Harry Potter and the Holy Grail war

taintedwhite

Rating: R
Genres: Action & Adventure
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 7
Published: 10/09/2009
Last Updated: 29/09/2009
Status: in_progress

Harry Potter enters the world of Masters, Servants, and a war for the Grail. A cross-over fic with Fate/stay night. [does not own any characters featured in the fic]

Chapters

1. Prolouge

2. Chapter 1

3. Chapter 2

4. Chapter 3

5. Chapter 4

1. Prolouge

Author’s Note: Thank Radical for beta-ing this fic, here’s a new and improved version of the prologue.

Author’s Note2: Here’s a new version, and from this point on ‘servant’ and ‘master’ would be capitalized. (Finally decided that they should stay capitalized, seeing as the words are describing a kind class and of a person respectively). In addition to those, there are words that I’ve capitalized as I’ve checked my resource once more, and confirmed that the words that I have now capitalized are supposed to be capiltazied.

Prologue:

After the burial, the grounds were eerily silent. It seemed that every living creature near the tomb or in the immediate vicinity of Hogwarts was mourning for the loss of its Headmaster. The current weather wasn’t all that pleasant either, since it had started to rain after the ceremony. It was cold and dark, and in the midst of it all, there stood a single soul beside a white tomb. He neither spoke nor moved. One would mistake him for a statue if not for the rising and falling of his shoulders, indicating that he was still breathing.

This solitary soul was Harry James Potter.

Harry Potter, the so called, “Chosen One” and the “Boy Who Lived”. But in his own mind, he had already replaced the word “Lived” with the word “Died” as another major part of him died when his Headmaster, Teacher, nay, Friend, died, right in front of his eyes, killed by his former professor, while he was forced to watch helplessly.

‘Chalk another one up for the “People who died for Harry Potter…”’ he thought bitterly.

‘The Headmaster trusted Snape!’ were the words Harry kept repeating inside his head. He didn’t notice the tears that mixed with the rain as drop after drop fell upon him. Harry also didn’t notice when a certain girl with bushy brown-hair, came up and sheltered him from the onslaught of the rain.

“Come on,” Hermione told him, “You’re going to catch a cold,” her voice seemed so far, so distant and yet, she was right beside him. ‘She always has been…’

“Harry, come on, we’re going to miss the train.” He heard Hermione tell him.

Harry looked at her through the corner of his eye. He could see her staring at the pearl white tomb, not even bothering to look at him.

‘Am I that pathetic to look at?’ he thought

Harry let Hermione lead him away from where he was standing, not even noticing that she held his hand all the way to the castle. Harry looked up at where the Headmaster had fallen. Harry saw the scene once more, only this time, he saw Dumbledore’s back rather than his face falling from the tower. Harry averted his eyes to what he knew would happen next.

