CHAPTER NINE: SHEATHED STEEL
~~~~~September 11th, 1996. Hogwarts.~~~~~
On Wednesday morning Harry recieved a note at breakfast from Professor Brodsky telling him to meet him in his office for their lesson instead of the Room of Requirement. It was their first lesson with swords and Harry knew that it'd be his weak point. Magic he could do, had been doing for the past five and a bit years. The physical training was simple enough, just hard. But working with a sword was an art and Harry wasn't sure he'd be able to pull it off.
Harry said goodbye to his friends and went to the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom. He entered to find Professor Brodsky leaning over a trunk, the likes of which Harry was sure he'd seen before.
"Ah, goodmorning Harry. Come on in." Brodsky said and then waved Harry over to the trunk. It was open and when Harry looked inside he remembered where he'd seen one before. Barty Crouch Jr. had kept Mad-Eye Moodys body in one when he was posing as him during Harrys fourth year.
They were storage spaces that had magically been enhanced to contain rooms inside instead of little spaces.
"Well, come on then." Brodsky jumped down into the compartment that was open and into the room below. Harry followed shortly after.
Down in there the room was much bigger than Harry had thought it could be. Mostly it was large and empty with blue mats across the floor. It was the walls that caught Harrys interest. They were lined with countless weapons; all sorts of blades were stacked on one wall, axes, spears on another, all sorts of firearms across from the swords, and the last wall was covered in different bows and arrows.
"This is my private collection, Harry. You should consider yourself lucky, I don't let many people see it, they're some of my most prized possessions." Brodsky told him.
"Wow." Harry breathed as he moved towards the guns.
"There'll be plenty of time for me to show you them all another day, Harry, but right now we're on a time limit, don't want you to be late to your next class."
Brodsky steered him over to the blade wall. "Now we need to figure out which type of sword is best suited to you Harry. Now," Brodsky grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him up and down, "Probably shouldn't have to rely too much on physical strength, but we'll see."
The professor turned to his swords and daggers and carefully picked up a sword that was about sixty centermetres long. It was double-edged with a V-point tip and barely had a gaurd. Brodsky handed it to Harry and he felt it was rather heavy.
"That is a gladius, Harry, they were used by Roman Legionaries back in the day."
Harry swung it a bit but found it very blocky and difficult to manouvre. Brodsky stopped him and took the sword back, placing it in its spot.
"No, we need something that requires strength yet...." Brodsky trailed off, searching the lines of blades again. "The katana requires grace, no not a katana. The xiphos is versatile but it doesn't seem right." Brodsky mumbled to himself.
He stopped in front of one and smiled. "Yes, I should have known." He picked it up off the shelf and Harry saw which one he was referring to. Its blade was straight and long, but not much wider than the long hilt it had, unlike most of the other swords he saw.
Brodsky walked over to Harry and handed it to him. "The hand-and-a-half sword, also known as a bastard sword. It can be weilded in one hand or two, it's versatile and powerful, but can be capable of finesse and speed on the battlefield. And its weight makes it difficult to gaurd against."
When Harry swung this sword he found that it was relatively easy to move with. Brodsky smiled, "Yes, that's it. It is funny that it is the same make of sword that Godric Gryffindor himself used."
"How's that funny, Sir?"
"Well, he fought Salazar Slytherin and it is funny that you should be suited to the same kind of sword as you will be battling Slytherins heir. Come now, Harry."
Brodsky took the sword from Harry and put it back on the wall. Then he grabbed hold of Harrys shoulder and used his wand to pull them out of the trunk. They walked to the Room of Requirement and when they entered it was set up much as the room in the trunk had been.
There were no extra weapons only a few swords that Harry noticed once they got closer were wooden.
Brodsky picked one up and threw it to Harry who caught it easily. "The Japanese call them bokkens Harry, training swords. Only ours are a little different, that is the exact shape and weight as the hand-and-a-half you were just holding. Now this will be difficult Harry, but I know you can master the sword."
They spent an hour and a half with Professor Brodsky showing Harry all the basics of swordfighting using the training sword. It was hard work so when Harry made his way back to the common room and sat down in one of the chairs near the fireplace he couldn't help but rub his aching shoulders.
Two smaller, softer hands came up behind him and continued the work, massaging the knots that were already forming.
"Hard work?" Hermione asked quietly.
Harry gave a half-groan/half-sigh before answering. "It was alright at the beginning when he was just showing me proper movements and that, but at the end he picked up another training sword and we battled a bit. He's an awful lot stronger than me. I'd manage to block his strikes but he'd push down on me saying that he was holding back, but a real opponent won't."
"You poor baby, all this extra work." Harry cracked his first smile since getting to the common room. He loved it when Hermione was in a teasing mood. "Come on, let's go to our spot at the lake."
