Hogwarts Year 1 (Part IV)
It was going to be miserable readjusting to the frigid temperatures at Hogwarts, but for now Harri was content to soak in the warmth of the Glimwood Tangle. Harri spent her first evening back home helping care for the pokémon the gym raised while telling Opal everything she could about Hogwarts. Their weekly phone calls ended up being short check-ins as school and the gym kept them both busy, so it was nice getting to really talk. As the holiday crept closer, decorations went up around Ballonlea. They didn’t go quite as all out as they did for Halloween, but the effort and festive spirit was present in spades. There were only a couple of gym challengers that had managed to reach Ballonlea during the time she had for break, but Harri was happy to get to watch the matches. Marnie and Allister were also quick to drop by and the trio ended up in a day-long snowball fight thanks to someone’s Abomosnow. She was extra thankful for her friends helping her with picking out gifts. Shopping for gifts was something Harri had been worrying about while still at Hogwarts; she’d never had so many people to need to get gifts for before. Marnie and Allister were more than happy to help her brainstorm things to get for her friends.
Harri knew from the start that she wanted to get Hermione a book, but picking just one was difficult. She ended up buying the latest edition of the Pokémon Friend for her and found another book, From Ground to Gourmet, for Neville (he loved Herbology, but struggled sometimes in Culinary and Crafting, the book was all about using homegrown or foraged ingredients so hopefully it would help him enjoy those classes more). Millie would be getting a new travel case for art supplies thanks to input from Marnie about what her cousin would enjoy. Daphne had expressed interest in her glowing mushroom, so Harri put together a terrarium kit and care guide so she could grow her own. Tracy was getting a jersey and poster from her favorite Royal Raid Team (The Niobatters) and Blaise was getting a scarf made with wool from the Rapidash shed hairs (it was super fluffy and would help him stay warm, her poor friend from Alola wasn’t enjoying his first Galarian winter). For Ron she got a few puzzle cubes for him to fiddle with when bored (even if studying wasn’t his forte he was a great strategist and problem solver) as well as a block meant for bug types to chew on. The rest of her Slytherin year mates and the other gym heirs she knew of, but wasn’t friends with, were getting small assortments of candy (even if they weren’t friends, Opal had impressed on her the importance of maintaining good relations with others she would have to spend time with).
It was much more difficult for Harri to decide what to get for Riley and Opal. She finally ended up ordering some Poffins for him, it had to have been a while since he and Lucario had had the treat due to being in Galar. She ended up making a Poké Doll modeled after a Galarian Ponyta for Opal. It took multiple tries to get the shape correct and then days to get the details just right. Harri went to bed content and was woken at an ungodly hour by her Rotom Phone as Allister (whoever said ghost type trainers sleep like the dead can go jump in the Distortion World, Allister had the disturbing ability to wake up whenever he wanted without using an alarm and then make it everyone else’s problem) called to thank her for his gift: an item crafting guide that had prank item recipes hidden in it. Thankfully she was able to grab another hour of sleep as Marnie would sleep in until an acceptable hour or at least wait until then to call her (she hoped her friend would like the cute reversible stuffed toy designed after Morpeko).
“Come on, Harri, up you get. Daylight's a’waisting!” Opal cheerfully called into her room. She grumbled a bit before finally getting up. Harri still found it weird to get gifts (the first time Opal got her an actual birthday present she’d cried for way too long) and was pleasantly surprised by the pile of gifts waiting for her in the sitting room. She was less surprised by the letter from Grimly detailing the latest gifts and cards that had been sent to her. Putting the statement aside to deal with later, Harri carefully unwrapped her gifts and unveiled a veritable haul of books, trainer items, and clothes (notably gloves and scarfs). There were a few surprise packages in the bunch. One was a hand carved flute that looked like a Braviary from Hagrid the groundskeeper and the other was an unmarked parcel. Opening it revealed a shimmering cloak that sang to her aura. Harri wrapped herself in it and looked up in surprise when Opal spat out her tea.
“By the Great Sword and Shield, that is a rare and powerful aura enchanted object. I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen an invisibility cloak.” Harri was shocked to look down and see that where the shimmery fabric was covering her only showed the floor as if she wasn’t there at all.