Harry never really noticed when Professor McGonagall came up to them and led them to the headmaster’s office.

~~~~

“That would be all Miss Granger,” said the former Gryffindor head of house.

That announcement of hers shook Harry out of his stupor. As he regained his senses, a solitary thought came into mind.

‘…Dumbledore’s office…’

“...But professor!” Hermione protested, “Harry would miss the train and…”

Only then did he realize that Hermione was beside him and was still holding his hand. His hand was only released when she finally noticed that his head moved and was looking, no staring at their interlaced fingers. When Hermione released his hand, he finally looked up to find that she was facing the other way, and that he was sitting in front of his head of house.

“Err…not to be rude or anything but, what are we doing…?” Harry asked.

Everyone in the room grew silent. Even Hermione whipped her head back to look at him. Harry fidgeted slightly in his seat, realizing that every eye, living or otherwise, was looking at him. The silence was only broken when one of the former Headmaster’s paintings coughed and one of the two only living females in the office spoke.

“I am terribly sorry Miss Granger but I was given the order by the…former headmaster to have a private meeting with Mr. Potter here.” The newly appointed Headmistress said.

The look on Hermione’s face was that of determination not to give up. When she was about to speak Harry said,

“Don’t worry about me Hermione. I’m sure that professor McGonagall wouldn’t let me miss the train and if this ‘private meeting’ of ours is somewhat long, I’m positive that she’ll find a way to get me to King’s Cross.”

Her face was still etched with worry but when he held her hand once more she released a sigh and finally gave up and stood up from her seat beside him and said,

“Ron and I will save you a seat on the train, okay?”

Harry nodded in response and she left the office. He noticed that his head of house was looking quite pleased with his actions. It took all of his strength not to stare at Dumbledore’s painting which was behind his transfiguration professor.

“Professor you wanted to see me?” he asked the woman who had watched over him and his housemates for nearly seven years.

It was then that McGonagall handed him two sealed envelopes and said,

“Mister Potter, before headmaster Dumbledore…died, he specifically said that upon his death you were to be immediately given these two letters and he also said that you were to be given unrestricted access to the castle grounds in relation to those two letters. He also instructed me to give you and anybody with you transport to any point you wish after you’ve fulfilled his instructions.

She placed the letters on the table in front of him. Harry saw the perfect cursive writing of his mentor. He picked them up with trembling hands when Professor McGonagall spoke once again.

“Mister…err, Harry,” she said in a gentle tone, “I won’t ask what you and Albus were doing before he died, but I will ask you this.” There was a slight pause, as she seemed to be arranging her thoughts. “What are you going to do now?”

If Harry was surprised at the question, he didn’t show it. He just stared blankly at the two letters in front of him and then raised his head to stare at his former Headmaster’s sleeping painting. After awhile he brought his gaze back down to his professor and said

“I’m not sure professor, but for all its worth, I think I’m going to continue what I - no, what I and professor Dumbledore - started.”

McGonagall looked at one of her favorite students in her house, even though she would not admit it in front of anyone, and released a sigh. After a few moments of silence, she gathered what was left of her resolve and said,

“Harry, what ever you decide upon, I would like you to know that the Order will be always behind you, no matter what.”

Harry thought for a moment for a proper response, when something suddenly dawned upon him.

“Professor, what will happen to the Order now that professor Dumbledore is…dead?”

McGonagall sighed in response and looked like the stress of the whole world had come crashing down upon her.

“I’m not sure Harry. Albus arranged the Order of the Phoenix very much like its namesake.” She told him, “He arranged it so that there will come a time that a proper leader would be picked out from among the ashes of the old one, so to speak.”

Harry nodded in response. He asked if he could stay in the office while he read the letters, which McGonagall readily agreed to. She stood up and stepped out of the office leaving Harry alone with the paintings and his thoughts.

‘Well Potter, it’s now or never…’

He opened the first one and took out the letter, it said,

Dear Harry,

If you’re reading this then I must have gone on to the next great adventure. Do not worry about this old man Harry. I’ve lived a good and long life to which the only regret I have is not living long enough to see you, your future wife, and your children who will probably bear your eyes.

Harry smiled to the thought of his kids having his eyes. He closed his eyes and imagined them playing with their mother whose face he could not see because she had her back towards him but it seemed to Harry that her bushy brown hair was vaguely familiar…but he shook away the thought.

Harry, if you allow me to be frank, even though my given name is Albus…

Harry smiled at his mentor’s attempt to crack a joke.

…in the second envelope that Minerva has given you, there are certain instructions to find a crest within the castle. Harry finding that crest is important, because the moment I die, the magic that was imbued in that crest would activate.

Find this crest with utmost haste, and read out what’s written in the second letter. I assume that Minerva has already given you permission to search the castle without any hindrance. It would be prudent of you to seek the help of one excitable house elf that you and I know. Make Haste Harry, for time is of the essence. Enclosed in the second envelope is a diagram of the crest. Make sure you act immediately Harry, you may regret it if you don’t.

Take care,

Albus Dumbledore

Once Harry finished the first letter he tore into the second one pulling out two pieces of parchment, one with a crest, which looked like a hexagram inside two circles with runes inscribed along the sides of the inner circle. In-between the two circles specifically the top, right, left, and bottom of the circle. Along the sides of the hexagram, there were six runes inscribed along the top-left, top-right, the middle-left, middle-right, the bottom-left and the bottom-right of the star. In the middle of the hexagram, were two major runes that were inscribed right beside each other, the other parchment contained a set of lines, which he concluded were the words he needed to speak after locating the crest.

“Dobby,” He called out, and almost immediately, the excitable house-elf appeared.

“What can Dobby do for Master Harry Potter?” Harry disregarded the “master” bit because he was pressed for time.

“Dobby, I want you to look for the crest that’s drawn on this parchment.” Dobby looked at the piece of parchment and looked at Harry.

“Does Master Harry Potter needs the location of the crest fast?” Harry nodded and after a few seconds, Dobby came back with a worried look on his face.

“Master Harry Potter, Dobby has located the area where the crest is, but there be wild magicks in the area.” Harry thought for a moment if this was really a wise idea.

“Dobby, I’m sorry but I need to go to where the crest is located.” Dobby grabbed his ears and he looked like he was about to ram his head on the nearest hard object.

“Dobby, I need to go, NOW!” And without a second thought, Dobby popped both of them to where the crest was located. What met him was not at all what he was expecting. Even though they were in an enclosed space the wind was howling, there were flashes of light and when he looked at his surroundings, everything seemed to be warping.

‘It’s because of the magic!’

When he checked himself, he was surprised to see that his hands were not hands anymore they had become claws. After seeing this, he felt a searing heat on his back and he felt that he was growing wings. He tried to scream but all he heard was the gust of the wind in his ears.

Dobby tried shaking him to snap him out of it, but to no avail, his body seemed to be ripping apart piece by piece. The magic going from crest was ripping Harry’s body apart, and at the same time, the same magic was constantly healing him. He tried everything to get a clear thought, but it was like trying to play Quidditch while someone was applying the Cruciatus curse on him.

Then he remembered the urgency with which Dumbledore wanted him to find this crest and say what was written on the piece of parchment. He cried out, even though he was not sure that he was being heard,

“Dobby, I need you to hold out the parchment that I’m holding~!”

He cried out in pain as once again he felt the magic tearing into him. He was almost at his limit when he saw Dobby holding the piece of parchment in front of him. With all the clarity he could muster, he shouted,

“I announce! Thy body shall be under my command; my fate shall be determined by thy sword. Follow the call of the Holy Grail. If thou wouldst obey this mind and this reason, then answer my call!”

The torrent of wind that was billowing in the room suddenly grew more violent as he spoke those words. Even the flashes of light became brighter as he finished speaking. As soon as he stopped speaking, he felt the crest sucking the surrounding magic in itself, along with his magic. Harry knew that something big was happening and tried to keep his eyes open. Try as he might, his vision shuts down and the world turned black. He tried to stand up but his legs failed him.

As the light faded and the wind died down, his vision slowly started to return and the first thing he saw was that in the middle of the crest, there stood a blond girl with eyes as green as his and fully clad in armor, she looked around and finally spotted Harry down on the floor and said,

“I have come forth in response to your summons. From this time forward, my sword shall be with you and your fate shall be with me. Now, our contract is complete,” and then the girl added, “Are you my master?”

When she received no response, she stared at him and repeated,

“Are you my master?”

Harry Potter, the one who faced Voldemort five times and survived, stared at the blonde, green-eyed, fully armored girl; his brain, not processing any thoughts after the sensory overload that happened not a few moments ago. He lay there, on the floor, in a semi-prone position with only his elbows propping him up. There were a few tense seconds of silence, only broken when Dobby got his bearings after the whole explosion of magical energy.

“Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Are you alright, bones not broken?”

Dobby’s frantic voice, and him searching every inch of Harry’s body for any sustained damage, broke him out of his reverie. He tried to pry Dobby off him so that he could conduct a full body survey himself to see if anything was out of place.

‘No claws, hands still intact, no horns, and certainly no wings on my back…,’ he thought.

When he finally finished, he tried to get up, only to fall again when his knees buckled. Dobby caught him just in time.

“Thanks, Dobby.” He muttered.

The girl was still staring at him, paying no attention to the house-elf helping Harry up. Her gaze unnerved Harry seeing as, even though she stood a full head shorter than he was, she exhumed an aura of extreme calmness. Harry wasn’t even sure if anyone who wasn’t a master Occlumens wouldn’t have been shocked by the happenings that recently occurred. Sensing that Harry had already recovered, she asked again,

“Are you my master?”

“What do you mean, ‘am I your master?’” Harry’s voice betrayed his complete confusion.

“Have you not summoned me?” the armored girl in front of him asked, “Do you not posses the Command spells on your body?” Harry took notice of her voice. It was as emotionless as her face as she said those words.

“Spell, what spell? I didn’t utter any spell,” Harry replied.

Harry was becoming irritated, first he was transported to a room where there were powerful magicks running amuck, now there was a girl in what seemed to be full-plate armor asking him whether he was her master. Harry did not even consider that the girl in front of him was staring at his left hand. Not only that, but it seemed that Dobby also noticed something on Harry’s left hand.

“What, what are you staring at,” he cried out.

It took a few seconds for him to register that she was not staring at him per se. She was staring at the left side of his body, in particular his left hand. The girl sensed that Harry finally saw what she was staring at and said.

“Are those not the command spells?”

He saw an intricate looking tattoo, and a lot of blood on his left hand and then suddenly a million thoughts were running about in his mind: how did that tattoo get there, why was she so calm after what happened, and why was she wearing armor? However, out of all these thoughts there were three that stood out among the rest, who was this girl, what was a command spell and what had Dumbledore gotten him into? Dobby was already casting his Elven magic to heal his left hand when Harry said loudly,

“Look I don’t know what you’re talking about. Hell I’m not even sure I know your name and what you’re doing here!”

The blonde girl was surprised at Harry’s sudden outburst and her eyes widened. “I…err, apologize for not introducing myself,” her unemotional mask, broken by her stumbling for words, “I am the knight of the sword, I am called Saber…”

“Err, I’m Harry, Harry Potter and the little one to my left is my friend Dobby.”

It took all of the willpower of the little house-elf not to cry in front of the two humans in front of him. Dobby was about to say something when Saber spoke.

“Harry Potter, you bear the command spells and said the words of summoning.” Saber told him, “You’re the only one who stands here that bears the command spell, therefore you are my master.”

Harry’s mind was going a hundred miles an hour. What Saber said made sense…for now, and since he now knew Saber’s name, he thought that he could ask as to why she was here.

“Err, ok now that’s cleared up, how about you telling me why you’re here?”

Now that question caught Saber totally off guard, as evidenced by her wide eyes and…well the evident shock that was written all over her face.

“Did I say something wrong…?” Harry asked, once he saw the barely concealed shock on Saber’s face. He was feeling a little nervous when she did not answer after a few seconds. After awhile Saber ended his nervousness by snapping out of her shock-induced astonishment.

“Wait, let me get this straight,” Saber abandoning the emotionless façade, “You really don’t know what you’re doing, do you?”

Harry shook his head, clearly announcing that he had no clue as to what was happening. Saber released a breath of defeat. Harry thought, this could be one of the most depressing scenes in his life, a pretty girl looking at him as if he had no chance of handling whatever was coming his way. Saber closed her eyes took a deep breath and started speaking.

“Before I explain anything, answer me first, if you answer me, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

After a few moments of consideration, Harry finally agreed in answering Saber’s question.

“Are you my master?”

Harry’s jaw fell on hearing Saber’s question. ‘That’s it? That’s her question?!’ Harry thought.

“I thought we already covered that issue. You said that since I’m the only one here bearing these so called ‘Command spells’ then I must be your master…”

Harry knew that saying that he was Saber’s master was wrong, but the words came out so naturally that he didn’t even think twice after he said those words.

“~now our contract is complete.”

There was another flash and it temporarily blinded the two sentient beings other than Saber, as she was the origin of the said flash. Then it ended with Saber giving off a soft green aura which soon dissipated.

“Master, what do you need to know?” asked the green-eyed beauty in front of him.

“First off, you can drop the whole master thing, I have a name, and that’s Harry.”

Saber thought about what he said for a moment and nodded, and then she asked again, “What do you need to know, Harry?” Saber’s voice was not the monotone that came from her when she first appeared in front of him. Now it sounded like someone he knew who always had the right answer…Harry never finished that thought as he shook his head and got to the matter at hand.

“Saber you said you were summoned here, I’m assuming that there’s a reason for your summoning so I guess we’ll start from that.”

“I am a Servant called from times past to participate in a war called the Holy Grail war.” Saber saw the confusion on Harry’s face so she continued on, “The Holy Grail war is a war that’s fought by seven wizards and seven Servants to the death. You might be thinking that this ‘Holy Grail’ is the same with the Holy Grail from Christ’s time, but it is not. I’m not even sure as to what this Holy Grail is, though one thing can be assured. After all the other Masters and/or Servants are killed, the Holy Grail will appear and grant you one wish.”

Harry thought for a moment, ‘One wish...’ he banished the thought and asked another question. “Okay, now that we know why you’re here, how about you explain this whole ‘Master’ and ‘Servant’ thing, honestly I’m not that comfortable saying that I’m someone’s ‘Master’.”

“A Servant is a heroic spirit summoned, as I said, from times past. They are beings that are superhuman in terms of their abilities. A Master, on the other hand, serves as support for the servant in the upcoming battles between other masters and servants. In addition to being support, the Master constantly replenishes the supply of the magic reserves of his or her Servant.”

Of all the words that came out of Saber’s mouth, there was only one word that fully registered in his brain, ‘Battles…why does it always have to involve fighting…’ there was a slight pause in their conversation, and since Saber was more or less connected to him, she sensed that something was amiss.

“Is everything okay, Harry?”

Saber took a step closer and the sound shook Harry out of his stupor. He immediately tried to think of another question “Okay, I think I understand the whole Servant and Master thing, I think, now about these ‘Command spells’…”

“The ‘Command spells’ are a set of three spells that, if used by the master, will command their servant’s absolute obedience. Also if you’ve lost your Servant and still have your Command spells, by locating a Servant who lost a Master, you can form a contract with that Servant and still continue fighting in the war.”

This was all too much for Harry to take in! First he forced his mentor to drink some sort of potion that does Merlin knows what to a wizard, then Hogwarts got attacked and he was rendered helpless to help his mentor when he was killed by a greasy haired bastard. After that he found out that the locket was fake and what Dumbledore endured in that godforsaken cave was all for naught. Now he had to find four more vessels that contained Voldemort’s soul, and then Saber popped up out of nowhere telling Harry that he was supposed to participate in a war for some grail, and that he needed to defeat or kill six other masters.

‘How can this day get any worse?’ Harry thought it seemed that every time something big happens it had to be connected to him in some way. Images of horrible events past flash before his very eyes. Voldemort killing his parents, him killing Quirrell with his bear hands, him encountering his first Horcrux and at the same time killing a Basilisk, Hermione, Sirius and himself under hundreds of Dementors trying to suck the life out of them, Voldemort’s Resurrection, Cedric’s death, Sirius’s death, his friends near death encounter, and finally Dumbledore’s death. He cast his gaze downward so that Saber would not see his eyes tear up. Saber caught his distress and resumed her way towards him. Once Harry was close enough she told him,

“From this point on, whether you participate in the grail war or not, other masters would sense you being another master, or their servants would sense me, given that they’re close by. We will have to fight. Every participant in the Grail war dreams of obtaining the Holy Grail for it could grant any wish…”

The word ‘wish’ came up again, Harry thought. Now this time it was accompanied with the word ‘any’. Ideas came to Harry’s mind like rain falling down from the clouds above.

‘I could wish none of this would’ve happened, my parents would be alive, Sirius would be alive, hell Dumbledore wouldn’t be killed by that bastard!’

This single thought gave Harry all the motivation he needed. He closed his eyes and steeled his resolve, and then he raised his head, his eyes, no longer held any tears, but showed pure determination. He would get this Holy Grail! He will make right all the wrongs. This would be his top priority; he could still search for the Horcruxes so that he had a backup plan in case he did not make it. He still needed to kill Voldemort after all. He looked at Saber then said:

“Don’t worry Saber, we’ll participate in your Grail War, but first we need to meet with the Headmistress, I think we may have missed the train with the time we spent here. We will need a way to get out of here. Come on Saber, let’s go to the office, I assume that she’s already returned there.”

Harry, Dobby and Saber the three of them exited the room and proceeded to make their way to the Headmistress’ office, with Dobby leading the way of course. During the course of their short trek to the Headmistress’ office, all Harry Potter could think about was

‘I will get that Grail and I will make sure none of this ever happened!’

2. Chapter 1

Author’s Note: Thanks again to Radical for beta-ing this fic, guys thank him for enduring my bad writing. lol

Author’s Note2: Again from here on out there are some minor changes that you’ll notice. In addition, I’m sure that my beta is tired of seeing me flood his inbox with inquires and non-sense, so I’ll try to be better next time.

Chapter 1:

The incident at Diagon Alley and the arrival at the Dursley Residence …

The walk to the headmistress’ office was a long one. It seemed that the room with the crest was located at the uppermost level of Hogwarts, in one of the spires that crowned the heights of Hogwarts.

On the way there, Harry noticed that the castle, without its usual crowd of bustling students, seemed more daunting. It gave the impression that the castle itself, which had stood for nearly a millennium, died along with the passing of its former headmaster. Harry, felt his resolve to change everything back strengthen even further.

Harry did not notice that their group had already reached the gargoyle guarding Professor McGonagall’s new office. He also did not notice the disappearance of a certain over-excitable house-elf. He was so deeply immersed in his thoughts that it took a gentle nudge from Saber to remind him where they were. Harry gave the password and the gargoyle moved aside, revealing the spiral staircase leading to the headmistress’ office.

They both climbed the staircase and as he reached the closed door, Harry took a deep breath, knocked, and heard a muffled ‘Come in,’ He was not quite sure how he would leave Hogwarts. He would rather not take the Knight Bus with Saber, anyone with eyes could seen her and know that something was up, and he did not want to attract undue attention.

‘I could see the headlines now,’ Harry thought humorously, “HARRY POTTER, RIDES THE KNIGHT BUS ALONG WITH A GIRL LOOKING ARMED-AND-DANGEROUS: exclusive interviews from people who saw the duo!”’

He managed to refrain from chuckling as he entered Dumbledore’s former office. What Harry missed was the frown, which graced his former head of house’s face when she saw Harry and Saber walk in.

“Mister Potter,” her Scottish accent clearly relaying her disapproval “What are you still doing here? The Express left a few minutes ago…” she stopped when she noticed that Harry was not alone. An eyebrow rose, ever so slightly.

“Professor, this is Saber, it seemed that professor Dumbledore asked me to look after her in the letter he left for me.”

Harry, felt that he needed to pat himself on the back for that smooth delivery, he did not want anyone else to be involved in this new war of his. ‘Too many people have already been sacrificed because of me…

If the new headmistress bought Harry’s lie at face value, she did not show it. Saber sensed that Harry wanted to keep the truth from McGonagall, and quickly added,

“It seemed that Professor Dumbledore made sure that I was taken care of after his death. An owl came to me, with a letter. It said that, in the event of his death, an owl would deliver the letter to me so that I could seek out a boy named Harry Potter and seek his protection. He also stated that being with Harry Potter would be the safest, during the up coming war.”

It seemed that the Headmistress took her time assessing what Saber said. She gave the emerald-eyed girl a once over and finally sighed. Harry felt quite relieved that the new Headmistress believed their hastily crafted lie.

“Now Mr. Potter,” McGonagall told him, “I’m assuming the reason why you’re here is that you’re looking for a way to King’s Cross…”

Harry did not expect was McGonagall thinking he wanted to go to King’s Cross; Harry had this whole plan of going to Diagon Alley and getting Saber some normal looking clothes, well normal according to the wizarding world anyway, rather than parading in her armor. He would think about getting Saber muggle clothes later. The important thing now was to think of an excuse so that he could go to Diagon Alley, and Saber noticed his distress and saved him again,

“Headmistress, pardon me for interrupting, but I think Harry and I would like to go to Diagon Alley instead of King’s cross.”

Again the Headmistress’ eyebrow rose, it seemed that her feline form was strongly influencing her curiosity when she asked,

“Why would you want to go to Diagon ally?”

She said it to no one in particular but Harry could feel that the question was directed at him. He immediately tried to think of a way to get out of this conundrum but once again, Saber saved him.

“I came here as soon as I received the letter from Dumbledore, Headmistress. The former Headmaster told me to travel to a different location every other week so that I would elude the people who wanted to do harm to my physical being. He also told me to travel light and therefore the only clothes I have are the ones on my person.”

The look on the professor’s face was that of disbelief, but then Saber added,

“He also said that every time I changed my location I should destroy anything that could be traced back to me, therefore I would burn the clothes that were provided for me in that town before moving to another town. Professor Dumbledore always provided me with a new set of clothes for the following week that were bought from the town I was residing in.”

It would seem that Saber’s excuse was airtight. Even Harry could not argue with Saber’s reasoning. It would make sense that, if you wanted your pursuers not to find you, you would burn anything that would leave any trace, which could lead back to you and carrying all those extra clothes was not exactly the definition of travelling light. The old Professor reluctantly nodded her head and told them that she would contact a few remaining members of the Order so that they could keep an eye on Harry and Saber at Diagon ally.

The Headmistress stood and went to the fireplace to make a few floo calls. As the Headmistress stood, Harry was about to protest about her arrangement, claiming that he could take care of both of himself and Saber, but one stern look and a frown from Saber told him to shut up before he ruined everything.

“You’re in luck Mr. Potter. It seems that there are Order members there. I assume that you and Miss…err, Saber here would like to have your time there uninterrupted, but if there is danger, they will immediately move you out of there, no questions asked, is that clear?”

Both nodded, thinking that they would clearly get away with it, but as with everything else in Harry James Potter’s life, it came with a slight complication. He remembered that he still had his trunk up in Gryffindor tower, and the fact that he forgotten to tell his friends what he was going to do after his meeting with Professor McGonagall, much less how he would catch up to them at King’s Cross. He knew that his friends, especially, a certain brown-eyed, bushy-haired girl would be more than worried.

Sensing that her Master was in a panic, Saber told the Headmistress, that they would return after they had gotten Harry’s things from his dormitory. As they left the Headmistress’ office Saber was about to ask what was bothering him, when Harry blurted out,

“Bloody hell, I forgot to tell Hermione and Ron what’s happening!”

Saber raised one of her eyebrows. It seemed that her Master had forgotten to inform his closest friends. She decided to humor him and asked,

“If you are going to tell them our current situation, Harry, how do you plan to do it? If I remember correctly, you were alone when you summoned me. Well you did have that house-elf you called Dobby…”

Once again, Saber saved Harry Potter from a difficult situation. He called for Dobby, who arrived with his usual popping sound.

“Harry Potter needs Dobby, sir?”

“Dobby, I want you to tell Hermione and my friends that I’m alright and they don’t need to worry about me. Tell them that I’ll meet them either at Bill’s wedding or earlier, and I’ll send Hedwig if I need to contact them.”

Dobby was about to ask if that was all, but Saber added,

“Dobby, tell Harry’s friends that under no circumstances should they try to find Harry and, as Harry said, he’s fine. Also, when they ask if he’s got company tell them that he’s alone and the Order is looking after him.”

Harry was amazed at how Saber managed to read his mind. ‘Must be the whole Servant and Master thing that she was talking about…’

After Harry told Dobby to add what Saber told him, he sent him on his way. Then the duo made their way to the Gryffindor dormitories so that Harry could arrange his things and finally get out of the now desolate castle.

As Harry walked along the corridors of one of the places that he considered home, he wondered whether he was going to see these halls bustling with life again, and whether he would survive the war that Voldemort had started. As they approached the painting of the fat lady, Saber stopped and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder and said,

“Harry I’ve said that I’ll be your sword, so do not fret about survival. I will make sure that you survive any war. Be it your war or the Holy Grail’s.”

Harry could not help but be amazed at the tone of her voice, so calm and determined, and as he gave out the password to the Fat Lady, for the first time that day, he thought that he just might survive both wars with Saber’s help

‘No, not just with Saber’s help, I can’t forget Ron and Hermione as well. They’ve been part of this from the very first time I set foot in this world, and I’m sure that they’ll want to be there when I finally liberate it.’

As they entered his house’s common room, he saw that nothing had changed, as if the incident, which crippled the hopes of the wizarding world, not even twenty-four hours ago, had never happened. How he wanted to live in this moment frozen in time, but he realized that he could not… not after witnessing death after death of the people closest to him. He made sure that he committed to memory every corner of the scenery in front of him. Not leaving an inch unobserved.

‘I will return to this place…I will return to this place victorious!’

All the while, Saber could sense Harry’s thoughts but did not act on them. She sensed that he needed time for himself before everything else. She knew that the times ahead were going to be dark, darker than anyone could ever imagine.

~~~

As Harry stepped out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, he noticed that there were little to no patrons in the pub. Harry saw Tom, the barkeep, and waved at him. Tom noticed him and waved back. Harry felt a gentle squeeze applied to his right hand. He told Tom that it was nice to see him again, but he needed to go, and as he exited the pub, what he saw outside was even more depressing than what he saw in the pub.

Diagon Alley, one of Harry’s first experiences of the wizarding world, a once lively and thriving part of Britain’s wizarding world, was now a deserted place with a few people scurrying about, going from shop to shop, and doing their business as quickly as possible. Harry tried to ponder on his thoughts for a moment, but he felt another squeeze, this time though, it clearly meant that they needed to be on their way. Harry once again looked around and sighed, his first stop was Gringotts.