"Our spot?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Well, I don't think anyone else really knows about it, so now it's our spot."
"Don't you have arithmancy?"
"Not meaning to be cocky or anything Harry but let's face it, I could take my NEWTs right now and still pass with flying colours, I think I deserve to skive off for one class."
Harry was slightly shocked but stood with a smile and took her hand, "You certainly do deserve a break, even if it is only a small one."
They walked down to the lake and sat in the same spot they had the last time they were there. Hermione leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder.
"You know," Harry started, feeling very nervous, "We haven't actually talked about what happened at breakfast on Monday night."
"You felt it too, then? I thought it was just me."
"That feeling like a live wire made contact with every part of my body at once? Yeah, I felt it. What do you suppose it meant?"
"I don't know. But whatever it was I like it." She looked up at him and saw the smile on his face. Very slowly he leaned in, unable to stop his eyes from flashing down to her lips. She could feel his breath on her face as they got closer. They were only centermetres away - -
"Fang! Get back 'ere!" Hagrids voice made them both close their eyes and sigh at their misfortune. Hermione dropped her head back to Harrys shoulder while he turned in the direction of the sound to see a huge dog bounding their way.
Fang gave Harry a big lick up the face before laying himself down and resting his head on Harrys lap. Hagrid walked into the clearing and smiled at them.
"Oh if I only 'ad me camera!" Hagrid grinned, "You two an' Fang!"
"Hey Hagrid, pull up a stump." Harry smiled, motioning to the fallen tree not far behind them.
Hagrid sat himself down. "Shouldn't yeh be in class?"
"I've got a spare and Hermiones waggin' it." Harry explained.
"I'm not wagging it, I'm simply taking a small break."
Hagrid just smiled, "That's alright, Hermione, yeh work too hard anyway. Hows yeh extra training been with Brodsky, 'Arry?"
"Not that bad, actually. It's hard work, but it could be worse."
"That it could. He's a good man, Brodsky."
Hermione looked up from Harrys shoulder, "What can you tell us about him, Hagrid?"
"Oh, he went to school 'ere years ago. Glad to say he was a friend of mine too, much like yer lot are. He's the same age as Lucius Malfoy, but those two were alot like you and Draco, 'Arry, hated each other more than anything. I think he tutored yeh Mum when she was in first an second, and he and yeh Dad played quidditch together.
"He graduated second in his class, his wife came in first, o'couse they weren't married then." Hagrid gave a little laugh, "Matter o'fact they barely tolerated each other. Then years later they met up and fell in love got married, I was at the weddin', beautiful ceremony. They had a little baby not much later, woulda been about yer age, but...."
"But what, Hagrid? What happened to his family?"
"Death eaters." Hagrid told them darkly, "Not long before you stopped You-Know-Who, 'Arry, they went after him and his family. Killed Clarice and their baby, near killed him too, but he got away, not before takin most of 'em down though. He came 'ere fer a while.....then he just disappeared for a long time, I dunno where he went but I heard that after You-Know-Who disappeared he was huntin' down the remainin' death eaters he could find."
"That's tragic." Hermione said softly.
"Aye, tis. But Dumbledore asked him to come back to help 'Arry out, and he put his sword down and picked his wand back up."
"His sword?" Harry asked.
"That was the story, he wouldn't use magic to kill the death eaters, he'd use a sword, wanted ter see
'em bleed like they'd done to his family."
Silence rang out for a long while until Harry broke it, "Well, at least we can be sure he's on our side."
"Course he is. Well, I best be gettin' off. Come on, Fang!" Fang didn't move.
Harry laughed, "It's alright, Hagrid, we'll bring him up when we go back."
"Right then, be good Fang, I'll see yers around."
"Bye Hagrid."
Once Hagrid had left the clearing, Harry turned to Hermione with a smile, "Now where were we?" But judging by the look on her face the moment was gone. "Is it about Brodsky?"
"Yes. Maybe that's what I'm seeing in my dreams, the night his family died. But why am I seeing it?"
"I wish I could tell you, Mione, I hate seeing you like this. And I keep thinking if this is only the beginning of our sixth year, I'm not sure I want the rest to come."
"I know. It's just so frustrating!" Hermione cried and then stood and walked so her feet were just out of the waters reach.
Harry had to move Fangs huge head off his lap before he could stand. He moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him.
"We'll get through this, Mione, just like we got through everything else."
"I just wish I knew. I hate not knowing something, I need to be able to understand everything and this is something that I just can't figure out."
"It'll be okay, I promise. We'll know eventually and then we can work our way through it."
"Thanks, Harry."
Time flew by as they just stood looking out over the lake, wrapped up in eachother. Hermione came to her senses first and told Harry they needed to get back. She turned in his arms and kissed him on the cheek then moved out of the clearing leading Fang. Harry had to shake off the feeling of her lips on his skin before he was able to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~