Author's Note: Guys as much as I like attempting to update weekly, I think I'll need reactions to my fic. Its kind of hard to continue to write without reactions from the readers. Come on guys how hard is it to say something nice/bad, much more typing it.
Chapter 2:
The Dursleys and Knight of the Lance…
As Harry walked along the path towards number four Privet drive, he noticed that the death of Dumbledore had affected the activity of the Order.
'The death of an organization's leader would do that, genius,' Harry thought bitterly.
As they got nearer, Harry felt that someone was closing up on them, and it seemed that Saber noticed it as well. Then it dawned on Harry that he wasn't sure if Saber had a wand or not, or even what her weapon was. The lack of a weapon didn't deter Saber's willingness to fight. It seemed to Harry that the air around Saber went from the warm atmosphere of a summer night, to a winter's chill. Harry could also sense a certain type of intent coming from Saber, he wasn't sure what it was but he assumed it dangerous as she seemed to be gripping something...
Harry's feeling of someone trying to sneak up on him went haywire, as the person got closer. The pair stopped, and Saber got into a stance, and was now gripping something cylindrical with both of her hands. Then almost suddenly swung what she was gripping behind her and slashed. Luckily, the person who's creeping up on them had fast reflexes so he managed to avoid that deadly swing. Whatever weapon Saber was wielding made some sparks fly from the pavement when it missed their follower, and while this was happening Harry had immediately drawn out his wand preparing to stun who ever got the stupid idea to creep up on them.
"Merlin's beard, Harry, you've got one hell of a companion there," said the person who jumped away from Saber and crashed into some bushes exclaimed.
Harry instantly recognized that voice, it was Lupin! He told Saber to stand down, as he knew their 'follower'.
"Well young lady, I don't know what weapon you used but I'm sure that it's dangerous…how did you manage to conceal it? I knew that its there when you swung down, but looking at you now, it seems to me that you're not holding anything resembling a long, edged weapon," he told Saber as he brushed off his hands on his pants.
Saber wore a face full of shock. She didn't count on someone identifying her weapon. She was immediately on guard, even though Harry identified this man as an ally, she wasn't going to let someone get a measure of her abilities this early in the war, but Harry had other plans ascertaining that information about her weapon.
"Yeah Saber, how did you do that? You were gripping something only moments ago and now it's like it disappeared in thin air," Harry added to his old professor's observation.
Saber shook her head and told the two men that this wasn't the proper time or place to discuss her abilities as they were too exposed. Then Harry remembered that he had two wars to fight, one on a small scale, one on a national scale, but both would be undeniably deadly. The trio agreed that they would talk about it on a later date and resumed their walk to the Dursley household.
Harry noticed the awkward silence as they headed to his prison for a few weeks. He also noticed that his old professor was looking at him then at Saber then back at him, and it seemed that he wanted to say something. Halfway to the house, Harry finally ran out of patience Harry turned around, and stopped in front of the last remaining marauder and said,
"What is it professor," he asked, "Is there something on your mind?"
This shocked the lycanthrope. Normally Harry needed a little prodding to say something, but this time it was Harry who started the conversation. Remus seized this opportunity to ask him how he was doing.
"I'm fine," he told Remus with a straight face "as fine as I'll ever be, though if you mean, fine as in, fucked up, insecure, neurotic, and emotional. Then I'm perfectly fine."
The old werewolf's jaw dropped; he wasn't expecting that answer. A pregnant silence filled the space between the raven-haired boy, and the werewolf. But all of a sudden, Harry gave his old professor a big grin. Remus instantly caught on, and released a sigh of relief.
"Harry, don't do that," said a recovering Remus "I'm an old man and my heart can't take those kinds of surprises."
Harry laughed it off and said,
"Old man my ass, you can kick bad guy butt and still run around doing Merlin knows what, and you still have energy to watch over me. I'd say you're as old as someone half your age or maybe even younger…" Harry tilted his head and then added "Wait did that make sense?"
Former student and former professor looked at each other then laughed their heads off. All the while Saber stood there with a confused expression on her face. Harry noticed this and told her that she doesn't need to concern herself with him at the moment. After they shared a laugh, Harry asked the same question that he asked McGonagall a few hours earlier.
"Professor, what's going to happen now?"
Sensing that play time was over, Remus sobered up right away and told him that he doesn't know what's going to happen next with the Order.