On his way in to the bank, he thought of his idea of making Saber wear his invisibility cloak, so that no one would see Saber. He could clearly remember their conversation about it…

~~~

As Harry was packing his things, Saber got an interesting view of Harry’s things as it was being tossed inside Harry’s trunk. Then Saber spotted something peculiar, it was a cloak. It wasn’t any kind of cloak. When Saber picked it up it seemed to make her hand vanish!

“An invisibility cloak!” She exclaimed.

That got Harry’s attention. He was planning to tell her that she was going to wear that so that, no one would see her with him during their visit to Diagon Alley.

“That’s what you’re going to wear to keep people from seeing you.” Harry told her, “You’ll wear that when we get to the fireplace in professor McGonagall’s office.”

No response came from Saber. She was still stunned, and was in awe from seeing something so rare, so valuable, that she heard, during her time, that there were only a few in existence.

“…invisibility cloak.”

Harry raised his eyebrow at Saber’s expression, and thought, where did the calm, collected, and determined girl go. Saber noticed his confusion and explained why she was in a shock.

“I assume that this cloak is yours Harry. What you have here is rare, priceless, and useful. It is so rare that I’ve heard that there is only a handful in existence, because of their difficulty in production and the rarity of the materials used…”

Harry raised an eyebrow at her, and thought that she was joking. He never even considered his cloak as something extraordinary. He just thought that it was something he had inherited from his dad. He never even considered how much that cloak was worth. All he ever thought about since he got that cloak was that he was just a little bit closer to one of his parents.

“…no one can see me. We can still set up the façade that you’re still travelling alone.”

That snapped him out of his reverie. It seemed that Saber already guessed his plan as he caught what she said. He nodded at her and said that was the plan. Harry also told Saber that they would first visit Gringotts to withdraw some galleons and exchange some into pounds so that she could also get muggle clothes. Seeing as she could not run around in robes while in the muggle world. He then explained that he might be forced to reveal her presence in the bank. He told her that he would not want to break any rules that the goblins had set up. Harry then explained to her that he would ask for a private room so that he could do his business while hiding Saber from the public’s sight.

After their visit to the bank, they would go to Madam Malkin's to get Saber outfitted with some wizard clothes. He told her that she would wear the robes for the meantime seeing as they were still in the wizarding world. Then Harry proceeded to tell her that once they got to the muggle world, he would ask someone from the Order, and he made a mental note that ‘someone from the Order’ meant Tonks or Hermione, to take Saber clothes shopping.

~~~

As the duo went up to the steps of the bank, Harry thought of their future encounter with the metamorphmagus.

‘If Tonks asks too many questions about me and Saber, I’ll just rely on Saber. She’s been saving my ass in the last few conversations…’

If Harry was paying attention, he would have noticed the goblin guards were eyeing him rather suspiciously as they passed. As they entered the building, Harry noticed that even though Diagon Alley was deserted, the bank was busy. It seems that people would do anything, even brave the threat of a sudden Death eater attack, to get their money and do their business.

As Harry noticed that there were people in the bank, they too noticed him. As Harry got in queue, someone lightly tugged on his robes. Harry looked down and spotted a little girl, no older than ten or maybe younger, still holding his robe, looking rather hopeful.

“Aren’t you Harry Potter?” the little girl asked.

Harry kneeled down so that he was at her eye level, and answered,

“Err…Yeah, I’m Harry Potter.” Harry nervously answered her, feeling everybody’s eyes on him, “How about you, what’s your name?”

The little girl’s eyes widened in surprise, as the Harry Potter, was standing in front of her. She quickly recovered from her shock and told Harry that her name was Penelope Ann, and that she was there with her parents. Harry smiled at Penelope. He wondered if Voldemort had not killed his parents would he have been this innocent at her age, would he be going with them on errands, would he be going around tugging on other people’s robes asking them this or that? So many possibilities, all shattered just because some lunatic decided that he wanted to be immortal.

“Uh, Harry, are you okay?” Penelope asked him with a worried face.

That shook him out of his introspective state. He smiled and nodded to her and just like that, her face shifted from being worried to being delighted. They talked about things that a normal child would ask to someone famous, like what was his favorite food, (‘treacle tart’), or did he have a favorite toy, Harry thought about this for awhile then went for the safe answer, and said that he considers anything from the Weasley Wizard Wheezes shop his favorite. This went on for about a minute or two until Harry was next in line in front of the teller, and then Penelope asked something that you would not expect from a child her age.

“…will we win this war against You-Know-Who, Harry?”

This shocked Harry, as he was not expecting that question, especially after a whole lot of nonsense questions, and particularly from a girl not even old enough to be admitted to Hogwarts. As he thought of his answer, he didn’t notice Saber giving him a gentle squeeze on his hand and that the people around him leaned further, trying to hear what he was going to say to the little girl, and as the goblin in front of him shouted ‘next’ he answered Penelope with a very confident,

“Yes, Penelope, we will win this war. We will defeat Voldemort and his Death eaters. I’ll make sure that you’ll be old enough to get into Hogwarts and live a peaceful life.”

Penelope’s eyes and everyone’s eyes, who heard his proclamation, widened as Harry said Voldemort’s name and told them that he would make sure that he would win. Some even had violent reactions to what Harry said, but Harry paid no mind to them as he noticed that there was someone beckoning Penelope to them, Harry assumed that they were her parents and he waved at them. As with other people who was not Penelope’s age, they were shocked when the Harry Potter waved at them. He gave Penelope a quick hug and a pat on the head as she went to her parents, as they exited the building Penelope looked and waved back to him in an effort to say goodbye. Harry did not manage to wave back as the small family already got out of view. He walked up to the teller and greeted the goblin,

“Good morning, I’m here to make a private transaction, may I request a room to conduct said private transaction?”

The goblin in front of Harry raised his eyebrows at him. Harry rehearsed that line in his head since he and Saber left Gryffindor tower. The goblin teller asked for his key first before anything else, Harry gladly obliged and when his identity was confirmed, the goblin teller called for another goblin to show him to a private room, but before Harry was whisked away to the room he turned around to face the teller and said,

“Thank you, err, I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name…”

Once again, the goblin’s eyebrows rose. Never before had a wizard asked for a goblin’s name. The goblin answered, after recovering quickly from his shock, that his name was Ironfang.

“Well then, thank you, Ironfang.”

~~~

Once Harry and a cloaked Saber were inside the room, accompanied by a goblin, Harry asked what his name was and he replied that his name was Bronblade. Harry told the goblin that under no circumstances would he wish harm to Gringotts and the next thing that the goblin would see was a necessity. Bronblade gave him a look of confusion, and was about to inquire what was he talking about. But, as the goblin was about to ask, Harry already told Saber to remove the cloak. Bronblade, startled by Saber appearing out of nowhere, grabbed his whistle and was already taking a deep breath so that he could sound the alarm.

“No, stop!” Harry cried out but it was too late, Bronblade already blew on his whistle and a net was dropped upon Harry and Saber. Saber immediately raised her guard and in a flash sliced the net descending on them. Bronblade was about to give his whistle another blow when a contingent of goblins burst through the door wielding weapons which looked like it would hurt in twenty different ways after they’ve been used on someone.

“Wait!” Harry exclaimed, “Before anyone draws anything else, I wish to explain what’s happening here. Please give us a chance to explain.”

Bronblade was about to tell Harry off, until a very regal looking goblin, accompanied by the goblin teller called Ironfang, walked in the room. Bronblade and the goblin guard immediately noticed the new arrival and quickly bowed down to the goblin. Harry was about to ask why they were kneeling when he noticed that even Saber was kneeling down. Saber noticed his confusion and quickly pulled him down into a kneeling position, and then she explained in a whisper,

“Didn’t you notice the air of superiority that goblin gives off? Even the guards are bowing down to this one, obviously this certain goblin out ranks every one of them here!”

It was Harry’s turn to be surprised. He was not expecting this. He was expecting things to be smooth from the time he got in the bank, to the time he left. It was stupid of him to think anything in his life would go over smoothly.

“Get up Mr. Potter; you do not need to kneel.” the regal looking goblin told Harry.

When Harry looked up, what he saw was a goblin with attendants on either side of him. It seemed that he was the only one who was commanded to get up. When he did get up from his kneeling position, he met discerning eyes. It seemed to Harry that he was back in front of the Wizengamot being judged. If this goblin was above all the rest, he should be on his best behavior. He wouldn’t want to upset this high ranking official. Before Harry could talk to the stately looking goblin, he spoke first with Bronblade then with Ironfang, in a language he clearly didn’t understand, and then turned to him and said,

“Mister Potter, care to explain why there was a charmed, hidden person that came along with you?”

Harry took a second for him to steady his nerves and answered the goblin.

“Sir, the girl beside me wasn’t going to cause harm to your institution. In order for me to keep up appearances that I was alone, I had to hide my companion. Add to the fact that currently unknown forces are chasing my companion here, that it even required Dumbledore to hide her identity. My minders were informed that I was alone. In addition, sir, she wasn’t charmed invisible; she was wearing my invisibility cloak…”

The goblins around Harry looked surprised as Harry mentioned his cloak. The regal looking goblin spoke once again with Bronblade then looked to Ironfang and seemed to order him to accompany Bronblade to, Merlin knows where. This time it was Bronblade’s turn to show shock. When the regal looking goblin snarled Bronblade immediately went outside along with a scurrying Ironfang right behind him. Then the goblin turned to Harry and said,

“Mister Potter, may I take a look at your cloak?”

Harry looked at the goblin with a rather confused face then said,

“I am sorry, sir, but I don’t think I would let you borrow my cloak, as it’s the only thing my father left for me, more so because I don’t know who you are.”

The regal looking goblin paused then looked at Harry with an impassive gaze, and then all of a sudden, the goblin laughed. It sounded like cross between the sounds of a dog’s bark and a pair of iron bars grinding against each other. When the goblin stopped, all the other goblins looked amazed, and then Harry wondered, if the goblin who was talking to him was a rather serious fellow, seeing as his subordinates were so amazed by his laughter.

“How rude of me, Mr. Potter; I apologize, if I remember correctly it is much more courteous to introduce ones self before asking anyone else for anything.”

The regal looking goblin gave Harry quite a show of his razor sharp teeth, in the form of a wide grin. Then the goblin spoke,

“I, Mister Potter, am Ragnok the first, the clan chief of the goblins; overseer of all things related to the goblin clans and head of the council of elders in the goblin tribunal, I am glad to meet you, Mister Potter.”

If Harry’s jaw did not drop from the first of the three titles that the goblin in front of him held, it would drop from the last two titles. He immediately recovered from his shock and immediately got back into his kneeling position, as did Saber when she heard of the titles of the clan chief in front of her. Harry did not dare raise his eyes to meet the eyes of the leader of the goblin clans. It was only when he heard another, if he was correct in identifying it, laugh, that he raised his gaze.

“Mister Potter, I thought I have already told you that you do not need to kneel. It also applies to your partner; Saber was her name, was it not?”

Harry immediately stood; embarrassed that he forgot what transpired just a few seconds ago. Ragnok spoke again, while Harry stood up,

“Now that the proper introductions have been made, Mr. Potter…”

“Harry,”

Every sentient being around Harry were shocked save for the clan chief in front of him. Ragnok raised an eyebrow and said,

“Excuse me?”

Harry was getting nervous now, seeing the goblin guards gripping their weapons, he realized that he just made a mistake.

“Err, clan chief, I said you can call me Harry. Err, ‘Mister Potter’ sounds like you’re talking to my father.”

He gave a nervous chuckle after he spoke, Harry wasn’t sure if he managed to save his ass from a certain fate, which involved very, very, sharp looking objects.

The room was silent for a while, he felt the tension in the air and heard Saber’s armor clinking as she moved closer to his back. The tension was broken when the clan chief suddenly burst out laughing. It seemed that the goblins were not accustomed to their leader laughing. When Ragnok finally calmed down, he finally spoke.

“Highly amusing Harry, I would like to explain why it is so, but I assume that you’ve got other business to attend to. If you don’t mind me asking again, would you care to let me borrow your invisibility cloak?”

Harry nodded and he asked Saber if she could give his cloak to the clan chief. As Saber approached Ragnok, the guards immediately stiffened preparing for what Saber might do to their clan chief; the clan chief waved a hand that seemed to say ‘It’s okay,’ or ‘she wouldn’t harm me’.

As Ragnok held Harry’s invisibility cloak, his eyes grew, the goblin looked like he was holding delicate silk as he examined the cloak. He muttered a few things in that language that Harry did not know and the cloak reacted, and then Ragnok asked one of the guards something. The guard quickly took off and moments later arrived with Ironfang in tow. As the clan chief and Ironfang conversed, Harry’s nervousness slowly died down. Then on what would be called a whim, Harry said,

“Excuse me, but my friend and I, are in a hurry, we’re only here to withdraw a few galleons and exchange for some pounds.”

That got the attention of both Ragnok and Ironfang. Ragnok quickly summoned another goblin and asked Harry how many galleons and pounds he would need. Harry estimated that around a thousand galleons and two thousand pounds would suffice.

“Harry,” Ragnok spoke while turning to face him, “Are you sure you want to be carrying that large amount of muggle money haphazardly?”

Harry gave Ragnok a confused look, and asked what was wrong.

“It is just that, there are beings in the muggle world that would, what’s the muggle saying,” the goblin chief took a slight pause to think about the right phrase, “they might ‘take a shine’, to your large amount of money.”

Harry then asked if there was a safer way of transporting a large amount of money, while having easy access to it. Ragnok chuckled, which made Harry uneasy. The goblin informed Harry that they had business with some muggle banks and that they would be happy to accommodate him. Harry told Ragnok that he would leave the bank things in his hands, which surprised the goblin.

“Are you sure, Harry?” Asked the goblin chief.

“Well,” Harry answered, “you goblins have been managing my finances for at least six years, and you work around money, so I assumed that you won’t mind…”

Ragnok gave Harry an appraising look to see if he was joking. Seeing that Harry was not, Ragnok spoke in their goblin language to a guard. The guard bowed to him and exited the room in a hurry. After awhile, the guard returned with another goblin, which looked familiar to Harry. He tried to remember who the familiar looking goblin was.

“Griphook,” Harry exclaimed. Harry’s sudden outburst shocked all the beings in the room. None was more shocked than the goblin that just came in.

“I am honored that you remembered me, Mr. Potter.” The goblin named Griphook replied.

Harry gave a little wave, and then shuffled on his feet. His sudden outburst made sure that all eyes were currently on him. After a brief discussion with Griphook, Ragnok told Harry that, with his permission, the goblins would handle his money and that Ragnok would invest it properly.

“Before moving on to other matters at hand,” said the very pleased goblin chief, “which of the four banks we deal with would you prefer, Harry?”

Harry jokingly told Ragnok that if he was rich enough that the goblins should choose all four. When Harry noticed that no one else was laughing with him, he immediately told the clan chief to do what he thought was right.

“Now that’s settled,” Ragnok seemingly satisfied with Harry’s answer “I apologize for the inconvenience, Harry, but I would like to have a sample of your blood. I just need to make sure that my hunch is correct.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at Ragnok; Harry was thinking why would the goblin want his blood? Seeing no harm in this he agreed and as Harry extended an arm, Ironfang grabbed it and collected a blood sample. Ragnok nodded to Ironfang who bowed and left. As Ironfang exited the room, the goblin that Ragnok called earlier came back with a stack of pounds and a bag full of galleons. The unknown goblin handed Harry the bag, the stack, and his key. Harry was going to thank the unknown goblin but the very same goblin scurried away before Harry could even open his mouth. As the transactions were complete, Ragnok said,

“Harry, you’ll be hearing from us in the future, pertaining to the blood sample you’ve given us, the business with the banks, and of the former Supreme Mugwump’s will…”

Anything that Ragnok said after ‘Supreme Mugwump’, were lost to Harry. He thought that by denying the fact that greasy haired git killed Dumbledore it wouldn’t be true, but hearing someone from Gringotts, more so, the clan chief say that he was actually dead sealed the deal.

‘I must be going through what Hermione said, something about stages and grief…she said that the first stage was denial, and if I remember correctly the next stage was anger. If someone was going to feel my anger, oh please, please, if there’s anything fair in this world, make sure that greasy haired bastard is in front of me!’

What he failed to notice was that the conversation with Ragnok had ended and everyone, save for Harry and Saber had left the room. Saber placed a hand over his shoulder and told him that they better be going. Harry nodded and placed his thoughts in the back of his mind, he would ponder on those later, now he needed to find Saber clothes that are more appropriate so that no one would be suspicious of them. What he did not count on was meeting Bill Weasley after exiting the room.

“Harry!” exclaimed Bill. It seemed that, he too was not expecting to see Harry after the funeral. Bill noticed that Harry wasn’t alone and glanced at Saber.

‘The message that was given to me by McGonagall that he wasn’t alone was true!’ Bill thought, ‘This girl looks like she could kill anyone twice over!’

Sensing the awkward moment, Saber introduced herself.

“Hello, I am known as Saber, and you are?”

Bill was amazed with Saber’s formality, he estimated Saber was around Ginny’s age and didn’t expect to be greeted in such a formal way.

“Uh, hi, Bill, Bill Weasley, it’s nice to meet you.”

Harry’s ass was once again, saved by Saber, as she was the one who broke the ice. Harry immediately told Bill that once they were out of the building he was to make sure that no one sees Saber as she was hiding from some unknown enemies.

Bill looked doubtful at first, but when Saber confirmed the story, he believed it, albeit with much skepticism. Then Bill asked about where they were headed, and Harry told him that both he and Saber were going to Madam Malkin’s first then head to the Dursley’s next. Then Harry told Bill that they better get going, and as Harry gave Saber his invisibility cloak, Bill said,

“I’ll be seeing you at the Burrow right? For the wedding I mean.”

Harry was not sure if Bill heard that he and Ginny broke up and he would not be the person to tell him, and as Saber wore Harry’s invisibility cloak, he nodded to Bill and said that he would be there. It seemed that Harry didn’t notice the shock on Bill’s face as Saber just disappeared right beside Harry, and as Saber held Harry’s hand, Harry waved and told a shocked Bill goodbye and that he would be seeing him at the wedding.