“There wasn’t a name, I wonder who sent me this.” Opal looked considerate.
“Supposedly, the Potter family had an invisibility cloak passed down over the generations, but they typically don’t last more than a decade so that might just be rumor.”
“Dreepy dre” They both looked over to see Dreepy pull a slip of parchment from under a fold of the cloak.
“It says: ‘Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.’ Does that mean it is the Potter’s cloak?” Harri asked.
“If it is the same then the aura enchantments have been religiously maintained. So long as you take good care of it, it should remain pristine for a long time.” Harri nodded and snuggled deeper into the cloak. She could feel her aura winding tighter and tighter with the cloak and had to fight the urge to fall asleep again. After breakfast, Harri carefully opened the small box Opal presented her with, mouth dropping open as she saw the beautiful necklace. “The beads are made from powdered moon stone.” Opal told her while helping her put it on. “The crafter who made it collects stone shards and then turns them into jewelry.” Harri liked how it seemed to almost hum to her aura, like an echo of Ghost’s energy. She idly ran her fingers over the beads while handing Opal a small bag with the Poké Doll in it. Opal smiled and gave her a gentle hug when she saw what Harri had made for her.
“This is excellently made! Thank you, Harri.” The rest of the day passed in a comfortable haze, but the next day signaled an abrupt return to daily life as the reality of having to actually do something about the overstuffed gift vault reared its head. Multiple meetings with Grimly had a system setup for cataloging who had sent her what over the years and organizing paying for thank you notes to me made and sent out. Opal and Arcturus’s help with the wording (both the apology for delayed response and thanks for their thoughts and gifts) was deeply appreciated and now that she had a system going to take care of the backlog (and future presents) she only needed to figure out what to do with everything she’d been given.
Grimly was once again extremely helpful (more than earning the expensive bottle of wine Opal had picked out and purchased for her to give to him, to his amused appreciation) and recommended setting up a scholarship fund. Trainer schools and prospective trainers could apply for funding and items. She was already extremely wealthy (and her assets were only continuing to improve now that she was able to approve the upkeep, purchase and sale of investments), the mountain of Poké, items, and valuable trinkets would only be left to rot in her vaults. Harri eagerly approved and the Potter Scholarship was set to be ready once the paperwork went through after New Years. She was beyond pleased that there would now be a resource available to help young trainers who needed it. In her early plans Harri had considered working at the Turffield gym to pay for a dorm at their trainer school as well as the supplies all young trainers needed, something like her new scholarship would have been a game changer. To be able to give that kind of aid and relief to others was a magical feeling that kept her warm even as she headed back to the snow covered castle for the resumption of classes.
* * * * * *
As much as Harri moped about being trapped in the cold again, she enjoyed reconnecting with her friends after the break. Their first group study session after getting back was a mix of sharing what everyone got over the holidays and convincing Hermione to put off starting end of year exam prep for after spring break. Thankfully, the much anticipated yearly Pokémon Sled Jump competition was quickly approaching and gave them something besides review to think about. None of her friends were planning on entering, but Harri and Millie had gone to check the ramp out and take a few runs down it for fun. They were at the bottom of the ramp waiting for a pair of bobsleds (the rush of speeding down the big ramp and flying off the jump was amazing) when they were shoved to the side as an older boy pushed past them.
“Move it runts.” He spat. Harri glared, recognizing him as Cormac McLaggen, a second year Gryffindor who’d hissed unkind things at her in the past. He was one of the ones that were angry she was in Slytherin, taking it as a betrayal of some kind.
“There’s no need to be rude. We’re all waiting our turn for a run down the jump.” She reproached.
“Whatever, Girl-Traitor!” McLaggen sneered, “I don’t even know why the two of you are bothering to practice. It’s not like baby Wailmer over here is ever going to win. How far you think the sled is going to go with you on it, eh?” Harri gaped at his swiftly retreating back. She’d heard the Girl-Traitor name before (some of the students seemed to think it was clever, twisting her old ‘title’ of Girl-Savior into an insult), but what he’d said to Millie was far beyond the pale. She quickly turned to her friend, but Millie was already rushing away and Harri had to nearly sprint to keep up.