"We weren't sure if Dumbledore made contingency plans before he died," he told Harry "We're hoping to see if anything will happen in the next couple of weeks. It was named after a phoenix, so maybe the next leader would be chosen by Fawkes or something; if not then we'll have a vote by the members."
When Remus said that the Order was sitting on their hands doing nothing, Harry felt like he was going to explode. The rest of the walk the trio were silent, the two men lost in their own thoughts while Saber was lost in her own. As they reached the Dursley's door, no one noticed that the sun was gone and was slowly being replaced by the moon. As Harry was about to knock, Harry was surprised that it wasn't his hand that knocked on the door of the Dursley's, it was Remus'. Before he could say anything, the door opened to reveal the big bulk of Vernon Dursley.
"YOU!" he shouted "WHAT IN HEVEAN'S NAME ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Harry tired his best to calm himself down. He wouldn't want to do anything foolish since his birthday was a month away. But that didn't mean that Remus couldn't…
"He's here because he's going to stay here for a couple of weeks," he said to the large man, trying not to grind his teeth to dust.
Vernon looked like he was about to pop a vein, when Petunia Dursley calmed him down. Petunia told Harry to get in quickly before the neighbors saw him. Harry was about to enter when Petunia noticed Saber was also going inside. She was about to ask what was she doing when Saber told her,
"I'm staying with Harry, until he leaves…"
That set Vernon off; Harry could tell that Vernon was about to erupt and he needed to quickly defuse the situation.
"What she means is…"
There was a swooshing sound then he noticed that Saber wasn't at his side anymore. He looked back and saw Saber in a stance with her gripping her invisible weapon, which wasn't so invisible now since the moonlight was reflecting off it. Harry could also see the wind warping around the weapon, and as he turned towards the Dursleys, he noticed something was missing. Then he looked closely at what the missing thing was and spotted the problem on his uncle's face. Now, Harry still wasn't sure what it was but it was something big. The conversation stopped for a second until Remus pointed out,
"Good job Saber, I've always thought that mustache on him made him look like a walrus."
Vernon was about to shout at Remus then he noticed that the man in front of him was correct, he looked below him, and lo and behold, there below him lay the remains of his facial hair. Vernon, if possible, turned a darker shade of red only this time he was about to shout at Saber. He was going to but he changed his mind as Saber swung her invisible weapon. The result was instantaneous; the Dursley's front lawn had a huge gash, and was beyond recognition.
All the color from Vernon's face was gone and both he and his wife were as pale as ghosts. They weren't the only ones who were shocked. It seemed that the two wizards in front of her were also speechless. Saber then released her grip on her weapon and then said,
"As I was so rudely interrupted, I'm going to stay with Harry until he leaves. We are going to receive free access to and from this house. Mister Lupin and his associates would also have free access."
The Dursleys nodded so fast that Harry believed that if he nodded that fast his neck would break, and as Saber walked to the front door of the Dursley's home she cleared her throat and the Dursleys got the hint. They quickly moved away from the entrance so she could pass, but before she entered, she turned around and asked Remus,
"Mister Lupin, would you be so kind as to repair the garden?"
"Of course young lady," he told her, then he added with a wink and a bow, "Your will be done."
He cast a spell that instantly reversed what Saber did and left the lawn looking like it was never even touched. He bade farewell to both Harry and Saber saying that if they needed anything, all they had to do was to send Hedwig. He waved goodbye, and then, turned and walked away from them leaving Harry and Saber in the Dursley household.
Inside, Harry didn't notice that the elder Dursleys were missing in the living room. Harry smiled and one line came into his mind as Saber was looking around.
'This will be the best summer ever!'
~~~
It was already five minutes past midnight and Harry couldn't sleep. He knew he was tired, he knew that tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day, considering that Saber scared the crap out of the Dursleys, but there was something missing. Harry wasn't sure what was missing but there was. He looked at the blonde haired girl, who lay fast asleep beside him. It took a lot of effort for Harry not to blush as Saber shifted in her sleep. Saber was the first girl who ever slept on his bed, in a non-sexual way, of course.
Harry could remember their conversation about their sleeping arrangements earlier that evening…
~~~
"Saber you can sleep in the guest room, I doubt that the Dursleys have the guts to kick you out of any room after that display earlier," he said, trying not to smile as he remembered his relative's reactions to Saber's display of power.