~~~

As they left Gringotts, he noticed that there were a few more people scurrying back and forth. On the way over to Madam Malkin’s, Harry felt a tingling sensation on his left arm, and then, he noticed a little girl with hair as silver as the moon running towards him. He had little time to react and as he and the little girl bumped into each other he felt Saber let go of his hand, and that gave the opportunity Harry needed to reorient himself so that he and the girl won’t fall.

He felt the impact of the girl and gave a small ‘Oof!’, then the girl looked up and then looked behind her, Harry followed her sight and saw two very annoyed looking women heading towards them, and when the two women got close enough they said in a very annoyed manner,

“Illyasviel von Einzbern! Get away from that boy, we need to get going or we’ll be late!”

The girl scurried behind Harry and shook her head. Harry could sense that Saber was around so he supposed that she was okay, so he decided to know what’s going on here.

“Excuse me miss, but what seems to be the problem?” Harry asked the irate women. One of them looked at Harry appraisingly, then was about to say something but the girl behind him interrupted her,

“They won’t let me have some fun! All I wanted was to go into that funny looking shop. All we’re going to do is buy some stuff today!”

She was pointing to the Weasley’s joke shop, and then he had a bright idea, which would satisfy everyone.

“Why don’t I take uh…?”

“Illya,”

“…right, why don’t I take little Illya here to that joke shop and let her look around while you ladies go on with your errands? After which you two could just enter the joke shop and fetch her there or if we’re not there we’ll be at madam Malkin’s.”

The two women looked astounded at Harry’s idea, they were about to protest when Illya squealed and said,

“Really, you’re going with me to that funny looking shop? Alright, let’s go Mister Harry Potter sir!”

Harry was not surprised as to how the little girl knew him. It was common knowledge, what to look for if you are looking for Harry Potter. The women in front of him didn’t share the same idea though. They were shocked to find out that the ‘boy’ in front of them was the Harry Potter.

Illya did not wait around any longer for them to recover from their shock. She immediately grabbed Harry’s hand and led him inside the store, and of course, observing everything with a silent but amused demeanor, Saber followed her Master into the store leaving the two flabbergasted women in their wake.

~~~

If the alley outside was deserted, the Weasley Wizard Wheezes’ store wasn’t. The place was jammed with people, mainly little kids running around trying what ever they could get their hands on. It seemed that aside from money, the wizarding world would not let anything stop them from having their fun.

Illya looked amazed at all the goings-on around her. There were kids running around throwing what looked like little multi-colored balls. Illya found out what these balls did when one of them exploded on the child on her far right. It turned the one it hit a random color and from what she observed it could be any color from corn yellow, to puke green, to hot pink, to a rainbow colored one. A sound took Illya’s attention. Her eyes widened at the sight of indoor fireworks near the ceiling.

Harry chuckled at the chaos of the joke shop. He could feel Saber’s jaw dropping at the sight of the mess, which was happening right in front of her eyes. He assumed that she never seen such a chaotic sight. He kneeled down beside Illya and told her that if she wished to explore then it’s fine with him. Illya’s eyes grew wide, when she asked him if he was serious, he nodded and Harry said that if she needed him, all she needs to do is to find a store clerk named Verity or find the owners who were twin red heads and weren’t that hard to miss. After that, she dashed right off to the nearest shelf and tried out some of the products.

“Harry, are you sure that we’re supposed to be doing this? We do need to get to that robe shop,” Saber whispered to him.

“Don’t worry Saber; in all honesty, I need a good laugh after all that’s happened,” He whispered back to her.

As Saber was about to reply Harry was pulled into an aisle, he was about to shout at the one who pulled him but thought twice as it was one of the owners, specifically, George Weasley.

“Harry, what in Merlin’s name were you doing there standing talking to thin air? Welcome, welcome, you should’ve called in advance so we could clean up,” said George as he ducked one of their patented Whiz-bangs leading Harry the back room of the store.

“I’m just accompanying someone because she wanted to check this place out,” Harry replied.

George’s ears perked up as he heard the word ‘she’ and then started to interrogate Harry as to who this ‘she’ is. Harry thought that he was going to die of embarrassment as George asked question after question. Harry thought he was saved when he spotted Fred walking towards them.

“Dear brother, it seems that our dear business partner is here with the female kind,” said George to Fred.

“Really now, George, so what does this female look like? Does she have flowing, long hair? Does she have a body that could launch a thousand ships?” replied Fred.

The banter went on and on, as the twins tried to guess what Harry’s lady friend looked like. Some of their descriptions, Harry felt, got him red as a tomato. He could also feel Saber’s embarrassment as they were somehow connected. This continued, for a couple of minutes until there was a knock on the door. His savior now came in the form of Verity holding a multi-colored, grinning, Illya.

“Ah, lookie here Fred, it seems that one of our valued customers got hit with more than one of our Chameleon balls,” quipped George.

“Quite right, dear brother, now little girl would you mind telling us who you came with so that we could inform them that you would like to buy a pack, you know to get back at the ones who pelted you,” added Fred.

Illya was still grinning when she pointed to Harry, and as Fred and George followed Illya’s pointing finger their eyes grew wide with mischief. Harry sensed this and tried to explain but Fred and George beat him to it,

“So this-”

“-is the girl-”

“-who you’re with-”

“-and we thought-”

“You liked the ladies a little bit older” they finished together. Harry’s ears immediately went red with embarrassment. Verity and Illya had a look of confusion on their faces as Fred and George laughed their asses off. Harry could even feel Saber’s amusement at his situation through their connection. He knew that the twins would not let this opportunity pass as this was excellent teasing material but Harry managed to squeeze an explanation in,

“Now guys, this is Illya, she’s the one I’m showing around the shop, and clearly that we’re not together in the sense that you’re thinking of,” Harry explained.

This went on even after the twins heard Harry’s explanation, even after they have removed the stray colors that were on Illya. After removing Illya’s colors, Verity took Illya so that she could play in the store again. After Verity and Illya left, Fred and George showed Harry their latest inventions.

~~~

It was past noon when Illya’s minders arrived at the joke shop. As with Saber’s reaction, they were aghast at the chaos that was the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, and even more so, when they saw that their charge was covered in their products. The twins reassured Illya’s minders that she was fine and that she would be alright. When Illya asked her minders if she could have some of their products, they immediately said no. Harry noticed that her brilliant smile, which only moments ago graced her angelic face, disappeared. Then he thought of another bright idea. He told Illya that she could pick anything in the shop and he would buy it. Harry could hear five jaws dropping, six if you included Saber. Illya’s frown turned back into a smile after hearing Harry, and then she suddenly hugged Harry and told that he was her favorite person in the world. Then she released Harry from her hug, which could rival Hermione’s hug or misses Weasley’s.

After she went on a rampage, grabbing all she could get her hands on, she went on a counter and smiled at Harry. Harry asked if the twins and Verity could ring up what she chose, which, lucky for Harry, only cost about two-hundred fifty galleons, plus the discount that the twins forced Harry to take. He gladly paid them, and then handed the bags to Illya and her minders. When it was obvious that Illya and her minders couldn’t carry the bags, Fred and George immediately placed a lightening charm on their bags telling them to come again, and before Illya left the store, Harry received a hug from her, telling him that she was thankful because she met him and that she had a great time. Harry told her that she was welcome and that if she needed to contact him to ask the twins. Illya and her minders left the joke shop, with Illya looking extremely happy and her minders worried about things to come.

“So Harry, she had fun didn’t she?” Fred immediately said.

“So I’ve heard Fred, so will there be any second date?” immediately added George.

Harry groaned at the twins and to make matters worse, it gave them new material to tease him with, he was having second thoughts about attending Bill’s wedding if this awaited him at the Burrow. Before the teasing went into full swing, he told the twins that he needed to go somewhere and that he would see them at the wedding. Verity and the twins saw Harry off. Harry and the cloaked Saber immediately headed towards madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, hoping that they would make it before the shop closed.

As Harry and the invisible Saber went inside, he noticed that there weren’t as many people in the store as compared to Gringotts or the joke shop. Harry asked the one behind the counter if he could have a private room for some fittings, and said that he would pay extra for the privacy. The person behind the counter gladly obliged and led them to the back room. When the seamstress arrived, Harry asked Saber to remove the cloak so that the seamstress could see her. If the seamstress was surprised at the sudden appearance of Saber she didn’t show it. She quickly let loose her enchanted measuring tape and it got Saber’s measurements.

Harry asked if they could buy some pre-made robes in her size, if they had any. The seamstress’ eyebrows rose, but didn’t say anything. She called for an assistant and gave her Saber’s measurements; the assistant took off and after awhile came back with a set of robes that were Saber’s size. Harry asked if Saber could change into them and walk out in them, the seamstress nodded and he asked Saber if she could get out of her armor. Saber started to strip down and Harry immediately turned around to give Saber her privacy. After a few shuffling sounds, Saber told Harry he could turn around now, and saw that Saber was wearing some dull brown robes. Harry said that he’ll take them and told the seamstress that they’ll pay at the counter.

“These robes are rather uncomfortable,” Saber commented.

“Don’t worry Saber, Hermione would take you for some muggle clothes shopping, those clothes are more comfortable than the ones you’re currently wearing,” Harry replied.

Harry paid for Saber’s robes and headed towards the Leaky cauldron. Inside the pub, they waved at Tom, and he waved back, Tom was surprised that Harry had a companion and asked Harry about her. He introduced Saber and told Tom that they would be on their way. Harry and a now visible Saber walked out of the pub and appeared on the street. He unsheathed his wand and summoned the Knight bus.

