Many thanks for this latest chapter; I enjoyed reading Harry's discussions with Mackenzie and Arthur. Both of them would be excellent teachers as well. It would give his students a better sense of what it's like to face someone experienced in combat. Even though Harry's senior advisers like Arthur, Mackenzie and McGonagall won't be on the front lines I have the feeling that at some point the battle will come to them and their situational awareness might make the difference between survival or death. The same is true for Graswold. I wonder if Voldy is savvy enough to avoid underestimating them on a long term basis. Dumbles certainly is doing so! He never considers that he could be wrong; and whether he was like that from the beginning or it developed over the years it will lead to his fall. To a lesser degree the same is true of Vernon. Harry's revenge against the Dursleys' will be most unpleasant, and every bit it well deserved! I also thought that Harry's procedure for choosing jedi was well done. Thanks for figuring out a way to save Fawkes! He and Luna will make a marvelous pair, and here's hoping that at some point you rub Dumbles' nose in it! As always, I anticipate the next chapter! :)
Author's response
Although some people tell me I'm being too wordy, (especially FireLemming, who's on a poetry kick), I feel it's important to go into the whys and wherefores of the situational as I go. I detest using Deus ex Machina, to explain things.
When I began this, I had already decided to have Mackenzie help in the training, due to his familiarity with bladework. As a 'mere muggle', he's going to have a great many lessons to teach. More, as he's going to be their primary PT instructor, ably assisted by Tonks and Remus, of course, some of the student's are going to be unpleasantly surprised.
He won't be in the actual fight, because of his inexperience with magic, but as a trainer, especially in the first couple of styles, and overall physical fitness, he will be more than an asset to Harry.
Arthur and Minerva are more useful where they are. Their primary job is to keep Albie in the dark. Arthur is going to draw some flak when Harry springs his little surprise in September, but as he won't be alone, I think he'll get off pretty lightly.
Your point is well taken though, so I might have Arthur there in a cameo. Though I didn't have him demonstrate, he is also able to touch the force. His experience with the blade could come in handy when teaching Makashi.
All three can teach situational awareness, but one has to experience it firsthand to fully understand it. (Please trust me on this.)
Voldemort: Voldy won't underestimate Graswold again, but he will still try to 'influence him', and every time he does, he'll lose gold or troops.
Dumbledore has been been seen as the greatest wizard in the world for so long, he's begun to believe his press. At this point, he cannot conceive of his being anything but perfect. Unfortunately like most Purebloods, he sees the goblins, as semi-intelligent animals with a knack for handling gold. That will hurt him in the end. Graswold meant what he said, when he said it would take over sixteen years to audit Albie's accounts. BWAHAHAHAHA!
The Dursley's: Can you say 'Community service'? I knew you could! Can you imagine, beyond the investigations, and public and social scandals that they'll be unable to escape, to be informed that a plea bargain had been arranged...by Harry, for them to serve the very people they had so long held in contempt, rather than go to jail?
This way, he has complete control over where they live, what Vernon does for a living, where they spend their off time and where Dudley goes to school. He's not going to be overtly cruel, but he is going let the neighbors know exactly what the 'fine, upstanding' Dursleys have done to an orphan they were supposed to nurture.
They will be his prisoners. If they learn the lesson, he will release them If not, then for the rest of their lives, they will have no freedom to do anything without his say so.
I'm thinking soup kitchens, hospital wards, and street cleaning.
Fawkes: It was your comment in Chapter 10 that decided it. While I couldn't use the Yoda scene,(and God, did I want to!) I was able to work out an alternate. I'm going to have him form an emotional bond with Luna based on her unconditional love and nurturing. This will keep him alive until I'm ready to shit things. Harry will ask him to keep an eye on Dumbley, (and prank him from time to time) while his bond to Luna is solidifying. His next burning day, at the end, is when the bond will be switched, and it will be in front of Dumbley. That'll hurt!
Note:: Rowling (and most FF authors) uses the burning days far too often to suit me. Fawkes is a phoenix, and everything I have read on Phoenixes/Thunderbirds, is that they live for one hundred years before immolating themselves and being reborn from the ashes. In canon, Fawkes has burned three times within four years, though one time was Voldy's fault and the last seemed to be voluntarily, so I guess that could explain it. Unless iI'm using it as a way to keep Albus from doing something, I won't give him a burning day.
Until next time...
Alorkin