Saber and Harry were eating dinner after the Dursleys. They arrived at the kitchen after checking out to see if Harry's stuff was in his room. At first, Vernon saw Harry and was about to yell at him, but when Saber entered, he immediately slammed his mouth shut, took his dinner elsewhere and the rest of the Dursleys quickly followed suit, not wanting to suffer the wrath of the green eyed, blonde haired girl.
"That wouldn't be satisfactory Harry," she replied. "I saw the guest room and it's too far from your room, one of the other competitors' servants could have killed you by the time I arrive," she added.
Even though she had a good point, Harry couldn't fathom the idea as to why she wanted to sleep in his room (Harry also couldn't stop the blush that was trying to creep up his neck). Harry was about to protest but it was cut short by Saber saying,
"What is so wrong about, a man and a woman sharing the same bed?"
If it were possible to blush even harder, Harry would've been redder than a tomato. Once he calmed down enough, he told Saber that it wouldn't look good to other people if a guy and a girl, outside of a relationship sleeping in the same bed. But then Saber, as if she was expecting that he would say something like that she countered with a knockout blow and said,
"But aren't we technically in a relationship, albeit, a non-romantic one?"
~~~
Harry sighed and tried to move away from Saber. It was bad enough that she insisted on sleeping on the same bed with him, but as they prepared for bed, Saber realized that she didn't have anything else but the robes on her back, and asked if she could borrow some of his clothing. After a fierce debate, which Saber naturally won, he reluctantly gave her a shirt and his old sweat pants. Harry was expecting that she would go out to the bathroom and change there, but she began unbuttoning her dress, Harry stood there wide-eyed and slack jawed. He turned around so that he was facing away from her, but the fates won't have it his way. As it turned out he was facing the window, therefore he could see her silhouette. Although it was a reflection and not the real thing, he immediately felt his face heat up; he quickly closed his eyes and tried not to think those kinds of thoughts.
Saber signaled that she was finished changing and told him to go to bed. With his eyes still closed, he tried to get to bed, and lie down, careful not to touch Saber;
Harry sighed again, and deciding that he wouldn't get any sleep anytime soon he decided to get up and off his bed before anything else embarrassing happened.
Trying not to wake her, he got off his bed and went to his desk. He had nothing to do at the moment, so he tried to brush up on his defensive spells by reading one of the gifts that he received during his last birthday. He started with Tonk's gift 'An Auror's guide to spell casting'.
He was about to start reading, when he heard a light tapping on his window. He turned and saw his snow-white owl, Hedwig. He went to his window and opened it to let her in. The snowy owl hooted a soft 'hoot'; it seemed that she knew that at this time of night you were supposed to be silent. Harry started caressing the bird and she gave a gentile nip on Harry's fingers as a response to her owner's show of affection.
Then Harry noticed something tied to the bird's leg. As if reading Harry's mind, Hedwig raised one of her legs so that her master could get to the letter. Harry said thanks to the bird and offered some water and some owl treats, to which Hedwig hooted thankfully.
He quickly examined the letter and found Hermione's clean cursive handwriting on the back portion of it. He opened the letter and started to read…
Dear Harry,
We were so worried when you didn't show up for the train to King's Cross! Add to the fact that Ron and Ginny were in hysterics when the train started to move and neither you nor your trunk were in the train! I tried not to panic but Ron was spouting off unimaginable things that he almost made me panic!
Harry took a break from reading and thought that if there was something that would make the Hermione Jane Granger panic it would likely be someone with black messy hair, and had a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. Harry tried not to laugh at his own joke seeing as there was someone sleeping a few feet from where he was and continued,
Ron was about to leave our compartment when the train already left the station and was trying to go to the front of the train, luckily, or in Ron's case, unluckily, Dobby popped in. He told us that you were ok and that you were safe, but still inside the castle. He also told us not to worry about you and not to follow you, but Ron and Ginny were having none of it. It seemed that the two siblings convinced themselves that you were in mortal danger and were about to get their brooms to follow you. I tried to reason with them but they wouldn't listen. In the end, Dobby petrified them. He only released them when we arrived at King's Cross Dobby apologized profusely and told us that you ordered him to do it.
Harry I know you told us not to worry but we're your friends, we can't help but worry when you don't tell us where you're going…especially after, what I meant was we care about you. Write to me when you get this, okay? I don't mean the next day, or the morning after, I want you to write to me directly after you've read this, okay?
