sunday after the DADA class is finished? It should only take about five minutes to check up on them. Be warned Neville that if I do get past your defenses I will search out a memory and I won't tell you what it might be so you can't work on protecting that specific memory in advance. It could be anything from an embarrassing dream to something that you desperately want to keep hidden."

Neville nodded while saying "no problem there as I don't think I have anything to hide."

Harry nodded and said "if that's all I suggest we carry on normally. Now remember I'll be gathering you the night of the 31st. In addition I believe that we will have two additional students joining us at that time."

Hermione asked, in a hesitant sort of way, "who are they? Do we know them?"

"The two students are Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis the daughters of Samuel Greengrass-Davis. Samuel has asked me to gather their oaths and direct them to the henge on the 31st. I do believe that they should be contacting me after our DADA lesson on Wednesday. If they haven't contacted me by Sunday I will hold them back after next week's DADA class. Are there any other questions?"

Hermione who had been reading the copy of the ritual raised her hand asking "what language is this in? It's neither English nor French as I speak and read in both of those languages."

Neville glanced at his copy and said "I don't recognize it either."

Harry nodded replying with "I already have a solution for that." Harry then told them how with the help of the language capsules in conjunction with a dictionary how they would be able to learn a new language with a little effort on their parts. "I will be able to get the capsules via owl from Mr. Greengrass-Davis. I should have them by this weekend at the latest." Pausing he looked at them and asked "anything else?" When both of them shook their heads Harry nodded and said "well then I suggest that we get going on our regular schedule then, shouldn't we?" With that the trio went about their morning workout. When he had finished Harry went back into his room and wrote out a letter saying:

When he finished his letter he mentally contacted Hedwig with 'Hedwig I have a letter for Samuel Greengrass-Davis I need sent on. See if he has an immediate reply, if not you can come back alright?'

'Sure thing master."

Harry attached the letter to Hedwig and went on with his normal schedule. He received word from Hedwig that there was no immediate reply about lunch time. He carried out his normal schedule for the rest of the day and onto the next. When he finished his lesson for DADA he looked around and saw that both Daphne and Tracey were staying behind.

He looked on as Daphne came up to his desk and asked very quietly "what's this about our father wanting to meet with you Potter?"

Harry raised a single digit and pressed it to his lips to indicate silence and gestured for them to follow him. Harry went out into the courtyard and looking around went over to some secluded benches that no one was near. Once there he cast his standard privacy spells. Once they were cast he looked at the two of them and stated "I know you don't know me very well but what I have to tell you must remain in the strictest of confidences so unfortunately I will require an Oath from the both of you that you will not divulge any information to anyone besides me or your father before I can tell you what your father asked me to tell you."

Daphne and Tracey shared a glance between them before they both slightly shrugged and gave their Oath's.

Once Harry had completed their Oath's he said "now this is what you father asked me to tell you;" Harry spent the next several minutes giving the same speech he had given earlier to Hermione and Neville. Once he was done he added to it with "now this is a lifetime commitment so I ask that you don't answer me quite yet. I will give you 24 hours to think it over before I will accept any sort of commitment from you. If you need more time to think it over then by all means do so. Now if you have any questions I am ready to answer them for you."

Daphne and Tracey both had blank faces all throughout his recitation as they had learned this from talking with their father as well as their mothers. When he had finished they both looked at each other and shrugged when he proposed his waiting period of a day; as they knew they both would be taking him up on his offer. After seeing the same answer in her sister's eyes Daphne stated "Harry both of us already knew about this history from our father so we don't really have any reason to wait for a day to make our decision, as our decision was made a long time ago. We are extremely excited at the thought that we will be able to carry out the ways of our ancestors once more and wish to join as soon as possible."

Harry thought about this for a few minutes then shrugged and said "if you are already decided I guess that you can join with no waiting period. I do have a couple things potential members have to do before they can enter. The first thing you need to do is to swear a witches Oath that you will not join Voldemort or his Death Eaters; in addition you will only hurt or harm muggles in self defense only."

Daphne and Tracey both raised their wands and swore that Oath.

Harry nodded and continued on with his questions "the second thing I need to know is if either of you know Welsh as the ritual is written in that language."

Daphne and Tracey both shook their heads; Tracey answered verbally saying "we don't as we had previously planned to learn it the summer before third year."

Harry nodded and replied "very well. Both Hermione and Neville don't know it either so I have requested your father to send on some language capsules to facilitate in that. I have with me some Welsh dictionaries to help all of you in learning the language so that doesn't pose much of a problem. I will give the both of you a copy of the ritual that has been spelled so that it can be only read by you and me. This way if you ever lose the copy it will not fall into the wrong person's hands. The third thing I need to know is if either of you know Occlumency."

Tracey answered "we both know enough to defeat casual probes, but if someone directed their full force we wouldn't be able to stop them. There aren't really many books or trustworthy teachers that are available" with Daphne nodding along her agreement.

Harry grimaced at how rare the books he had available actually were and said "alright then. I can make some copies of the Occlumency books that I have which I can give you and I will pass along to your father some copies as well so he can share them amongst the group. If you wish I can test your mental defenses the same time as I test Hermione and Neville's. I'm not very good at Legilimency but I can use what I know on the four of you to see how you are doing; with your permission."

Tracey and Daphne looked at each other and held a silent conversation for a few minutes until they apparently reached an agreement. Daphne turned to Harry saying "we'll get back to you on testing our defenses Harry as we're not quite sure about that quite yet. As for the books, they would be very much appreciated." She paused for a few seconds for breath then asked "when do you expect the language capsules to arrive here?"