“Millie! Wait up!” She called, finally catching her friend halfway around the partially frozen lake. “McLaggen doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” She panted, glad they’d stopped so she could catch her breath.
“But he’s right though,” Millie sobbed, “I’ve never been small and skinny; and even if I was going to compete I’d never win!”
“Everything he said was Taurus sh-, uh, dung!” Harri tentatively wrapped her arms around Millie. “Being small and skinny is overrated. I’ve had people tell me I’m too small and skinny, so there’s no way to please everyone. Someone will always complain. Besides! He hasn’t seen how hard you work with Pancham to get stronger. One day he’ll be a big Pangoro and you’ll be his big strong trainer! And even if you didn’t want to bulk up, there’s nothing wrong with the way you look! As long as you’re happy and healthy, to Distortion with what anyone else thinks.” Millie sniffed and wiped at her eyes.
“You really mean that?”
“Of course I do, you’re my friend.”
“Thanks, Harri.” They stood by the shore for a bit longer before starting to head back to the castle.
“You know,” Harri thought out loud, “we should totally enter the sled jump contest now and make McLaggen eat his words. The pompous jerk!”
“Do you think we have a chance of winning?” Millie asked, sounding interested, but hesitant.
“Winning overall would be pretty hard, since everyone in the school can compete and the upper years have loads of experience on us, but we don’t have to win the entire thing. We just have to beat him in the overall rankings. With his attitude, I bet he’s not that great and wanted to scare off some competition.” Millie giggled at her last comment and the two fell into discussions about which pokémon and what moves to use. After hearing what had happened, all their friends eagerly joined in with their strategizing and were happy to help them practice. For an hour or so each evening leading up to the competition Millie worked with her Vullaby to practice her egg move, toxic, before they took a few runs down the jump (Harri and Ghost were practicing a mean look-snarl combination). Hermione had been the one to help them develop their practice routine. She recommended they focus on being able to prep and launch the move as quickly and reliably as possible before they add in having to work out the timing for the jump, and then they could work on making it look cool and landing properly. Mclaggen continued to glower at them if he happened to be at the practice jump at the same time as them, but their larger group seemed to deter him from making trouble.
The sun was shining brightly (if not warmly) when the day of the Pokémon Sled Jump competition finally arrived. The decently sized crowd was mostly filled by those that had come to support their friends; unlike with the Royal Raid, Pokéringer, and Pokémon Baccer matches, most of the other sport club competitions didn’t get huge turn outs. The seventh years would be going first in alphabetical order, then the sixth years, fifth years, and so forth. Points could be earned depending on performance in three categories: move appeal, distance jumped, and landing quality. Rankings would be assigned within each year group and in an overall school ranking (so they could be the best of their year group, but not be in the top ten of the school overall). Their study group drank hot chocolate and watched as everyone made their run down the jump. Hermione was scanning everyone's pokémon with her Rotom Phone so she could learn about them in the pokédex app. They could hear her muttering about which moves were learned naturally or had to be egg moves or taught using a TM, TR, or Move Tutor. Harri didn’t quite understand why she was bothering, but Ron assured her that knowing things like that would help Hermione better be able to predict what kinds of moves an opponent could throw out during a battle (Harri was glad that Ron and Hermione had managed to become amicable after their rocky start).
When it was finally the second years’ turn, Harri and Millie started warming up with stretches alongside Ghost and Vullaby. They paused when McLaggen was announced to watch his run: he’d chosen Tranquill to be his partner for the competition. They sped down the ramp and got a decent amount of air. Before they hit the peak arc of their jump they were illuminated with a blinding light. Harri had to blink rapidly to clear her vision and ended up missing their landing.
“What was that move?” Tracy grumbled. “I could barely see them in that light, I’m surprised they were able to land alright.”
“That was morning sun,” Hermione declared after reading from her Rotom Phone. “It’s a move that recovers health.”