Love,
Hermione
Harry raised his eyebrow at what she meant by 'especially after'. It also occurred to Harry that it wasn't like her to abruptly end a letter; it was really unlike her to send a letter with an erasure. Her letters were always pristine, with no erasures or any error what so ever.
'Well at least one thing remained the same,' he thought, smiling 'She's still her usual bossy self, even though it's through a letter.'
Harry checked to see what time it was, and saw that it was a little past ten minutes after he had gotten up and off the bed. Then he thought that he better start on that letter, so that Hermione won't worry her pretty little face off.
'Wait…what? Where did that come from?' he thought, and then the image of Hermione smiling at him came in front of his mind. He quickly shook his head away from those thoughts and tried to start a response to Hermione's letter…
~~~
As he finished his response to Hermione's letter (which told her what happened during his absence from the train, minus everything that involved Saber), he felt that someone was watching him. He turned around to see if Saber was still asleep, and she was. He turned his head to look at his owl, and she was also asleep. He stood and grabbed his wand off the nightstand, trying not to expose himself to who ever was watching him through the window. He tried to peek at the corner of his window to see if anyone was out there. And when he spotted no one, his feeling of being watched disappeared.
'Well at least Moody would be proud of me,' Harry thought as he placed the wand back on his nightstand. 'Constant Vigilance!' The old, former auror would say. Harry smiled at his own silliness.
'Its way past my bedtime…'
He tried to wake up his owl and asked if she could deliver a letter to Hermione for him, at her leisure of course. The snowy old hooted a soft response to her master and went back to sleep. He opened her cage and left the letter on his desk where, Hedwig would later deliver it. Harry assumed that since it was the only letter on his desk it would make sense that it was the one to be delivered, he did have a smart owl after all.
He tried to lie down on his bed, trying not to wake Saber up. As Harry found a comfortable spot, Saber shuffled a little bit closer to him. It was then that Harry got a good look at Saber's face. He would have to admit that she was beautiful; Harry groaned softly to himself and thought,
'This will be a long night…'
~~~
Harry woke up earlier than usual, it wasn't because of his nightmares or he sensed that he was under attack, no. He just woke up. He wasn't feeling tired anymore. He tried to remember if he had a dream but all he could come up with was an image of a sword that looked like he was looking at it without his glasses.
He slowly got up. Trying to avoid Saber's sleeping form. He looked outside and noticed that the sun was slowly illuminating the whole of Privet Drive; he checked his clock, which read that it was five-thirty in the morning. He had better get breakfast started, he was sure that Saber was going to be grumpy when she didn't get her food.
'Mental note,' he thought 'make sure that Saber likes the food that was prepared. Do not want to have bruises first thing in the morning.'
His thoughts revolved around how Saber reacted to the dinner that he made last night. His uncle took the previous food that was served to some other place along with his walrus of a body.
As he got out of his room, he noticed that his uncle's room was open. Normally he would hear the snoring of his elephantine uncle but now the house was dead silent. His eyes widened as one conclusion came into mind, but if he was wrong, and was caught, there would be hell to pay.
'Nothing ventured, nothing gained,' he quickly thought.
He slowly crept towards the open door. His heart pounded as he got nearer, then he thought that maybe his aunt, the early bird of the two Dursleys, just went to the loo to do whatever girls do in the morning. His heart raced at the thought of being caught by either of the two. But, he wasn't placed in Gryffindor for nothing. He steeled his resolve and crept closer. At first, he thought that he heard the sound of a toilet flushing. His mind raced. What if they didn't leave? The Slytherin in him told him to get out of there and, oddly enough, he listened. He quickly but silently headed towards the stairs. He went down the stairs and stopped halfway down, and then he silently waited. He didn't hear any opening or closing of any doors.
He gathered what's left of his resolve and climbed back up the stairs. He tried to peek through the opening that the door provided and his heart leapt from his chest to his throat. It was the most wonderful thing that happened to him recently. His suspicions were correct, they were gone. Harry immediately thought that they would be back tomorrow or the day after that, but as soon as his mind wrapped the idea that the Dursleys were not near the house he smiled his biggest smile in a long while.
~~~
Saber woke up to what must be the tastiest smell she had ever encountered, in this lifetime of course. She groggily looked at the clock on Harry's nightstand and it indicated that it was already nine in the morning. She was about to follow the smell but then decided against it, because the call of nature was more powerful than any delicious smell.