On the Knight bus, a new conductor named Norm greeted them. They said hello to him, and Harry told Norm that they were headed to Little Whinging and gave him the proper fare. Harry told Saber to hold on tight, but Saber didn’t hear him because she was already screaming her lungs out as the bus sped off to its current destination: the Dursley residence.

~~~

As Harry and a very green looking Saber disembarked from the bus, Harry become aware of the lessening sunlight in the area and thought that they had arrived around twilight, and he also noticed that members of the Order were lurking about. He took a deep breath to relax himself and helped Saber to calm down. Once she was back to normal, they walked down the path towards number four Privet Drive…

Author’s Note:

I never expected this one to be really long. Okay, now to clear up some things: one, is the fact that I can’t remember/I’m not that sure, what time of day Dumbledore’s funeral was held; two I also can’t remember the fact if most or if not all of the Order were there.

Guys remember that Harry and Saber are now connected by their Master and Servant thing so Saber can sense when ever Harry’s in distress.

If you guys want to see what Illya looks like include it in your reviews. I’ll be happy to post a link in the following chapter (if there is going to be one, it all depends on how you guys react to this, meaning I want some reviews people!)

I’ll try to update weekly btw.

-tw

3. Chapter 2

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

4. Chapter 3

Author’s Notes: Well thank you for the reactions. Am continuing this of course, no questions asked, this story’s been brewing in my head for ages. There’s no way am stopping.

Chapter 3:

The Aftermath and the Explanation…

Harry and a very injured Saber arrived inside at what appeared to be a very posh, modernistic, living room. Harry immediately heightened his senses and tried to spread the range of his magic to feel if there was anyone around the house. Technically, it was and was not using magic per se, but everything was a moot point now because in Harry’s hands was a gravely injured Saber and she needed immediate help.

Harry did not know how many people were in the house, as he felt through his magic, and he heard multiple footsteps and they were coming fast towards them. ‘Ministry be damned if Saber and I are going to die here!” Harry thought, as he readied himself for a firefight.

Harry looked around for entrances to the room they were currently in and saw that the only entrance was at the far side of the room. Harry steeled himself, as this could be his most difficult fight yet, he laid Saber down away from harm’s way and he held his wand with anticipation. As the door opened he quickly fired a stunning spell at the first person who stepped in, which clearly hit its mark as he heard a loud ‘thump’ indicating the person was knocked out cold. He was about to fire another stunner when he heard a very familiar gruff voice.

“Bloody hell, Potter,” exclaimed the voice “what are you trying to do? Kill us before Voldemort does?”

Harry’s eyes widened as he realized who that voice belonged to. He cast a quick ‘lumos’ only to see a knocked out Bill Weasley on the floor. He immediately Rennervated the fallen Weasley brother, and was about to apologize when he remembered there was a bleeding Saber near by.

“Moody,” he exclaimed with panic evident in his voice “we need Madam Pomfrey! There was a fight near my house and Saber got injured!”

While Harry was shouting at Alastor Moody to get the matronly nurse, Harry did not notice that Moody’s magical eye already focused on Saber and he was wobbling to the fireplace. Harry was about to start shouting at the ex-auror when he felt Bill’s hand on his shoulder.

“I’ve applied a basic blood clotting spell, Harry,” he told the clearly panicking boy, “I know it’s not enough, but it’ll have to do until Madam Pomfrey arrives.”

Bill tried to calm Harry down, but all his attempts just made Harry more anxious. Bill tried to lighten the mood while waiting for Madam Pomfrey to arrive.

“That was one hell of a stunner Harry,” the eldest of the Weasley siblings told him, “it was powerful and silent as well, and normally silent spells as compared to their vocal counterparts are slightly weaker. Nevertheless, that spell you did was about as powerful as the normal one. Where did you learn that trick, eh?”

Harry gave him a look that told Bill that he did not understand what Bill was saying. Harry remembered that he shouted ‘Stupefy’. He was about to tell Bill that when Moody joined the conversation.

“The boy’s right, Potter,” the old ex-auror told Harry, “That was quite the spell work. Good work on not letting your guard down, even after you’re out of the fray.”

Harry thought that the old ex-auror was finished until Moody added, what Harry now considered the old man’s battle cry, ‘Constant vigilance!’ Harry tried not to smile as just last night, as he was thinking the same thing. Bill was about to ask what happened but the flames of the fireplace blazed to life and an annoyed looking Madam Pomfrey came out. She was about to ask where the patient was when she saw Saber laying down on the floor behind the Victorian styled couch. She looked over to the three men and asked what happened, as she went to the blonde haired girl to tend to her shoulder wound.

Harry told the three adults what happened before, and during the attack. When Harry got to the part where Lancer cried out the name of his lance, all of the three adults’ faces paled. He was about to ask what was the matter when the old nurse cast what seemed to be a powerful version of a healing spell. He heard Saber groan out and quickly went to her side. When the old nurse was done, she grabbed her bag and pulled out a potion very familiar to Harry, a Blood-replenishing potion.

Madam Pomfrey lifted Saber’s head to make it easier for Saber drink the potion. As soon as that was finished, the old nurse told Harry that she would need to rest for a couple of days and would need to drink the potions she was giving him. The old nurse sighed and moved away from the blonde-haired girl and Harry, then proceeded to tell them that there was nothing else she could do. She got up and went to Bill and Moody. She discussed a few things with the two Order members then disappeared through the fireplace.

Harry moved Saber’s body from the floor to the couch so that she would be more comfortable. After doing that, he realized that he did not even know where he was now. He was about to ask but then Bill sensed his question.

“You’re at one of the Order’s safe-houses Harry,” he told Harry. Then Harry heard another set of footsteps heading towards them. The door opened to reveal a woman vaguely familiar to Harry, as if he had seen this woman or someone who looked liked her before. His eyes widened when he realized whom that woman looked like. She was an exact copy of Bellatrix Lestrange, albeit a little older and healthier looking. The Bellatrix lookalike looked around the room and then spoke,

“Well,” the newly arrived woman spoke, “Any one care to explain why there’s a bloody, armor-plated girl lying on my couch and who seems to be Harry Potter in my living room?”

Bill chuckled at the woman who just entered. Conversely, Moody did not find it that funny as he just grunted at her (One does wonder if there was anything in the world that Alastor ‘Mad-eye’ Moody found funny). Bill then proceeded to explain to the woman that there had been an incident at Harry’s house and the ones guarding him had a portkey leading to this location.

The woman sighed at Bill. It was obvious to anyone that she did not expect people this late at night. Harry, tired of being ignored, cleared his throat loudly and said,

“Bill, now that you’ve shown your amusement to my predicament, would you kindly introduce me to our dear hostess?”

Bill was about to until they heard a crash then a muffled voice crying out ‘Mum!’ The three adults in the room sighed. Harry was about to ask who or what was that loud crash until the cause of that loud crash came bursting through the door.

“Wotcher, Harry!” Nymphadora Tonks announced as she came into the room with the three other adults, a surprised Harry, plus one unconscious blonde-haired girl. Behind her was his former professor, Remus Lupin, looking quite worried. Once he saw that Harry and Saber were fine, albeit Saber being unconscious, the worry from his face lifted, but only somewhat.

“Harry,” the werewolf said, “What happened?”

Harry was tired of telling the story and asked Bill if he could tell Remus what happened. Harry slumped into the nearest chair, as he was exhausted. The woman, whose name still eluded Harry, asked,

“Would you like some tea, Harry?”

Harry nodded but then, before the unknown woman could leave his side, he asked her name.

“Bill never really introduced me, did he?” The woman said and then smiled. She said that she was Andromeda Tonks, Nymphadora’s mother. Tonks winced at the mention of her name (‘Mum!’). Andromeda sighed at her daughter’s antics.

“I could never understand how someone could hate their given name so much as she does.”

Harry chuckled at the Metamorphmagus’ expense. Andromeda excused herself to get the drinks and left the living room. Andromeda’s exit left an awkward silence between the four adults and Harry. Tonks sensing the tension tried to break the ice by teasing Harry.

“So…Harry who’s the sleeping beauty, your new girlfriend?” Tonks said, while wagging her eyebrows.

If Harry were not dead tired, he would have blushed like a tomato. Luckily, he was near a recliner, and luckier still, he was dead tired. Remus noticed this and answered for him.

“Dora, that girl’s name is Saber. She was with him when I met him during his return trip to the Dursley’s house.”

Tonks contemplated this new bit of information for a while, then thought of another jibe. She was about to say something when Harry interrupted her.

“Tonks, as much as I like conversing with people, can we please just sit here and wait for the tea?” He said, and then added, “I’m sorry if I sound rude, but I’m really, really, tired.”

Tonks nodded in response to Harry’s request. She saw the fatigue in Harry’s eyes. She felt sorry for him. He was so young yet he had to shoulder the burden of the world, if the papers were correct. She tried to think of something that would lift the spirit of the boy, but as soon as she thought of the perfect thing to say to him, her mother came in with the tea.

Harry graciously accepted the tea. He brought the beverage, near his mouth to drink, inhaling the calming scent of the tea. All sound was lost to him as he was fully relaxed because of the scent. The conversation around him was lost because he was fully concentrated on his tea, and the fact that he was tired. As he finished his tea, it took most of his willpower not to simply drop the teacup and let the realm of dreams engulf him. He felt someone take his cup and placed it somewhere he could not reach, he was about to protest but once he opened his mouth, a yawn escaped him. He finally succumbed to the god of sleep when he felt someone cover him with a blanket.

~~~

“He looks so young when he sleeps.” Remus told no one in particular. Everyone who knew the ‘Boy-Who-Lived’, and what he went through for the past six years, readily agreed with him.

The boy in front of them, resting in an armchair, was not a boy anymore, Remus realized. Remus Lupin sighed, wishing things were not the way they were.

‘If only James and Lily were here…’

Remus snapped out of his reminiscing when someone opened the door to the living room.

“I can’t believe one guy caused that much damage.” One of the newly arrived said.

“Yeah, seemed like a tornado smashed into that place,” replied the other person with him.

“So,” Remus turned to greet the new arrivals, “I assume that all the necessary repairs are done?”

When they stepped into the firelight, the new arrivals identities were revealed to be none other than the Weasley twins, but before they answered Remus’ question they immediately related the story to their older brother.

“You should’ve seen the fight Bill, or what we saw when we woke up,” Fred said, acting out the scene thrusting an imaginary lance, “this guy in a blue get up was thrusting his lance all over the place…”

“…and,” George continued, while acting out the same scene, this time dodging the imaginary lance, “this blonde girl was avoiding all of his attacks like they were nothing,”

Bill shushed them and then pointed towards the sleeping Harry. Before the twins could react, Remus cleared his throat and asked,

“Now that the theatrics are done,” the werewolf said, clearly annoyed that he was ignored, “we need to get to the matter at hand.”

The twins, sensing that the fun and games have clearly passed, quickly sobered up and reported what they did.

“After we lost sight of that blue clothed dude, Fred and I repaired all the damage and we made sure that no one saw the fight, but man that was one hell of a fight.” George said, still hyped up from viewing the amazing fight between Saber and Lancer.

“So,” Bill said, just to break the silence “what about Harry here? He did cast a spell and technically he’s still under age…”

At that moment, the younger Tonks raised her eyebrows and said, “Where do you suppose he cast something?”

“Here actually,” Bill replied, “just before I opened the door.”

“A mighty fine stunner that was; silent and powerful,” Moody added, “Felled Bill here and made him fly too.”

At this, Remus was surprised, he knew that Harry was powerful, but casting silent spells? Now he was not sure what to expect of the ‘Boy-Who-Lived’

‘James, Lily, if you could see your boy now, he’s growing up to be a fine young man…’

The younger Tonks, sighed from the relief she felt, then proceeded to speak,

“Okay, don’t spread this around, and I mean this is hush-hush stuff,” she stated, and when the people around her nodded, she continued “the Ministry can detect anyone who uses magic, just not pinpoint exactly who’s using it.”

Everyone, save for Moody was flabbergasted, though no one was as shocked as the twins though. The twins looked liked a pair of fishes out of water, until one of them recovered and said,

“You mean all this time we could’ve used our magic outside Hogwarts?” said Fred.

It seemed that both the twins’ worlds crumbled before them when they saw Tonks nod.

“All those possible pranks…” said George,

“All those fools who could’ve been fooled” replied Fred

“All those genius ideas…” responded George

“All those years…” added Fred,

“WASTED,” both of them wailed. It took Remus and Bill to cast a quick slap on the back of their heads of the twins as to not wake the slumbering duo.

As the twins tried to keep their disappointment to a minimum, Andromeda asked if they had anything else to discuss. When everyone shook their heads Andromeda told them to get back to their homes and told them not to worry about Harry and Saber. She‘d be the one to take care of them and send them on their way back to the house.

Everyone was about to leave when Remus said, “Are we sure that this isn’t a You-Know-Who related attack? I mean sending them back there, might increase the possibility of another attack.”

“If You-Know-Who stared reviving dead heroes Remus, and then letting them use their old weapons then we’d have a problem,” Bill told the old werewolf.

Everyone was still amazed by the fact that an old Irish hero came back from the dead and started attacking people unexpectedly. They stood in silence to contemplate what to do next.

Unsurprisingly, Moody broke the silence, “We’ll just have to post what ever people we can spare around that place. If I gathered correctly, the people guarding Potter were knocked out before the fighting started.”

The twins tried not to look at the battle-hardened auror, as no one disagreed with Moody, and the matter settled and they went their separate ways. Remus took time to thank Andromeda for temporarily taking Harry and Saber in for the night.

Unknown to the people gathered, the ones guarding Harry were not the only people who witnessed the fight between Saber and Lancer…

~~~

Meanwhile, somewhere in London…

“The new Master was quite useless in that battle with Lancer,” said the man with the blood-red clothes.

“I guess his reputation about being the so called ‘Chosen One’ isn’t all that’s cracked up to be.” Replied a girl with long black hair, and clothes as red as his. She seemed to be scanning the London rooftops from where she was standing.

“It shouldn’t be a problem eliminating him from the war Master,” said the Servant with a confident air.

“No, not yet,” replied the girl “let’s wait and see. We are not sure about his true abilities yet. He didn’t cast any spell to actually help Saber.”

The man in red looked contemplative for a while, and then he raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure about this? I could just blow them up from a long distance. There is a reason why I am called Archer after all.”

Archer’s Master seemed annoyed by his persistence. Even though Archer felt Saber’s presence while they were scouting, she knew that head to head, her Archer would not last a minute against Harry Potter’s Saber.

“Listen here Archer,” she told him “that area wouldn’t be suitable for your skills, it was a cul de sac. That and because of the elevation choices; the highest point in that area was a tree and I’m sure that even Harry Potter could’ve reached you without using his spells.”

Archer seemed put out; it was one of their chances to get rid of an opponent. He still didn’t understand why his Master did not take it.

“Don’t worry Archer,” she said in a nonchalant way, “you’ll get your chance soon. We just need to wait so that we’ll have a hundred percent chance for victory.”

Archer rolled his eyes, first he had the misfortune of having a young and inexperienced Master (he estimated her age at around sixteen or seventeen), and then he was summoned in a clumsy way, which in turn resulted in him crashing through a roof and losing his memory. Archer sighed. To him, his Master was the type who planned before acting and would not move before everything else was in place.

“Let’s go back Archer, its past midnight and I’ve got a lot of things to do in the morning.”

‘At least I’m going to get a break,’ Archer thought miserably. The girl told him that she would leave the landing up to him. Archer looked at his Master for a second when he realized what she was about to do. Archer quickly moved away from where he was standing in order to catch his Master as she jumped from on of the spires of the Tower Bridge.

‘At least there isn’t a time when there’s no excitement when she’s involved’

~~~

It was past noon when Harry woke up in the unfamiliar living room. He was confused. When he started to look around, the first thing that caught his eyes was a patch of blood in the middle of the room where he was in. Then, it all started to come back to him; writing a letter to Hermione, Lancer’s attack, Saber’s injury, everything.

He tried to get on his feet, but he did not realize that he was sleeping on a recliner. As he got up, the recliner’s springs went into action; propelling the backrest into him and pushing him face first onto the floor.

The resounding ‘thud’ alerted the owner of the home and she came to the living room. What she saw was Harry on the floor with the recliner looking as innocent as ever.

“Harry, dear,” she started, trying hard not to laugh at the poor boy’s orientation “I think it’s better to sleep on the recliner, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’m trying a new kind of sleeping position, Mrs. Tonks,” he answered back.

Andromeda tried not to look too amused, “Oh really,” she replied, “How’s it going then?”

Harry was about to reply when suddenly his stomach growled. Moreover, when Andromeda heard this she could not help her self anymore, she started giggling, then laughing aloud. She tried to calm herself down as she remembered that there was another person sleeping nearby.

When Andromeda offered to move their conversation to her kitchen Harry obliged. When they got to the kitchen, Mrs. Tonks offered him some breakfast, some bacon, eggs with toast, and coffee. Harry shyly accepted her offer. They were both eating in silence when Andromeda suddenly asked,

“What will you do now, Harry?”

This caught Harry off guard, honestly after what happened in Little Whining he was not sure what to do anymore. After feeling that intense desire to kill that came off Lancer, he was not sure that he would survive any war. The way it froze him to where he was standing, it was the first time that happened since, well, ever. He knew that if he faced Lancer unprepared again, he would die, with or without Saber’s help.

“I…” Harry sighed as he started to speak, “I honestly don’t know.”

Andromeda still could not believe what the papers have been saying about the young man in front of her. This man, no boy, in front of her, was to defeat the world’s most powerful Dark lord of more than half a century.

‘He isn’t even of age yet!’ Andromeda thought, ‘and the papers print headlines that he’s the ‘Chosen One. How could they expect that of a young child?’

The sound of dishes hitting her kitchen sink pulled her out of her reverie. She was about to tell him that he didn’t need to wash his dishes, but then he started talking,

“Mrs. Tonks,” he said, “when do you think Saber and I could go back to the house?”

“Maybe after Saber wakes up, Harry.” she replied.

There was a moment of silence that fell between the ‘Boy-who-lived’ and the mother of the Metamorphmagus. Then suddenly there was a loud crash then a moan coming from the living room where Saber was sleeping. They quickly left the kitchen in order to check up on Saber.