“And he messed up the landing. Being that close to the brightness, even with his eyes closed, had to hurt and he wasn’t able to land smoothly.” Daphne observed. “Look: the judges also took off points from the move appeal category. He went with a flashy move, but it's hard to judge something you can barely see. It’s the same for the appeal round in contests.” The last few second years made their runs and then it was the first years’ turns. Hannah Abbott was first, they all cheered her on, and then it was Millie’s turn. She and Vullaby sped down the jump and then launched into the air. Right as they hit the top of their arc Vullaby did a small hop and spin while using toxic. The poisonous purple liquid ended up spinning all around them in a ring. They wobbled a little on the landing, but overall it was a fantastic jump!
“Nice job!” They all cheered as Millie rejoined them. Her scores looked good, but they would have to wait until the end to see the final rankings. A few other first years went and then it was Harri and Ghost’s turn. They settled on the sled and waited for the signal to go to tip down onto the ramp. Harri whooped at the rush of air, Ghost echoing her excitement, before they were flying into the air.
“Now, Ghost!” She called and her partner sprang into action.
“Umbreon!” He cried before glowing with malevolent energy and releasing a fearsome snarl. The ground was fast approaching and they landed with an abrupt thump, the sled skipping a few times before sliding to a stop. She ran back towards her friends with a whoop of joy as they cheered for and congratulated her.
“Landing could use some work, but the move combo looked fierce!” Tracy grinned. Harri's score wasn’t bad (only a handful of points behind Millie’s) and the group quickly settled to watch the last runs of the event. The final rankings would be posted outside the Great Hall the following morning, so they all filled back inside and headed for their respective common rooms to warm up before dinner. Tired from the day’s excitement, Harri was getting ready for bed slightly earlier than normal when she noticed an odd feeling around Millie. Her friend had been quieter than normal, something Harri had contributed to her also being tired, but now she was concerned.
“Are you alright?” she asked, sitting next to her friend on her bed.
“What if we don’t beat him?” Millie asked, clenching and unclenching her blanket in her fists.
“Did you have fun?” Harri tilted her head as she observed her friend’s sudden confusion.
“What?”
“Did you have fun today?” She repeated.
“Yes,” Millie answered. Harri smiled.
“Then you won.” She beamed at her friend. “McLaggen wanted to chase us off by making us feel bad, but because we still showed up and had fun we’ve already beaten him. Scoring better will just be the cherry on top of the Alcremie!” Millie laughed at that.
“Thanks Harri,” She murmured as she hugged her. The following morning saw them eagerly heading for the entrance to the Great Hall and seeking out the posted final scores. Hannah Abbott and her Buneary had placed first among the first years with Millie and Harri in second and third place respectively. They’d placed somewhere in the middle of the rankings for the overall school, but plain for all to see was McLaggen’s score closer to the lower end. They both grinned seeing that they’d ranked higher than him and joined the rest of their year mates for breakfast.
* * * * * *
The study group (composed of Millie, Hermione, Blaise and Neville today) was meeting in the library to work on taking notes for a Herbology essay when Harri caught sight of Hagrid’s large form as he emerged from the stacks of books and headed out in a hurry. Seeing the groundskeeper reminded her that she hadn’t thanked him yet for the flute he’d sent her.
“Do you guys mind if I head out? I just remembered that I wanted to thank Hagrid for the gift he sent me over break.” She let out a relieved puff of air when they all agreed that they were at a good stopping point for the day. Hermione was going to stay a little while longer to do some personal research and Millie was going to join Pansey and Theo to review for an upcoming language quiz the three had. Neville and Blaise helped her put the rest of their borrowed books away before they headed out.
“Do you want us to walk with you?” Blaise asked.
“Are you sure? If you guys have something else to do I’ll be fine.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask Hagrid about what he’s doing to help his garden grow. The pumpkins from Halloween were absolutely massive.” Neville had an admiring gleam in his eye.
“I don’t mind tagging along. Snakes stick together after all and it would be the height of rudeness to make Ghost keep you two safe all by himself.” Blaise jokes. Harri and Ghost both huff in amusement.
“By all means then, after you oh glorious defender!” They all continued to joke around as they left the castle and made their way across the vast yard (stopping on occasion to keep Trevor from wandering off) to Hagrid’s hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The window shades were closed, but smoke was coming from the chimney so Harri assumed that Hagrid was inside. She knocked twice before backing up as loud barking exploded from the otherside of the door.