After she did her womanly duties for that morning, she went downstairs, and was surprised at the spread that was laid out in front of her. Eggs - scrambled, boiled and sunny side up. Bangers and mash, bacon, French toast, buttered toast, normal toast, along with a jar of jam, or marmalade on the side, pancakes, the works! There were even coffee and tea prepared. Saber was stumped as to what happened that brought on this breakfast feast.
And in the midst of all the different kinds of breakfast foods, there was a lone figure in a frilly pink apron. Harry Potter, the Chosen one, the Boy-Who-Lived, was holding a frying pan and flipping a pancake. As he was flipping the said pancake, he didn't notice Saber examining the already prepared dishes with a slightly drooling mouth. What he did notice was his owl entering an open kitchen window with a letter and landing on the table with the fine spread, Hedwig waddled towards one of the plates and was about to grab a piece of bacon, but Harry lightly swatted her head, earning him an annoyed stare from his beloved snowy owl.
"Oh no you don't, Hedwig," Harry told the annoyed owl, "first give me the letter that Hermione sent, then, you'll get some food."
It seemed that the owl considered her options first as she tilted her head. Harry never relented though. He told the owl that she'll get all the food she wants if he gets the letter first. That proposal made the deal for Hedwig. She raised one of her talons and presented the letter, which Harry gladly accepted. The Snowy owl immediately went back to grabbing a piece of bacon. After she got her prize, she hopped on one of the backs of the chairs and proceeded to happily munch on her piece of bacon.
Only, after the interaction with his familiar did Harry spot Saber, she had an amused expression on her face. Harry just shrugged and told her that if she was hungry she could dig in. Saber ignoring what he said, commented on the letter that his owl gave him.
"So," Saber started "what does it say? The letter I mean."
Harry opened the letter and read. His calm face paled as he read line after line. By the time he was finished, Saber was immensely worried as to what would cause such a drastic reaction.
"What is it," she inquired.
Harry gave an incoherent mumble at first. But, when she asked him to repeat himself, a knock on the door was heard. If Harry was pale before, he was as white as a ghost. Then he heard a knock on the door. The knock was repeated, and this time the doorbell was also rung. As there were no sense of making the people at the door wait, Saber got up from her seat and went to answer it.
Apparently, Saber's movement caused Harry to snap out of his shock and as he saw her reaching for the doorknob, he knew he was too late. He tried to go to the living room to stop her but the action was a futile effort. The door was already open and the damage was done.
"Harry…err, hullo" it was Ron, "who're you?"
"What do you mean, 'who're you', Ron" that voice could only belong to Hermione. "Isn't this Harry's…oh hello?"
Hermione peeked from behind Ron and saw Saber, and apparently she recognized the clothes that Saber was wearing, and upon the realization that they were Harry's clothes, her eyes opened wide. She barged in past Saber, and saw Harry in the hallway, still wearing the frilly pink apron, looking like a deer in front of headlights. All her questions forgotten when she saw what he was wearing, Hermione's want for answers dissipated, though one question remained,
"What on earth are you wearing?"
Hermione's exclamation was what drew Ron into the home. Once he saw what Harry was wearing, his jaw dropped down to the floor. He looked like he was a fish out of water, and when he actually recovered from the shock he started laughing. Not the kind of laughter where someone will laugh and then it'll die down kind of laugh, it was the kind that once you laugh, you can't stop laughing until you fall down on the floor taking everyone with you while they're also laughing, kind of laugh.
As Ron laughed his ass off, Harry and Saber were thinking thoughts along the lines of 'what's going on'. As for Hermione, however, she wasn't as amused as Ron was on Harry's choice of apparel. Once she recovered from the actual shock of seeing Harry in pink, her mind went back to the initial problem of what was a girl, doing in his clothing, under his roof. Hermione was about to ask that very question when all of a sudden Harry said,
"Hey guys; err, welcome, Saber and I were just going to sit down for breakfast, do you guys want to join us?"
Ron stopped laughing at the mention of the word 'breakfast'. He quickly got up and dusted himself off. He asked Harry what they are having. He replied that he was free to take his pick. When Ron gave Harry a confused look, Harry ushered both Ron and Hermione to the kitchen.
Ron and Hermione had the same look on their faces as Saber did when she first saw the breakfast feast. They were amazed to the quantity of food that was prepared by Harry. Ron immediately sat and started devouring the foodstuffs. After a few moments, Saber, Hermione and Harry minus the frilly pink apron joined him.