The girl in question was now facing face down on the floor, but this time the fault was not in the furniture, it seemed that she moved in her sleep and managed to fall off.

“You alright there, Saber?” Harry asked his Servant, as he and Andromeda helped her back onto the couch.

“Somewhat, Harry,” she replied, “My shoulder still hurts though. Lancer’s attack was supposed to kill me I guess, but I think I got lucky.

What Saber said, just reaffirmed Harry’s thoughts in the kitchen. It seemed that in order to win any war, Harry needed to survive until his seventeenth birthday, which, Harry knew, was easier said than done, considering the group of people, who wanted his head.

Harry and Andromeda, along with a partially recovered Saber, after a brief introduction and Andromeda telling Saber where they were, (‘Are you sure you are okay, dear? I mean you’re still supposed to be asleep from a potion that was administered to you’), moved back into the kitchen when Andromeda offered Saber some breakfast, and in the usual Saber fashion, she greedily accepted.

By the time Saber finished her meal, Andromeda learned that if you are housing a particular green-eyed, blonde haired female, you had better stock up on food, and if it tastes good be sure you have stocked up on delicious food.

“You’ve got quite a healthy appetite,” Andromeda said, trying to hide the envious tone of her voice “and you’re maintaining quite a figure. You must tell me how you do it.”

Saber gave the elder Tonks a confused look, and then said, “Err… I honestly am not sure what you are talking about, Mrs. Tonks.”

Andromeda felt her jaw hang as Saber replied. To think that a girl Saber’s age did not even need to consider what she ate. How Andromeda, wished that she had her body and did not consider what she ate.

“Never you mind, Saber,” Andromeda spoke with carefully masked envy, “I guess you two would want to go back to that house won’t you?”

They were about to respond but they were interrupted by a tapping noise. Andromeda spotted that the tapping noise came from a certain snow-white owl pecking her kitchen window. When she opened the window to let the snow owl in, it immediately flew around and landed on Harry’s shoulder turning her head, looking at Harry in his eyes and digging her talons in, as if saying ‘I’m never letting you go out of my sight’.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Harry cried out, “what’s the matter with you, Hedwig?”

Then it dawned on him that she must be worried over what happened last night. It was after Harry reassured the bird that he would not go anywhere did Hedwig lighten her death grip.

“Harry, it seems like your owl brought you a letter.” Andromeda told him.

Hedwig hooted at Andromeda, as if the owl was telling her that she was correct, and then she held out her talon that had the letter so that Harry could remove it easily. Harry assuming that he already knew who sent this letter, (or had the brilliant idea to use Hedwig to find him…if that person should ever talk to him again,) opened it.

Surprisingly, the letter or lack of it was blank. He flipped the piece of paper to see if there was anything written on it, but there was none.

“Why would anyone send a blank piece of paper?” Andromeda voiced out exactly what Harry was thinking, why anyone, especially her (if he was right in assuming who exactly sent the blank piece of paper), would send out a blank piece of paper.

As Harry pondered on what the blank piece of paper could mean, there was a knock on the Tonks’ front door. Curious as to who was at the door, as Andromeda’s husband was not arriving until later tonight, since he was at work. The person then rang the doorbell at the same time he or she, was still knocking, Andromeda still curious as to who was at the door, stood to answer it.

Harry and Saber stayed behind, since it was not their business if there was someone knocking at the Tonks’ residence…that and Saber was still eating. Harry was about to pour himself a mug of coffee that Mrs. Tonks brewed until he saw some familiar red hair in the corner of his eye.

“Merlin, mate I heard from the twins, did one guy really trash your Uncle’s place?”

Harry turned his head to the source of the voice and sure enough, the face that accompanied the red hair was his long time friend. What he did not notice however, was the bushy-haired girl trying to hide behind the red haired wizard.

“Yeah Ron,” Harry told the redhead, “destroyed the whole living room and front lawn. Even did a number on Saber.” He resumed his previous task of pouring himself a mug of coffee, and then added, “We barely managed to get out of there alive.”

Ron looked at Saber for her to confirm what Harry had just said, to which she just nodded her head. What Harry missed because his back was turned to the new arrivals was the pale face of one bushy-haired girl and the shocked one of Ron.

Unknown to the reactions that his friends gave him, Harry continued, “Yeah, we barely made it out of there, he did this…” he tried to take sip from his coffee, but as he raised his mug to his lips, he didn’t notice that he was shaking quite terribly. “I don’t know, it might be his fighting technique or spell or whatever, but it was very effective. It rooted me where I was standing.”

Saber stood up, as she was finished with her meal, and placed a hand on her Master. This seemed to lessen his shaking, but not eliminate it. Still oblivious to his surroundings, Harry continued to retell what he felt in those few seconds.

“Honestly, I thought I was going to die right then and there,” Harry tried not to break down, but the fear of last night was catching up to him. “I knew if I moved from where I was I would die; I also knew if I didn’t move from where I was, I’d still die.”

It seemed that Harry talking about his most recent brush with death broke the camel’s back. Hermione barreled past Ron and Saber to hug Harry. Harry knew the person sobbing on his back, and guessed that Hermione had forgiven him for what happened or did not happen, yesterday afternoon.

Andromeda was sure that she was intruding on some moment that the kids in front of her were sharing. She actually felt the emotion coming from Harry, his fear from the attack, his presumption that he was about to die. She almost could not take it, almost. She was about to say something when she noticed that Saber’s hand was not on Harry’s shoulder and Harry wasn’t shaking anymore. She wondered if there was something more to Harry and Hermione. She shook her head to remove those thoughts. It was not her business and she was not going to make it hers.

Harry and the others didn’t notice when Andromeda slipped out of the kitchen. Hermione long since released Harry from her hug, and was now somewhat calm, she now sat near Saber. Ron oblivious to the overflowing emotion that just occurred happily munched away on the food that was untouched by Saber.

“I guess I need to give you guys an explanation…” Harry started.

“No need mate,” Ron replied, “I think we all know You-Know-Who’s to blame for that attack.”

Hermione was still silent, but Harry knew that she was listening. Harry looked at Saber and she nodded. Harry sighed; it was time to come clean.

“No Ron,” he started, “that attack wasn’t connected to Voldemort.” Harry ignored the cringe from Ron. “Hermione, do you mind casting that spell? We can’t let anyone hear what I’m going to say next.”

Hermione looked scandalized, she was about to refuse but reconsidered. She tried to weigh the pros and cons. Pro: she was finally hearing an explanation to whatever was going on, con: she was going to use his spell. Hermione thought it through, and knew what she had to do. She cast a quick muffliato, and nodded to Harry signaling that it was okay to proceed.

“Okay, I guess I should start at the beginning…”

~~~

“And that’s the whole story.” Harry finished with a sigh.

Harry told them about Dumbledore’s letter, about how he met Saber, about Servants and Masters, about the Command seals, about the seven Servants in this new war that he was participating in. He also told them what happened in Diagon Ally, what Saber did to the Dursley’s lawn, and what happened last night.

A full minute passed by before two-thirds of the golden trio finally reacted, and Ron spoke first.

“Bloody hell,” still astonished by the story that Harry told them, “you mean to say that, on top of our Horcrux hunt, you’ll be in a Holy war?”

“Holy Grail war, Ron,” Hermione corrected him, “though I doubt it’s the actual Holy Grail.” Her voice sounded flat even to her. She did not want to believe that the boy, in front of her, who had gone through a lot in the past six years, would be having another six powerful people added to the group of Death eaters, plus Voldemort. She was about to voice out a question but Saber spoke first,

“Harry, before I forget,” She started to raise her hand then touched Harry’s forehead, “there all done.”

Immediately after Saber touched his head, he saw, in his head, something that looked like a chart, which detailed Saber’s strengths and weaknesses; he searched through the image in his mind as if it was water flowing through his fingertips. He now knew why Saber’s sword was invisible. Harry even knew what its name was.

“Invisible Air…” Harry whispered, though the people around him heard what he said.

“Yes,” Saber confirmed it, “that is the name of one of my Noble Phantasms.” Then she added, “It is the same Noble Phantasm that I used during my fight with Lancer.”

Harry’s mind was reeling with the information surge that coursed through his mind. Harry now knew that any magic known today could not damage Saber. He was not sure about the Avada though. ‘Better be safe, than sorry,’ he thought. He also knew about the power of Saber’s Noble Phantasm. He immediately thought about Lancer. His chart immediately popped up, he saw that, Lancer was generally weaker than Saber. He flipped towards Lancer’s Noble Phantasm. He saw how Lancer’s Noble Phantasm worked and it seemed that all you need was luck when fighting against Lancer.

Through out Harry’s introspection, he was oblivious to what was happening around him. Around him, things were starting to get uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable for Ron, seeing, as there were two attractive girls in his midst. One he had known for six years, the other he just met yesterday. He was about to start a conversation when Hermione started speaking.

“So,” she said, “what are you two going to do now?”

Saber looked at Harry and she felt that he was still going over the information that she just implanted in his mind. “It depends on Harry,” Saber replied, and then she added, “Though if I remember correctly he was to ask you to take me, how do you say, clothes shopping.”

Hermione was shocked, it was not because of Harry’s usual motto of ‘winging it’, but it was because of Harry assuming that she would take someone she did not know shopping, of all things.

Harry snapped out of his musings, and he looked around and saw that everyone was still there, oblivious of what happened only seconds before. He knew he needed to plan what to do next. He looked at Saber and saw that she was still in her armor. Then he remembered something,

“Uh, Hermione, could we take Saber out shopping?” Harry told her, missing the shocked face that Hermione currently wore.

There were only three words that registered in Hermione’s mind, ‘we’, ‘Saber’, and ‘shopping’.

‘At least I’m not going to be alone with her…” Hermione thought.

“Wait a minute,” Ron interrupted, “where do I fit in this?”

“Ron,” Hermione said with a tired voice, “would you have the patience and the eye to pick out what Saber likes?” Then she added, “Harry would be along because he knows Saber more than I, and should I even explain why I should come along?”

Ron was about to respond but, after seeing the look on Hermione’s face ended his supposed argument with a ‘Hmph’.

“So, how much will you need for Saber’s clothes?” Harry asked Hermione, then he added, “Would two thousand quid suffice?”

Hermione’s jaw dropped, it was after a few seconds that she managed to respond. “Harry, that’s…that’s more than enough.”

“Really,” Harry replied, “if its not, then we could just get more money from Gringotts.”

Still in shock as to how much money Harry had on him, Hermione reassured him that it was more than enough, and that they would go on that shopping trip maybe a day or two before his birthday, seeing that Harry and Saber were not going anywhere important before his birthday. Bringing up Harry’s birthday reminded Ron about the wedding, which in turn reminded him of what he told his mother,

“Shit, I’ve got to go guys; I told mom that I’ll be gone for a few minutes and its way past ‘a few minutes’.”

Harry asked Hermione if she could end the muffliato spell, which she did and then told them that he and Saber would be back at the Dursley’s house by tonight or by tomorrow morning. Ron and Hermione said their goodbyes to Andromeda, Harry and Saber.

Harry and Saber did not notice the time and when they returned to the kitchen, Andromeda was already setting up dinner.

“You kids took over my kitchen and then cast that ringing spell,” Andromeda chuckled at the expression that Harry wore as he heard her, “what the professors are teaching you and the things that they taught us seems light-years apart.”

“Err...we’re sorry about that, we needed to talk some things through…” Harry responded.

“Don’t worry about it, Harry,” the elder Tonks said, “now why don’t you wait at the living room and I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

“Oh let me help you with that, it’s the least we can do after we took over.” Harry responded.

Before Andromeda could argue that he was a guest, Harry already donned the apron and started fixing dinner where Andromeda left off. Andromeda just laughed, and let him help.

~~~

Dinner at the Tonks’ was lively. Conversation was light, and did not touch on the Voldemort topic, the war, or Dumbledore’s death. It was already dark when Harry and Saber, returned to the Dursley’s house. He expected a nice quiet house where he could lay down on his bed and rest. What he didn’t expect was the Dursleys returning. Vernon Dursley almost exploded at the sight of Harry but Harry cut him off,

“Don’t worry,” he told the large man with little to no concern as to what might happen to him, “Saber and I will be staying for two weeks then we’ll be out of your life, forever.”

If Vernon looked pissed before, he looked like he was about to kill after Harry talked down to him, but when he saw Saber all color flowed out of his face. Saber surveyed what was happening and raised an eyebrow. Harry noticed this and shrugged; he grabbed Saber’s hand and led her past Vernon and up to his room.

‘This will be a long two weeks…”

~~~

Well chapter 3 is in the wind! Next up, we’ll get into awkward situations, involving our eating machine (Saber), our lovable bookworm, and our gallant Hero. Every guy’s nightmare, shopping for clothes (dun dun dun), and Archer’s Master!

As with the last chapter, I’ll explain about the abilities of our dear Servants, in this case, Saber’s Invisible Air.

Invisible Air:

As the name states, its invisible, it makes Saber’s sword invisible. It doesn’t allow the enemy to determine its range. It’s quite simple but extremely effective in hand to hand combat. It’s a Noble Phantasm protected by strong magic, but it doesn’t mean that the sword itself is invisible. The blade is clad in wind that changes the refraction of the light and makes the shape of the sword invisible.

It’s not a vacuum, but the wind whirring around the blade is like a weapon and it increases the damage of the slash. Only when the compressed wind is released, is a vacuum state created.

When the target has “resistance to visual impediments”, the accuracy correction of Invisible Air is ineffective. Other than the advantage of making the blade invisible, it is possible to release the compressed wind, making it a single-use projectile weapon.

About Saber’s invulnerability to modern spells, I think she decides which spells affect her. Therefore, it is safe to assume that her body would differentiate between beneficial spells and harmful spells.

As with Lancer’s Noble phantasm description, I took this directly from the game so everything is copyrighted to type-moon.

-tw

5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Love of a Sister, a Shopping Trip and the Master in Red…

Contrary to what the ‘Boy-Who-Lived’ believed, the two weeks he needed to wait so that he could finally escape his prison finally arrived…

July 30, 1997

It was morning, and Harry Potter had never felt better. He tried to move away from the blonde-haired girl that was currently residing in his bed. Harry had gotten used to the idea of Saber sleeping right next to him, and in his clothes, around the first nine days of the two-week waiting period.

‘I still say that it’s wrong for a man and a woman to share the same bed when they’re not in a relationship.’ Harry thought as he gingerly got up from the bed. Harry looked back at the sleeping form of Saber.

‘To think, that the girl sleeping in my bed was…well, is a seasoned warrior…and she looks younger than me!” Harry shook his head as he thought those words. He still couldn’t believe that in order to survive at least one of the wars he was participating in, he was to rely on the blonde-haired girl lying in front of him.

He gathered his stuff for his morning routine and went on his way. What he didn’t notice before he got out of his room however, was Hedwig and a large bird like thing were heading towards his window, Hedwig with a letter attached to one of her legs, and the bird like thing with a package in its talons.