“Back, Fang, get back!” Hagrid’s voice called. “‘Ellow?” he asked while cracking the door open, one arm holding an excited Stoutland back by the collar.
“Hi, Hagrid.” Harri smiled a little nervously. “I just wanted to stop by and thank you for the flute. It’s beautifully carved and was a very thoughtful gift.”
“Oh,” Hagrid seemed surprised and then pleased, “well, I’m glad you like it. Why don't you and your friends come in for a spot of tea? It’s still a bit nippy out.” They quickly agreed and filed inside. “Don’t mind Fang here. He may look fierce, but he’s a ruddy coward under all that bluster.” Neville chatted with Hagrid about the different natural fertilizers he used as well as the effectiveness of different grass types assisting with the soil and overall garden health while she petted Fang and Blaise entertained Trevor and his Rowlet, Orion, by feeding them some of Hagrid’s homemade pokémon treats. They all settled once the tea was ready and Hagrid asked about how their classes and clubs were going. As they all spoke Harri couldn’t help but get distracted by a humming sound. She frowned in confusion when the others didn’t seem to be hearing anything and a curious pulse from Ghost’s aura clued her in to what was happening. She wasn’t actually hearing anything, the humming was a feeling her aura was picking up on. Harri leaned around to look at what Ghost had picked up on and blinked as she realized Ghost had found the source of the humming. It was a pokémon egg in a blanket nest by the fire!
“Whose egg is that Hagrid?” she asked curiously. Besides Fang she wasn’t sure what kind of pokémon Hagrid had.
“Oh, tha’? I won it off someone in the pub.” Hagrid admitted. “He said it was a dragon type egg, but he wasn’t sure what kind. I’ve always wanted a dragon type pokémon.” He admitted with a smile. They stayed for a little while longer and promised to visit again to see how the egg was doing when they eventually had to leave.
“People don’t regularly bet pokémon eggs in card games, do they.” Harri stated more than asked on their way back.
“No. Especially not dragon type eggs, not unless there’s something shady going on.” Blaise grimaced
“Hagrid’s a pretty capable guy, and he truly loves pokémon, no matter what the egg hatches into I think he’ll be able to handle it.” Neville declared. He had a point. Hagrid’s pokémon food and treats were a hit with all the pokémon while his rock cakes were more rock than cake and he did an excellent job caring for all the varied types of pokémon living in the Forbidden Forest. He’d probably be fine, but Harri decided to check on him often; just in case. About a week and a half went by with Harri visiting Hagrid, usually with a friend or two tagging along, every other day to have tea and chat about how the egg and the pokémon in the Forbidden Forest were doing. She had just sat down for lunch after taking a little extra time to get cleaned up from Herbology (a perk of having the class right before lunch on Wednesdays) when a Hoothoot flew in and landed in front of her. It had a rolled up piece of paper tied to its leg. Curious about who would use one of the Post Pokémon to send her a message instead of a Rotom Phone, Harri carefully untied the paper and gave the Hoothoot a piece of her sandwich in thanks. It was from Hagrid, clearly written in a hurry, asking her to come down as soon as she could as the egg was ready to hatch!
“The egg is hatching,” she whispered to Millie. “Let’s go!” They each grabbed another sandwich and walked as quickly as they could out of the castle, breaking into runs as they reached the lawn. Hagrid was quick to let them in and they all settled around the rapidly rocking egg. It wasn’t long before it began to glow brightly and the baby pokémon emerged right before their eyes.
“Frigibax,” it yawned, looking around with bright yellow eyes. It had a compact gray body, short limbs (arms, legs and tail), a gray-blue fin on its back, and a yellow tendril dangling from the back of each of its wrists.
“Isn’t he beautiful,” Hagrid gushed as it wobbled over towards the sound of his voice. “Oh, bless him, he knows his mummy.” It plopped down with a sneeze and icy crystals flew out of its mouth and coated Hagrid’s pants (he didn’t seem bothered). Harri took out her Rotom Phone and scanned the pokémon to learn about it.