There was tension so thick that you could've sliced it with a knife. While Ron was stuffing his face full of the food that Harry prepared, Hermione kept stealing glances at Harry and Saber. Saber, ignoring Hermione's glances ate with not a care in the world. It couldn't be said the same for Harry; he knew that Hermione was looking at him when she thought that he wasn't looking. He knew that there were tons of questions forming in that brilliant mind of hers. It was only a matter of time before Hermione would ask who Saber was, and it seemed that time was now.
"Harry, who is she and what is she doing here?"
It seemed like time stood still in the Dursley kitchen as Hermione asked the question. Even Ron stopped munching down on his food and looked at Harry, requesting an answer. Harry thought of a thousand excuses to say to his two best friends, but nothing came out when he opened his mouth. He really didn't like lying to them, but he didn't want them to know that there was another war he was involved in. As Harry opened and closed his mouth, trying to formulate a cohesive answer for what was going on, Saber answered for him.
"I am Saber. Your former headmaster, Dumbledore, arranged for a letter to be delivered to me in the moment of his death, stating that I must find one Harry Potter," Saber told them, then she added, "The letter also stated that he will protect me from the people who'll want to cause harm to my persona."
If Saber expected Hermione to be convinced by her explanation, well then she was sadly mistaken. Hermione looked at Harry for confirmation but Harry couldn't look either of his friends in the eye at the moment, so he avoided all eye contact and let his head hang. Harry's actions told Hermione one thing,
"You're lying," she said "who are you and what are you doing here?"
Saber turned her head so that she was looking straight at Harry. He noticed her stare and didn't react. Saber raised an eyebrow at him, sensing he was at a loss for what to say. Saber took a deep breath and asked Harry if they should tell them, Harry's head snapped up and looked at her with wide-open eyes.
"Tell us what, Harry," Ron asked.
"Tell them what, Saber?" Harry tried to act nonchalant, in front of Hermione and Ron, as he obviously lied to his two best friends.
Saber raised an eyebrow at her Master, if his lie was obvious to her, she was as sure as rain that the two people in front of her, knew that Harry Potter was lying.
Hermione looked back and forth between Saber and Harry and tried to derive a conclusion. She already thought of one possibility but she didn't like the idea of that one so she immediately scrapped it. She tried to determine who Saber was, and why she was here, but the only answer she could arrive at was her first one, and the ever-tactful Ron voiced the very first conclusion that she thought of.
"Harry, are you and Saber in a relationship?"
Harry flinched at the term 'relationship'. He flinched, not because it was true, but because he had a feeling that it was going to lead to a huge misunderstanding, he just knew it. He was about to answer Ron, but Saber interrupted him.
"I wouldn't call it a relationship, although, I guess it could be called that…"
Everyone suddenly froze at what Saber said. Harry wasn't expecting her to answer. Now he knew that this could be blown out of proportion. He was about to explain but then Hermione stood, her face hidden behind an unreadable mask. Harry tried to look at her eyes but it was concealed beneath the tangles of her hair. She stormed out of the kitchen exiting through the backdoor and the trio that were left heard a loud crack, signaling that she left for where ever she's heading. Harry, not feeling hungry anymore stood and left the kitchen. Before he left, Ron called out if he could finish the rest of the meal, he told him that he didn't care, and climbed the stairs and entered his room.
In the wakes of Harry and Hermione, they left a red headed boy, stuffing his face full of food and a blonde haired girl with a confused expression on her face.
"Was it something I said?" Saber asked into the air. Not knowing if the blonde haired girl was talking to him or not, Ron just shrugged and continued to munch away, oblivious to the rift that opened between his two best friends.
~~~
After Ron finished what was left of breakfast, he told Harry that he left the dishes in the sink, and went on his way, saying that he'll be back tomorrow morning. That was about ten hours ago. Harry only went out to cook Saber some lunch and some dinner, when Saber asked him if he was going to eat, both during lunch and during dinner, he only shook his head and proceeded to cook her meal. She sensed that there was something wrong with her Master but didn't comment.
Harry lay in bed not knowing what to do. He was trying to figure out why Hermione reacted to what Saber said in such a cold manner. It frustrated him because he was sure what Saber said made Hermione upset, for what reason he wasn't sure. Hell, he wasn't even sure if that was the real reason why he was so frustrated, he just wanted to destroy something, anything! Just so he could release this frustration that was building up in him but he couldn't explain. It was already seven-thirty when he decided to try to write to Hermione.