Harry answered her "it all depends on your father. I should have a reply in less than a week so be prepared. Now onto a related topic I have been asked to help the both of you, as well as Hermione and Neville on the night of the 31st, leave the castle undetected as I know of a secret passage that leads from within the castle to a place located in the Forbidden Forest that is near the henge the group is using. The entrance is on the third floor corridor near the humpbacked witch. I suggest you meet me there around 2320. You will have to avoid the patrolling prefects and perhaps the Heads of Houses, but the paintings and ghosts will not pose a problem."

Daphne and Tracey wondered at his confidence in stating that the ghosts and paintings would not pose a problem but decided to trust him for now. They nodded and replied together "we'll be there."

"Good. I do believe that's all?" Harry asked.

"Yes it is" Daphne said as she rose and alongside Tracey walked away.

Harry checked the time and hurried to dinner. He informed Neville and Hermione about the two Slytherins joining the group as they were walking to where they were doing their exercise period that night. Harry was startled by receiving a package as well as a letter the next morning. Reading it he saw:

Harry took out the package containing the language capsules and put them into his backpack then burned the letter. He carried out his normal schedule for the rest of the week until the closing minutes of the DADA class on that Saturday. Once he finished the class he looked up and said "I would like Daphne, Tracey, Neville and Hermione to stay behind please." When the rest of the call had left Harry cast several privacy wards and said "now the reason I asked the four of you to stay behind is due to the package I received from Mr. Greengrass-Davis containing the language capsules. I have made some copies of the dictionary each of you will need and have the capsules with me. I was wondering when each of you wishes to start learning. I was hoping we could do it right now as it does not take long."

All of them showed signs of wanting to accomplish this now so Harry handed each of them a dictionary and a capsule. Harry watched as each of them studied the dictionary after consuming the capsules for about thirty minutes. When Neville finally finished, about three minutes behind the others, he handed to Tracey and Daphne the two copies of the dedication ritual as well as copies of the ritual for Samhain to the four of them. Once that was done he smiled and said "now that each of you are capable of reading these I hope that you will study them and make sure that you have memorized them by the 31st. If you have any questions please ask me."

Hermione raised her hand and asked "what does it mean that we will be unable to use any sort of muggle transportation?"

Harry nodded and said "what it means is that you will be unable to use any sort of transportation that uses coal, oil distillates, batteries or nuclear fuel. If it is powered by wind, solar, water, or magic then you can travel on them with no problem. Before you ask the Hogwarts train while steam powered uses magic in its boiler to heat the water so it poses no problem for us. Now one thing I have noticed is that we will also be unable to use any sort of plastic or electronic device at all as they will be destroyed extremely quickly. In essence we will become walking around magical hotspots such as Hogwarts or Diagon and Knockturn Alley's."

Hermione nodded in understanding and asked "so we will have to rely on the magical worlds things exclusively then? Will we be able to go out into the muggle world then?"

Harry shrugged and replied "well I don't know for certain but I would assume so, though we might cause some localized difficulties due to us walking by and shorting out cars and pagers, anything that runs off of electricity for the most part." Hermione nodded while the others just looked at her as if asking 'why would you want to go into that world?' Harry asked them "anything else?" Seeing them shake their heads he nodded and said "good. Now I want to propose something to all of you. Since there are four of you I am extending the offer I gave to Neville and Hermione earlier about passing along the Old Ways and customs that I am being taught right now by Ms. Brisbank. She is teaching a person in my employ named Patricia O'Shanery in a much more detailed and broader aspect than I, as she has more time to do so. So I extend to all of you the invitation to come over to my house during the winter break as well as during the summer holidays to learn from Patricia at the same time I would be learning them. I will also pass along to all of you the things I am taught while here so you won't need any additional instruction when the breaks occur."

Daphne and Tracey looked at each other for a few seconds, finally Daphne turned toward Harry and replied "well we would have to ask our father for permission, but it shouldn't pose any problem."

Hermione said "I'll be staying with you so that answers that."

Neville looked at the ground then looked up and said "well I would have to leave for some family stuff, but I wouldn't have any problem leaving the house at all. The only problem might be my Gran, but I think that she will be so pleased by me studying with you that I doubt she'll have any problem with me leaving our home to learn with you."

Harry nodded and smiled when he heard each of them agree to his request. When Neville had finished he said "well I suggest that each Wednesday, after the DADA class, that we gather together and go outside where I will teach you what I have been taught. After that I can test your Occlumency at that time as well if that is alright for you?"

Hermione and Neville nodded while Daphne and Tracey shared a speaking glance. "Tracey and I will gladly learn what you have to teach of course, but as far as our Occlumency goes we'll have to see" Daphne responded.

Harry nodded and replied "of course, I would never test your defenses without your permission. Now I believe that is all the questions you have for right now? Seeing them nod he said "I'll go back onto my normal schedule then. Have a good night."

Harry that night contacted Hogwarts 'milady I have a request for you. I need to make some copies of my Occlumency books to hand out. Now I can make copies of the books, but they only last about a day or two. While these copies that I need made need to last for much longer. I was hoping that you could make five copies of the books. That way I can give one each to Neville, Hermione, Daphne and Tracey; with the remaining copy being sent on to Samuel Greengrass-Davis.'

'I can carry out your request milord with no problem. Ready the books for copying and I will duplicate them for you.'

'Thank you milady, they are ready now.' Harry watched as a house elf popped into his room and took the copies of the books he had made. The elf popped back in five minutes later with all of the books copied five times. 'Thank you milady.'