“Frigibax, the Ice Fin Pokémon. A dragon and ice type, Frigibax lives in forests and craggy areas. They use their dorsal fin to absorb heat to be converted into ice energy.” Harri swallowed. She’d never heard of a Frigibax, let alone a dragon type that was also an ice type. She exchanged a worried glance with Millie, Hagrid too besotted with his new pokémon to notice, before sending a quick message to Ron and hoping he would see it soon.
Ron🪲
Harri: One of your brothers specializes in dragon type pokémon right?
Ron: Yeah, Charlie does.
Harri: Has he ever mentioned a dragon type that was also an ice type?
Ron: Yes, actually. Apparently there’s a line of pokémon from Paldea that are dragon-ice types.
Ron: All the dragon type specialists are going nuts over it because the typing means it’s not weak to ice types.
Harri: …
Harri: How quickly can you come down to Hagrids?
Harri gave a quick thumbs up to Millie, her friend relaxing at the confirmation that Ron would be there soon. Hagrid was all too happy to let him in, excited to be able to show off his new ‘baby’ some more. Ron gave her a grim nod after he looked the Frigibax over.
“Hagrid?” Ron started cautiously. “Did you happen to see the face of the guy who gave you the egg?”
“I didn’t actually,” Hagrid cheerfully admitted. “He was wearing a cloak the entire time, but that’s not too unusual. Plenty o’people in the Hog’s Head like to keep a low profile.”
“Yeees,” Harri said carefully, “but, Hagrid, this guy was probably a poacher or something.” Hagrid sputtered around his mouthful of tea.
“Bu-, wha-, ye’ can’t know that!”
“Actually, we kinda can,” Ron had a sour downturn to his mouth. “Frigibax is a pokémon from Paldea. They’ve only recently started the process of joining the Interregional League Conference. The first step is sharing pokémon data to update the National Dex; that’s why the Pokédex was able to identify it despite there being none native to Galar.”
“Well then, he’s better off with me than some poacher and I-”
“Hagrid,” Millie interrupted. “It’s illegal for Frigibax to be here right now. It won’t matter if you weren’t the one who physically brought him to Galar, you’ll still be charged with owning an unregistered species of pokémon and maybe accessory to poaching. They could revoke your trainer license and confiscate your pokémon!”
“No one would have to know,” Hagrid muttered mulishly, “The Forbidden Forest is big, no one would find him in there.”
“It’s not just about no one knowing about him, it’s about his health.” Harri brought up. At Hagrid’s confused look she continued her train of thought. “There are specific phenomena that occur in certain regions. Alola has Z Moves, we have Dynamaxing, and Paldea has something called Terastallizing. Before pokémon not found in specific regions are allowed there, they have to do research to make sure that the energies from that region aren’t harmful to them. We have no way of knowing yet if Frigibax could be negatively affected if he encounters any energy from a power spot or if his natural energy could damage a power spot’s energy and then hurt other pokémon absorbing the bad energy from that spot.” She felt guilty at Hagrids aghast look, but it was true. Best case scenario, sad as it was, only Frigibax would be negatively affected while the worst case was a possible ecological disaster.
“What should I do then?” Hagrid asked as tears started welling up. “I could get in trouble if I go to the authorities, but if I don’t then terrible things could happen to Frigibax and the other pokémon." Harri exchanged a helpless look with Millie. She didn’t want Hagrid to get in trouble, but they didn’t really have another option. Then Ron cleared his throat.
“I’ll call Charlie to come and get it. After regions exchange pokémon data they make agreements to return recovered poached pokémon to their native regions. He can make sure Frigibax gets to a reserve in Paldea. We’ll tell him that Hagrid found the remnants of a poacher camp in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest and that the egg just hatched before he could call the authorities.”
“But what about the mist guarding the island?” Millie asked.
“Hermione said that she read in Hogwarts: A History, that the mist was a powerful deterrent for intruders during the time when the island’s coordinates weren’t known. The founders were supposedly guided through the mist by their partners and after the school was opened those who already knew where the school was would lead students there. Once things became more modern and the ferry system was implemented the location of the island had to be more widely known. Anyone with pokémon that knows surf and defog could find the island.” Harri explained. After many tears, Hagrid finally agreed with their plan to keep Frigibax in his hut while Ron arranged for Charlie to come and pick him up.