Try as he might, he couldn't even get past how to start the letter. Should he start with 'Dearest Hermione'? On the other hand, should it be just 'Dear Hermione'? Maybe he could just start with plain 'Hermione'.
He released an aggravated cry, the letter before this one was so easy to write, so easy to start. He always talked with her, carefree and unassuming that way.
'If that was the case,' he thought, 'why is it so hard to freaking start this one!'
He saw the pile of parchment that he wasted trying to get a letter to Hermione started and it was starting to overflow his trash bin.
'The poor trees are suffering because you can't start a bloody letter, you twit!'
Harry then thought of trying to use some normal notepads instead of the pricy parchment that he kept wasting. As he only had a limited number of parchments and more or less an unlimited supply of normal notepads in the house. He went out of his room for a moment to retrieve a pad, and as soon as he got up, he heard the sound of knocking on his door.
As Saber was the only person besides him in the house, he assumed that Saber must be hungry or something. Sure enough, it was Saber craving for a snack; he chuckled at her but his laughter soon stopped when his own stomach growled, they ate in silence and then washed the dishes (even the dishes during breakfast, which weren't washed by Ron). He quickly whipped something up for Saber and himself went on his way to retrieve a pad.
~~~
It was already ten-thirty when he finally finished his letter explaining things to Hermione. He wrote everything that happened during his time away from the express to the time he and Saber went to Diagon ally. He also wrote that there was nothing between him and Saber. That it was their contract that she was talking about, and he was supposed to ask Saber to give out more details to her war.
He was about to send it, but he heard a loud crash down stairs, and it seemed that there was some sounds of metal clashing upon metal. He grabbed his wand to investigate. What he didn't expect was Saber bursting in to his room and grabbing him and jumping out of the window.
They both landed safely on the Dursley's lawn and immediately Harry asked,
"What the bloody hell is going on here?"
Saber didn't have time to respond as someone stepped out of the destroyed front door of his current residence. Harry felt a strong intent coming from the being that stepped out of the house. That intense desire stopped when the intruder stepped into the moonlit front lawn, and was revealed a man wearing blue clothing. He was holding a red, deadly looking lance, and looked extremely bored. The unknown assailant sighed, and then said,
"Well at least I'll have some fun this time around."
Harry was wondering where his minder or minders were at a time like this. This was certainly a 'Protect Harry from evil doers' situation. Saber stepped in front of Harry and was poised to attack. It didn't even occur to Harry that this was one of the beings that was involved in Saber's war until Saber said,
"Lancer," she exclaimed "where's your Master! Is your Master too scared to show his face?"
Harry quickly turned his head to see if Saber was joking. Which she clearly wasn't. In all reality, he was expecting to look for the other servants while hunting for the Horcruxes after his birthday when the ministry wasn't breathing down his neck waiting for him to slip up and then break his wand.
'Damn it! Why did this guy choose this time to attack? Can't he come back in a later day or something?'
The same man who destroyed the Dursley's front door spoke again interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes, he's the type who looks for any opportunity and any advantage to get the upper hand. And seeing that you've got a whelp for a Master, I'd say that's one hell of an opportunity." He said, after which he laughed.
Harry was shocked! He didn't even know the guy and he immediately insulted him. He felt his blood boil until a look from Saber told him to let her handle this. Harry noticed that the person called 'Lancer' continued traversing the lawn only to stop a few feet away from them. Saber noticed this and tried to back away, sensing that Lancer had the upper hand as he didn't need to protect his Master.
"Well let's get started shall we? We haven't got all night." The man in blue said.
It was less than a second when Saber summoned her armor and clashed with Lancer. Their movements amazed Harry, their movements were as fast as lightning and the only indication that they were fighting was the fact that their weapons were clanging and sending sparks all over. Harry was so mesmerized at the fight raging on in front of him, it was like a macabre dance in which, one false move would mean death to either one of the dancers. The blue clothed aggressor thrusting at a very high speed in front of him from top to bottom, and from right to left, and Saber, dodging and parrying every which way the blue clothed man thrust, while countering his attacks.
It was during this deadly dance that, Harry noticed that, even with Saber's obvious reach disadvantage, she was still keeping up with the blue clothed assailant. But, the thing that amazed Harry the most, was the fact that not only was Saber keeping up, she was gaining ground on her opponent!