~~~

After Harry finished his morning routine, and he changed into some of his clean clothes, he went on to prepare some breakfast for him and Saber. The Dursleys formed some new habits while Harry and Saber were in the house. It seemed that whenever Saber or Harry entered a room, they would immediately scamper to another one. Even if they were in the middle of a meal, they would gather what ever they could and leave.

The same thing happened that morning. As Harry entered the Dursleys kitchen, all three pairs of eyes were looking straight at him. Vernon immediately gathered what was left of his meal and signalled for this family to follow him. All but one followed him. Petunia Dursley sat there trying to ignore Harry as he made his and Saber’s meals.

There was a tense moment of silence when Harry started gathering his ingredients to cook. All the while, he noticed that Petunia was fidgeting in her seat. He also noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Petunia’s mouth was opening and closing, as if she wanted to say something... As he finally started making his and Saber’s meals, making sure his back was facing Petunia, Harry spoke.

“Aunt Petunia,” Harry said, “where’d you put the spare packets of pepper? We’re all out.”

“Top shelf, near the spare shakers,” Petunia replied.

Harry reached for the top shelf and sure enough, a spare pack of pepper was there. Harry breaking the ice seemed to calm down his aunt. Harry started cooking his and Saber’s meal when his aunt asked,

“So, you’re leaving tomorrow,” she said with her head lowered.

Harry raised his eyebrows at the peculiar actions of his aunt. Over the years, Petunia only spoke to Harry if she needed something done, or to shout at him.

“Yeah,” Harry answered while tending to the food that he was cooking, “Saber and I will be out of your hair in twenty-four hours.”

Harry heard his aunt sigh; the only problem was that he was not sure if it was a sigh of relief or of something else. As he was cooking, his aunt spoke again,

“So, I guess I’ll never see you again…” she told him.

Harry was confused. He assumed that the Dursleys would be screaming ‘hallelujah’ to the heavens by the time he was out of their lives. The tones that his aunt possessed sounded like sadness or regret even, her tone was quite far from the jubilation he was expecting.

So he could not help the confusion in his voice when he replied, “Yeah, that’s basically the idea.”

It did not occur to Harry that his aunt was far from the hostile Vernon, that she did experience at least some minimum magic from her sister. That she did love her sister, and that no one missed her sister more than her. So when Harry heard a stifled sob, his head whipped back so fast that one would expect that his neck would break.

“You know,” Petunia started, “Lily never raised her wand at me, never shouted at me, and never called me names, never…” Petunia never finished what she was saying as the tears she was holding back poured forth. Her sobs were silent; it seemed to Harry that Petunia was trying to make sure that her husband did not hear her cry.

Harry was about to ask what was wrong when his aunt continued, “You know, Harry, we were the best of friends when we were little.” Harry moved away from the food he was cooking (not before lowering the heat so it would not burn), and handed his aunt a box of tissues. Petunia wiped away her tears before continuing,

“It all changed when she received that invitation to that magic school of yours.” She told him while still trying to wipe tears away. “But even then, she didn’t boast about it.” She blew her nose first, and then added, “She never flaunted her magic in front of me,” Petunia’s hand was quivering while she wiped away the tears, all the while she was remembering the time she spent with her sister. “Our parents were so proud every time she got her grades back from your school…” It seemed that Harry’s aunt was lost in her memories that even her tears stopped flowing.

Harry was in shock, this was the only time his aunt spoke about his mother. The other times he heard about his parents were from, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, or the other members of the Order. In all actuality, he never did hear his aunt insult his mother, only his father.

“Aunt Petunia,” Harry spoke for the first time since his aunt started, “you really loved my mother didn’t you?”

At first, his aunt did not speak nor move a muscle, though after a second, his aunt’s tears flowed once more, but this time she nodded her head, answering him. Harry let his aunt weep for her lost sister for a while then asked,

“Do you…” Harry paused at first, and then continued, “Do you want to know what really happened to her?”

Petunia’s eyes widened as she heard Harry, she was in mid nod when Vernon walked in with his great bulk. At first, he looked at his wife, then at Harry, and quickly jumped to a conclusion.

“BOY!” Vernon shouted, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW?”

Harry’s face paled as he realized that he was at a bad spot, in front of a crying Petunia Dursley. Petunia immediately wiped away her tears and, tried to explain to her walrus of a husband that she was okay, but Vernon would not hear any of it. Vernon immediately turned a sickly shade of purple and stomped the few feet that separated him and Harry. Vernon lifted Harry by the collar and cocked his fist, ready to smash Harry’s face.

He was in mid-strike when all of a sudden, his arm stopped. Vernon forced his hand forward but to no avail. What Vernon did not notice was Saber holding his arm back. When Saber applied pressure to her grip Vernon cried out in pain. She did not stop applying pressure until Vernon released his grip on Harry.

“Now Master,” Saber told Harry, while she was still applying pressure on Vernon’s arm “making girls, or for this matter, women, cry is greatly frowned upon in any culture.”

“But Saber, I didn’t make aunt Petunia cry, she suddenly got emotional, and well yeah.” Harry replied, looking at his aunt for some support.

“Harry’s right, err, Saber,” Petunia told the blonde girl, “Err, now that we’ve cleared up that misunderstanding, could you please release my husband?”

Saber looked at the man; it was a few more seconds before she released him. Vernon quickly got up and was about to tell her off, when Saber cut him off,

“If you ever lay a hand on my Master again,” Saber told Vernon with so much killing intent that Harry was positive that the air around the kitchen got a few degrees cooler, “your arm isn’t the only thing that’s going to hurt.”

Vernon turned ghostly white as he instantaneously got Saber’s message and got out of the kitchen. He called out for Petunia to follow, Petunia first looked at Harry, and then at Saber, then she told Vernon that she was coming. As she was about to leave the kitchen, she stopped at its threshold and said,

“Harry,” she spoke to him with a soft and gentle voice that he knew she only used when addressing her Dudders, “could you tell me how she died some other time?”

Harry nodded, and for the first time in his nearly seventeen years of staying alive in this world, he saw his aunt smile at him. As she left the kitchen, Harry turned his attention back to the meal he was cooking. He was still in shock, at what happened and what brought his aunt to tears. Saber sensing her Master’s distress, asked what was wrong.

“It’s just that,” Harry paused to plate the dish that he was tending, “never in my whole life did my aunt show me such…well kindness, when she spoke to me.”

When he saw Saber’s confusion, he then explained what brought on that little incident. After retelling what happened Saber voiced her own thoughts.

“Maybe,” Saber told him as she was slicing some bacon, “she thought that she was going to lose her last link to her sister once you left…after all, she may deny it all her life, but the fact is that you are your mother’s son.” She paused for a bit to place the sliced piece of bacon in her mouth, then after swallowing, continued, “I’m sure that you’ve got something that you’ve inherited from your mother, that when your aunt looks at you, she immediately get reminded of her.”

Harry never really looked at the situation that way. He always assumed that his aunt was mean to him because that he was not one of them. He never thought of the possibility that she was mean to him because he reminded her of his mother in someway.

“Your owl delivered a letter for you, and something left a package,” Saber told him while placing the letter and the package on the table.

That snapped out Harry out of his introspection, he checked the package to see whom it is from, he found out that it was from the goblins. The package contained a letter telling him that along with the letter, there was a, what the goblins referred to as black, muggle money pouch with the safer means for transporting large amounts of muggle money.. Harry, upon closer inspection saw that the ‘muggle money pouch’ was actually a wallet with four cards in the card slots, which bore the names HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Barclays, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

After opening the first package, and placing his new wallet in his trouser pocket, he examined the letter to see whom it came from. Harry recognised Hermione’s clean, cursive writing on the piece of paper. He opened the letter to see what Hermione would write to him about. His eyes widened as he read the letter, and as he finished reading the letter, the doorbell rang. Harry cursed his bad luck when dealing with the opposite sex. Then he remembered that the Dursleys were still in the house. His eyes widened in realization as to what might happen. Harry placed ‘Hermione meeting the Dursleys’ under ‘meeting Voldemort before destroying all the Horcruxes’ in his list of ‘Making sure these would never happen’.

However, it was all for naught, as soon as he got up, he heard the door opening. He quickly dashed to the front door only to find that his uncle Vernon was the one who opened it. His face paled for the second time as this was one of the worst scenario he could think of in the ‘Hermione meeting the Dursleys’ possibility. He heard her ask for him and his uncle denying his existence. Luckily or unluckily for Harry, he was taller than his uncle was, so when he got close enough, Hermione spotted him and barged straight in.

“Harry!” Hermione exclaimed before hugging him, “Are you ready for our little trip with Saber?” she then asked him.

Harry never looked at Hermione once she arrived, no, he preoccupied with Mount Vernon, and because he was sure that, his uncle would erupt, which he did.

“YOU’RE ONE OF THEM?” Vernon cried out.

Hermione raised her eyebrow at what Vernon said, “What does he mean by ‘one of them’, Harry?”

‘Uh oh,’ thought Harry, he had a feeling that this could, no, would end really badly. He knew that if he lied, his uncle would out him, that and the fact that he knew that Hermione would know something was going on. With a sigh, he just told the truth.

“He meant that you’re a witch, Hermione.” Harry said with another sigh.

Vernon’s statement seemed to have struck a nerve. Harry immediately sensed, well felt is more like it, Hermione’s irritation, as even though she released him from her hug, she had not removed her hand from his arm. Harry was about to warn his uncle that Hermione was already old enough to use her magic outside Hogwarts, but then again, this might be his awaited payback after all the years of abuse, besides Harry didn’t like to be at the business end of Hermione’s wand when she was irritated, so he wisely clammed up.

“Do you have a problem with me being a witch, Mister Dursley?” Hermione told the obviously bigger than her man in front of her. Harry also noticed that, her left hand was holding his right arm; her right was fingering her wand. Hermione now, was a coiled snake waiting for her prey to make the wrong move. Harry’s uncle turned a bright shade of red and was about to tell her off when Saber entered the living room.

“Harry your breakfast is getting cold,” Saber told her Master, and then added “Oh yeah Vernon, what I told you applies to Harry’s friends as well.”

Vernon looked at Saber, then at Harry, and then at Hermione. Knowing that he was out numbered and that he might lose his life, he let out a grunt, went past Harry and Hermione, climbed up the stairs and disappeared in his bedroom. Hermione let out a huge sigh, and chuckled nervously.

“I thought I was about to use magic on a muggle for a second there.” Hermione told Harry as he led her to the kitchen. He handed her a glass of water for her to drink and calm herself down.

“I thought so too,” replied Harry, “Good thing that Saber came as she did or else I think you could’ve blasted my uncle to the yard across the street.”

Saber nodded her head in response to what Harry said then added, “I only reacted to the flux of magic from where you were, Harry.” She said while placing another helping of food on her plate, “Honestly, I thought you, Harry, were getting worked up, seeing as the magic signature that I detected was so akin to what I’m used to at night.”

Harry didn’t like where this conversation was going and was about to change the subject, but Hermione already inquired as to what Saber meant by ‘what I’m used to at night’.

“Oh, Harry and I sleep together.” Saber said innocently, not knowing the bomb that she just set off. The air around the kitchen suddenly dropped a few degrees, and Harry was positive that he saw sparks flying out of Hermione’s hair.

“Oh,” she said at first, “Harry left out that little piece of information the last time we talked, right Harry.” Hermione smiled at Harry, but it was not a normal smile. Harry quickly tried to diffuse the situation,

“Hermione,” Harry quickly said, “Saber meant it literally, as in sleeping together, not the other thing…” Harry was not sure if Hermione’s smile widening was a good or bad thing, but as usual, Saber came to save his ass at the last minute.

“Harry’s right, Hermione,” Saber told Hermione before drinking some juice she got from the refrigerator, “It was the only thing that I could’ve thought of so that I could protect my Master from any immediate harm.”

It seemed that Saber’s explanation of them sleeping together satisfied Hermione, for the mean time. An awkward silence fell on the Dursley kitchen. Harry tried to think of something, anything, to lift it.

“Uh,” Harry started, drawing the attention of the two, “so Hermione where do you suppose we go for our little shopping trip?”

This immediately brought out the bossy side of Hermione, “Oh!” as if she suddenly remembered something, “Harry, Saber, get dressed, quick, my mom is waiting outside. She said that she’d help us in picking out Saber’s clothes!”

Harry let loose a sigh of relief as Hermione was getting back to her old self. Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione for forgetting the whole point of their shopping trip.

“Hermione,” Harry started, “as I recall the whole point of this trip was to get Saber some clothes…”

Hermione looked confused at first, and then realized what Harry was saying. Hermione immediately blushed as she realized her mistake. Harry just chuckled then suggested that Hermione should transfigure Saber’s clothes for the mean time. Harry excused himself so that he could change into more decent clothes than what he had.

After changing into clothes more presentable, a button down shirt with some faded blue jeans he spotted the two girls in the Dursley’s living room, with Saber wearing some normal muggle clothes, with Hermione sitting right across her.

“You look good, Saber,” Harry told his Servant as he descended the staircase. Saber was wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt, with a ribbon tied at the collar. As he descended the staircase, he missed the blush that shortly assaulted Saber’s face, and the glare that Hermione gave Harry when he complimented Saber.

“Well, let’s go.” Harry told the two girls as he headed for the front door, “I’m sure that Hermione’s mom is getting tired of waiting for us.” He opened the door to let Hermione and Saber pass. He told Saber and Hermione to go on ahead and that he would follow. Outside, he noticed a few, well for lack of a better term, oddly dressed people around his house. He walked to the most normal looking one of them, and said,

“Tonks,” Harry told the woman in front of him, “I’m going shopping with Hermione and Saber, wanna come with us?”

The woman first looked around her, and then pouted at Harry. Harry chuckled at her silliness.

“How’d you know it was me?” questioned the Metamorphmagus.

“I asked your mother if you’ve got a day off today, two weeks ago at dinner,” replied Harry.

“Mother,” was the only thing that Tonks said before signalling to her companions asking whether the coast was clear. Her companions signalled back that it was. She walked behind a tree and changed to her normal self, albeit with light red hair, wearing black jeans and a shirt that had the caption ‘You know you want me’.

Harry noticed that Tonks was not alone and that her partner was hiding behind some trees, and that it was Remus. Harry gave a wave and asked him if he wanted to come, he told him that he would rather follow Harry at a distance. Harry shrugged as he told the werewolf that he would see him at the mall. The former professor nodded and disappeared within the foliage.

“He needs to teach me that trick sometime,” Harry commented on his old professor’s disappearing act. Tonks just laughed, and told Harry that she was bugging him to teach her that trick and she guessed the reason why he had not budged yet was because, it was a werewolf thing.

Tonks and Harry walked towards the car in which Saber and the Granger mother-daughter duo were waiting. The Grangers recognized Tonks and said ‘Hello’. Harry introduced Tonks to Saber, and Saber shook her hand. After the introductions, Hermione’s mother asked who wanted to ride in the front seat. Harry immediately volunteered as he realized that if he sat in the back the two girls would flank him, and it would be worse if Tonks were one of the two because he would be excessively teased until they arrived at the shopping center.

With no other objections, save for Tonks’, (‘Aw, Harry don’t be scared I don’t bite…much’). They went on their way to the shopping center; unbeknownst to Harry, he would be experiencing one of the banes of male existence, girls shopping for clothes.

~~~

“How about this one,” Tonks asked the elder Granger.

“Hmm, I think she’ll look better in this blue one,” Replied Emma.

“Really,” answered Tonks, “I think this one would show off her figure more.”

Those were the words of the day in Harry’s mind. It was already two in the afternoon. They had left the house at ten in the morning, they arrived at the shopping center thirty minutes after and the whole time afterwards, they spent shopping for both Hermione and Saber. It had been three and a half hours full of that kind of conversation. It was enough to kill Harry, if Voldemort would not get to him first, ‘Great, death by waiting for girls to finish their shopping.’ Harry thought Voldemort could learn a thing or two in the muggle world, currently he was dying a slow and painful death, a death caused by boredom. He was glad though that Tonks and Hermione’s mother were concentrating on Saber and Hermione, respectively.

Being the only man in their group meant that Harry was the one who got to be the untimely ‘bag boy’ for the females who went on a shopping spree. Harry could still remember the event, which led to Tonks and Emma going nuts over shopping…

~~~

Harry was in the front seat of Mrs. Granger’s Range Rover. Harry wasn’t knowledgeable about cars, but the moment he got in, he knew, with out a doubt, the Grangers were rich.

“So,” Hermione’s mom said, “Hermione, this is the Harry Potter.” She looked at him appraisingly then nodded, “Well, it’s finally nice to meet the face behind the stories.”

Harry pinked at first then realized something, “Wait,” he said, “what stories?”

“Oh, every time Hermione comes home, there isn’t a time that she doesn’t stop telling me and my husband about your adventures,” answered Mrs. Granger.

“Mother,” Hermione cried out.

Mrs. Granger laughed at her daughter’s expense, “I’m sorry honey,” she told Hermione, while placing the car in gear and driving off, “You’ve always told us about Harry’s adventures and I was curious about what he actually looks like.” She then added, “And besides, now that I’ve seen him, I wouldn’t mind having a handsome looking boy for my daughter’s boyfriend.”

Hermione cried out once more as her mother and this time Tonks, laughed at her expense. All the while, Harry was blushing like mad. Now he was not so sure that he made the right decision in choosing to sit in front.

“Oh,” Hermione’s mom said as she overtook the car in front of them, “where are my manners, I’m Emma, Hermione’s mother, if you haven’t figured that out.” She winked at Harry, to which Harry blushed again.

After awhile of teasing and blushing, Emma asked an important question. “So,” She told no one in particular, “this shopping trip is for that young lady over there right, so who’s going to pay for what we’re going to buy for her?” Then she quickly added, “Assuming that’s why there are four girls and only one guy…”

Harry responded by saying that he would pay for whatever they picked out for Saber.

“Oh really,” Emma told Harry, “So how much are you willing to spend on Saber?” It seemed that Emma could not help but have a slight tone of scepticism. Emma was thinking that surely no boy his age could afford anything above a hundred pounds or so.

“Hermione told me that two thousand pounds would suffice…” Harry replied.

Shocked by how much money Harry had on him, Emma almost crashed into another car. It took Hermione and Tonks to tell her that they were still on the road and that she should calm her self down.

“… We could always get more; Gringotts just issued me some cards and a new wallet earlier this morning.” Harry then added.

This piqued Hermione’s interest, as she never heard Harry mention this. She asked Harry if she could borrow his new wallet. Harry handed his new wallet over to Hermione. The first thing she noticed was the brand of his new wallet.

“Armani,” whispered Hermione to no one in particular. As Tonks was between Saber and Hermione, she already noticed the brand when Harry gave Hermione his new wallet and decided to comment about it.

“So our little Harry’s moving up in the world, eh?” Tonks told him, “Not even my dad’s wallet is made by Armani, and he’s quite the businessman.”

Emma’s ears perked up at the word ‘Armani’, though she did not react. She did react when Hermione and Tonks suddenly gasped; she then tried not to show that her jaw was slack when Tonks read what made them gasp.

“Harry,” Tonks, said, “these…these are the hardest banks to get an account from.” Still quite shocked from the sudden revelation that the boy right in front of her might be one of the richest people she had the privilege to meet, “I heard from my dad you must have at least half a million pounds to open an account at this level.”

~~~

…and the rest, as they say, is history. Harry stood outside a women’s clothing boutique. He saw someone familiar out of the corner of his eye, when that person got closer, he recognised him as his old professor.

“Hey Remus,” greeted Harry.

“I see you’re on bag duty,” teased the middle-aged werewolf.

“Very funny,” Harry answered back, “if I recall correctly, I had a conversation earlier with a certain Metamorphmagus in there that’s looking for a bag boy of her own and the way things are going, I’d say that bag boy would be at her side shopping for a long time…” Harry did not finish what he was saying as he saw Remus go pale

Remus did not get a chance to reply as Hermione’s mother called Harry to the boutique. Harry did not like where she was leading him to as they were getting nearer and nearer to the fitting area. At his arrival Tonks winked at him and said that the girls were almost ready, before she gave the signal to come out Harry said,

“Oh yeah, I met Remus while I was outside,” mentioned Harry, “I think he’s still there.”

Harry mentioning the werewolf made Tonk’s hair turn from the current colour, black, to a bright pink as she dashed outside to meet the love of her life. Emma took over Tonks’ supposed duty.

“Girls you can come out now,” said Emma.

What Hermione and Saber were wearing blew Harry’s mind.

Hermione was wearing a Halter-top that was showing a little too much skin leaving her midriff as bare as the time she was born, as for Hermione’s lower half, she was wearing a denim mini-skirt, which was also showing a little too much skin, and to top it off she was wearing these black knee high boots. Saber on the other hand, had a white button up blouse with a blue ribbon for a tie, and a blue full-length skirt.

“Tonks, mother,” Hermione’s voice clearly sounding nervous, “I think this might be a little too revealing~”

Hermione’s whining suddenly stopped when she spotted Harry staring at her wide-eyed and clearly in shock. Hermione felt her face turning as red as the Weasley’s hair. Hermione was about to run back into the changing stall when she heard Tonks say,

“Looking really hot there Hermione, ain’t that right Harry?” said the Metamorphmagus while wagging her eyebrows and dragging a certain werewolf into the boutique.

Harry looked like a ‘fish-out-of-water’ with his mouth opening and closing. Saber tried to add to the fun of teasing by saying “Harry, don’t you think it’s quite rude to stare?”

This snapped Harry out of his stunned state and he managed to blurt out, “Oh, uh yeah.”

“Well Harry,” Tonks told him, “aren’t you going to compliment on the new clothes the ladies in front of you are wearing?”

Harry shot Tonks a quick glare, then he tried his hand at complimenting the women in front of him, and he started with Saber. “You look nice, Saber.” Saber smiled at his compliment and thanked him. He turned his head to look at Hermione, and again, he was at a loss for words. There were a few moments of Hermione blushing, and fidgeting with her top and skirt trying to elongate them somehow. It took Harry an elbow from Tonks to regain his voice.

“You look…” Harry started.

Hermione tried not to look at Harry while he spoke. She had the words: ‘hideous’, ‘revolting’, ‘unsightly’, rushing through her head. She was about to return to the changing stall when she heard something she never expected come out of Harry’s mouth.

“…Amazing” he finished.

Hermione’s head snapped up so fast that it almost hurt. She noticed that Harry was slightly blushing and Tonks, her old professor, and her mother were smiling. She tried cleaning her ears at first and then she said, “Uh, Harry do you mind repeating what you said?”

Seeing the blush deepen on Harry’s face, Emma took pity and told Hermione that he said that she looked amazing. Hermione shook her head and said, “I want Harry to say it.”

Harry’s blush further deepened when he heard Hermione say that she wanted to hear what he said moments ago. He looked to the people surrounding the two of them for help, but he found none.

‘You’re a Gryff, for Merlin’s sake!’

Harry steeled his resolve and repeated what he told Hermione a few moments ago.

“You look amazing, Hermione.”

Hermione turned around and headed for the changing rooms, leaving four people and a few store clerks that were eavesdropping quite confused. What the people she left behind never knew was that, as she left for the changing rooms, she had a huge smile on her face.

~~~

It was past nine in the evening when Harry and Saber, both of them wearing some of the clothes that they just bought a few hours earlier, returned to the Dursleys. Remus told Harry that Tonks would hold on to Saber’s things for the mean time, since Remus was sure that Harry had no place to store everything that Emma and Tonks picked out for him and Saber. Tonks and Emma forced Harry to model some new clothes for them because they reasoned that it was not fair that Saber was the only one who was had a wardrobe change. Harry was about to protest when Remus added that he would see to it that Saber’s clothes reach a grim old place and assured Harry that Saber’s clothes would be safe there.

“The Fidelius charm is back up at headquarters?” Harry asked.

Remus nodded and told him that he would tell him the details tomorrow morning and that Harry should get some rest tonight. Harry and Saber bid the werewolf goodnight as the werewolf walked away. Saber was the one who knocked on the Dursleys door, luckily, or unluckily, depending who you were. Vernon Dursley was the one who opened the door. As Saber was quite short, five foot one, Vernon missed her completely and immediately noticed Harry.

“BOY,” he shouted, his face immediately turning red and him spreading spit in every direction, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?”

Before Harry could have thought of a witty come back, Saber cleared her throat and said, with annoyance clear in her voice “Mister Dursley, I think it is quite rude to shout and spit at someone so close.”

Vernon Dursley paled as fast as he coloured, he seemed to shrink down in size noticing Saber’s state of annoyance. “Would you please get out of the way, Harry and I would like to retire to his room for the night.”

Vernon quickly moved out of the blonde-haired girl’s way, leaving Saber’s path clear. She took Harry’s hand and walked in, as if nothing ever happened. Upon entering, Harry noticed that his aunt was actually looking at him without the usual hatred and annoyance that she usually had for him.

‘Maybe she still wants to know how mom died…,’ Harry thought for a brief moment.

~~~

It was ten minutes before Harry’s birthday, when he finally retired to his bed. He was tired, he was hurting in places that he never even realized he used during their little shopping trip. He was so tired that he thought that he saw a blurry Saber arm herself out of the corner of his glasses. Harry sleepily ignored his silly Servant and let his body relax. What he did not expect was the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and Saber yanking him out of bed, just before the destruction of his bed, his window, and the wall surrounding it, by a rain of blue light.

‘What is it this time?’ Harry thought angrily as he tried to get up from where Saber threw him. He heard some thundering footsteps and thought of the worst as he saw the aftermath of whom ever attacked them.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU BOY!” Vernon shouted as he barged into Harry’s trashed room.

Harry shouted for his uncle to get down but it was too late, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up once more and he saw blue rain come down upon the area where his uncle was. What he did not notice was Saber tackling his uncle and landing outside of his room, clear of the range of their unknown assailant.

“Harry,” Saber cried out after removing herself from his walrus of an uncle, “There are only two Servants that could create this barrage; it has to be either Archer or Caster.” She duly ignored Vernon’s protests as to why she assaulted him and then added, “Either way Harry we’re at a clear disadvantage. We need to get out of here if we want to have a fighting chance.”

“That’s all fine and dandy, but how the -bloody hell- do you expect us to get out of here when whoever’s out there has a clear shot at us!” He shouted back. Harry had a feeling that Saber was planning something risky that involved him, and the new hole in his room. He was about to voice out his thoughts but all of a sudden, he felt Saber grab his shirt while sprinting towards the gaping hole, all the while, their assailant shot blue death at the sprinting blonde-haired girl.

“SABER, DON’T YOU~” Harry never finished his protest as Saber jumped from Harry’s room and landed on the Dursleys front lawn. Harry never had the chance to rest as Saber dragged him to the side of the Dursley’s House so that whoever was shooting at them could not get a clear shot.

“Harry,” Saber whispered, “We’ll need to find the Master of the Servant who’s shooting at us if we want to survive this onslaught.”

As soon as Saber finished, blue death rained down on them. Harry and Saber managed to dodge most of the projectiles. Harry was about to move when he noticed blood spreading through Saber’s blue skirt and a black arrow like thing sticking out of it.

“Damn it,” cursed Harry, he checked his watch and it said it was seven minutes before midnight and it seemed that he wouldn’t survive the next few minutes. Harry moved Saber to the backyard of the Dursleys and opened the French doors, which led to the dining room. Harry placed Saber on top of the dining room table, after which he tore a piece of his shirt and told Saber that he was going to remove the arrow. Saber nodded and braced for the pain that was to follow. Harry grabbed the protruding end of the arrow and pulled it out. Saber cried out in pain as Harry wrapped his shirt around her leg. Harry checked the dining room clock only to see that he had five more minutes before he could finally use magic against their current foe.

Harry was about to check if their enemy was still out there, when all of a sudden he heard someone shout,

“Potter,” the unknown enemy cried out, “you’re cornered and the people who were guarding you are knocked out.” Harry was not sure, but the voice, to him, sounded like it belonged to a girl. Then he heard the unknown Master cry out, “Give me Saber and I’ll leave you alive.”

Harry was shocked, all that destruction and just because she wanted Saber? Harry checked the clock again and saw that he needed two more minutes. He then thought of something to kill the time,

“Why do you want Saber?” He asked his enemy through the house walls, clearly staying away from the windows.

“Why do I want Saber?” She asked him, with a tone that questioned him if he was joking, “She’s the most powerful Servant there is. Why wouldn’t I want her?”

This made Harry’s blood boil, even though he had known Saber just for a few weeks, he felt that it was enough for him to know that Saber would give her life for him, as he would do the same for her. He rechecked the watch and did a little mental jig, it was already midnight and he was prepared to raise hell, but first he needed to close Saber’s leg wound.

He tried the healing charm that Tonks used on him to close Saber’s wound, which actually worked. He saw the wound close up, although he could still see a red hole, he figured that it would have to do for now. Now he regretted that he had never looked up that healing spell that Dumbledore or even that greasy haired git used. He heard that female voice shout out that if he did not give up Saber, she would order her Servant to pepper his house with arrows. Harry went to the nearest window and peeked outside; making sure that his body was not in clear view.

What he saw was a girl, in a red shirt with a white cross on her chest, and she was wearing a mini skirt. He looked at the rooftops of the neighbouring houses to see if her Servant was near by. He was about to check the houses to his right when he heard Saber trying to get up from where she was lying.

“What are you doing?” Saber questioned Harry, “Get away from there, are you trying to get yourself killed? If that girl’s Servant is archer then he’ll see you from a mile away.”

“Then what do you suppose we do then?” Harry answered her, “We need to take out at least one of them, and the Servant is clearly in hiding and his Master is actually brave enough to make herself bait.”

Saber tested to see if she could stand, she told Harry that she guessed that she was good for at least one attack. Harry told her that they would have to gamble on that one attack if they were going to survive this encounter…

~~~

Author’s note:

Sorry, for leaving you people with a cliffy but I think there’s an appropriate saying for these types of situations I think it goes “leave them wanting for more.”

Anyways next up is Harry’s confrontation with the girl in red, I’ll introduce another Servant and a false priest.