Seeing the futility of trading blows with an opponent with an invisible weapon, Lancer immediately broke off their clash and retreated quite a distance away from Saber. With enough irritation that would piss off even a master Occlumens, he said,
"Why don't you fight like a true warrior?" He exclaimed. "Show your weapon so we can fight properly."
Harry was surprised at Saber's reaction towards the irritated man. She actually smirked at him!
"But isn't deceit a part of battle," she countered. "Also, you were the first one who used underhanded tactics by ambushing me and my Master at his domicile."
If Lancer was irritated before, now he was just pissed. He was just supposed to scout this new Master, not place his neck on the line! He noticed that the people he incapacitated were waking up, so he decided that he better finish this fight before anyone saw anything.
"Fine!" He shouted. "Let's finish this!"
Harry felt the same intense intent, which he first felt from Saber yesterday, only far stronger. He finally identified what he felt from Saber yesterday, and what he felt from this man earlier. It was the intent to kill. He didn't realize that until he felt the full brunt of it coming from this man. He was so familiar with it on a lower level all through out his life, but compared to this, it would make Voldemort's intent to kill him as if he just wanted to play. Harry was rooted in his place; he knew that if he moved he would die faster than any Death eater can pronounce 'Avada Kedavra'.
~~~
It was during the time in which Harry's legs were frozen that his minders chose to wake up. They saw the two combatants and Harry standing near the front lawn of the Dursleys. As they stood, they saw a blue man holding a deadly looking spear aimed at a blonde haired girl and their charge. And, immediately they sensed danger and instinct told them that needed to act quickly in order to save Harry. But they were too late, the man in blue pounced on his prey like a lion from the bush, crying out 'Gae Bolg'.
What they saw, or more exactly, what they didn't see, was as Lancer was lunging with his spear, Saber pushed Harry away from her so that she would take on the full force of his strike. Luckily, for Saber her instinct kicked in and told her to lean in the direction where she pushed Harry. And, thank Merlin she listened to her instinct. Lancer's lance pierced her left shoulder, which left a gaping wound. Lancer was immediately surprised at Saber's evasion of his strike, primarily because no one had been able to evade an attack coming from his lance.
He was about to launch another attack when he spotted the people he knocked out earlier. He quickly retreated and was about to leave until he heard Saber saying something.
"Gae Bolg…there was only one person who can use that cursed lance. It became his symbol in his later years. Lancer you're Cu Chulainn!"
Lancer, who just clicked his tongue at Saber, smirked at her. Then he told her,
"You're the first one who managed to survive that attack, next time you won't be so lucky, girly."
Saber was about to retort but Harry's minders jumped into the fray and fired spell after spell at Lancer, which he just swatted away with his lance. He jumped to the nearest tree and jumped on the roof of the nearest house, and sprinted away from sight.
Saber was about to get up and follow Lancer but she was held down by a worried Harry Potter, saying that she was losing a lot of blood. One of Harry's minders handed Harry a lighter, which glowed as he held it. He was about to ask where they were going, but he was too late as he felt the familiar pull at his navel caused by the portkey. All he could do was to tightly hold on to Saber so that she wouldn't be separated from him, as he prepared to protect himself and the fallen woman from what ever was going to greet them at the end of this portkey.
Author's Note:
First thing's first, I don't own the idea of the train scene. I remember reading it at either Portkey, HPFF, or Fiction ally, so I give credit to who ever came up with that idea (genius, that scene was!). Anyways another chapter ended and well I never imagined that this could be this HUGE. Lol. Anyways review and do what you readers do best, READ!
Explanation of Lancer's Gae Bolg (taken from the game, Fate/Stay Night):
There are two types of attack that can be used when using Gae Bolg, the first one the stationary thrusting is called the "Piercing Lance of Death Thorns". The other will be discussed as we touch upon it. The reason why Lancer was surprised is because of the lance. In legend it was said to always pierce the opponent's heart once it was thrust.
The reason why once Gae Bolg, once activated, always guaranteed a sure kill is because of the true nature of the lance, that being the reversal of cause and effect, where the cause of the lance's thrust comes from the effect of the lance piercing the opponents heart.
Now you ask, if that was the case how did Saber manage to evade Gae Bolg? To Dodge Gae Bolg, Saber did not need high agility, but instead the ability to change this fate before Gae Bolg activated, i.e. luck has more involvement rather than agility.
The information above is taken from the game and is subjected to copyright. That means its not mine, and its type-moon's.
-tw