Around Harry's fifth birthday I think, with the snake incident, Vernon didn't just get purple in the face, he had a heart attack and had to be resusicated (-tated? I can't rmember exactly). Anyway, in the wake of that and after some stern talking to's by his doctor, the Dursleys became "health nuts" - in the ways popular during the mid-80s, not anything abnormal you understand - eating the latest fad health food and using the latest fad excercise machines and taking the latest holistic herbal supplements, because it's natural you know - do that freak boy some good to have something natural in him, even if it's just those plants and things. No need to buy those expensive pre-made capsules, sugarplum, just get it in bulk and the boy can divide it up! See, even his freakish underdeveloped fram is filling un a bit with natural things, and just look at how strong and fit our Dudders is with all this healthy food and excercise!
So, yeah, health fad Dursleys. Except that neither Vernon nor Dudley really have the willpower to not eat all the same junk food as snacks that isn't part of their meals, not that Dudley ever tried, and the only one who does more than two sessions on any particular machine (even after they get relegated to the second carport of the garage rather than proudly displayed in the living room, when the next one comes along) is Harry, who gets assigned workouts to "sweat that freakishness out of you!" whenever something odd happens. Well, after finally being let out of the cupboard, that is.
So anyway, eleventh birthday, letters, shack, giant, Diagon... Harry can barely manage a few fitful sparks, even from the pheonix wand. Sorting, classes... he can haedly do magic at all, to the point that there's rumors Voldemort blasted the magic out of him as a baby and now he's nothing but a squib, who shouldn't even be in Hogwarts... the exception is that he's an ace for Potions. Drives Sniv right up tthe wall... the arrogant brat seems to have completely memorized the first year text, and a few extra besides, and regards it as just a continuation of the muggle herbalism he's been doing for years only with a few new ingredients, and blast the little snot it seems to WORK! PERFECTLY! Even the things that need a good strong magical field from the brewer to come out properly... it's enough to make his lips chafe from grinding his teeth!
So, Halloween, troll in the dungeons, bathroom... we've seen that this Harry is in pretty could shape, but now he's on an adrenaline rush, and... why is he glowing? Yes, distracted the troll from Ms. Bossy-britches, now what Harry? HARRY! YOU CAN'T JUST PUNCH--
krak-KRACK THWAMM!! pitterpatterthud-thud...
The first crack is a shockwave as his fist breaks the sound barrier., The second is a hydrostatic shock as his fist breaks half a dozen troll ribs. The "thwam" is the troll, as it breaks through the stone wall and impacts the far wall of the room beyond. The pitter patter is crumbling masonry falling out of the new hole. The first thud is the troll falling over as its body realises it needed those internal organs and stops working, the second is Harry, completely magically exhausted and nigh to death if he hadn't been promptly seen to.
Dumbledore explains, now, his suspiscions that something like this might be the case - an Adeptus hasn't been seen in centuries, but there it is, he's a mage who's powers have concentrated in his body rather than being amenable to most external use - indeed, one fo the noteable qualities of Adeptus wizards as recorded is an unusual degree of spell resistance, so perhaps it was inevitable that the only person to survive the killing curse would be one. (Normal wizards and witches are Magus type)
Looking forward - Basilisk? No problem. Dementors? Um... yeah. a potion or two to mitigate the psychological effects, but unless one of his freinds steps up to the Patronus plate there's going to be Scooby Doo meets Call of Ctulhu level running away. Dragon? Well, there won't be any spectacular charm and hence no broom, but Harry's plenty quick on his own, and dragonfire is magic, after all. Underwater adventures were beaten by herbology/potions in canon, no persperation there. Maze foll of critters, pfft, controlled Krum gets a sock to the jaw while chanting and waving his lil' stick, then... Voldie.
Here's the sticking point, because this Harry's first impulse is NEVER going to be to go for his wand in a fight, and even if he did he can barely manage utility chanrms so out-powering even a newly reborn Voldy is not an option, if thebrother wands effect happened at all... and reborn Voldie even after Peter's reports on the boy is probably not really beleiving the kind of physical fight he can put up, nor strong enough to resist himself much...
Would seeing their terrifying boss get schooled by a bare-chinned boy be enough to shock his minions into immobility? Would not at least Snape, expecting nothing but trouble from a Potter, be able to get off a curse that would break through the brat's resistance? (Don't even bother trying to tell me he's really a good guy, at the best he's looking out for himself first and siding with whoever will give him the most - and being shut of Potters is surely a fine incentive to him.)
From there of course things would be hopelessly changed from canon, not least in Harry being able to to tell Draco, when threatened with dire retribution upon the Dark Lord's inevitable victory, that "Voldemort's a ruddy wimp! My muggle cousin could put him out like a candle!" - because of course, even though he realises how much stronger he's gotten channeling magic through himself he doesn't really understand it emotionally, and Dudley's always been able to knock Harry around if he can catch him.
Ano... and Umbridge falls through a phantom step at the top of the Great Hall stairs and falls into a coma on her second day in Hogwarts, hurrying after becoming late for her own class berating him for running in the halls, or something, so some other slightly more competent person has to fill in for DADA - one of the aurors who's solidly a Fudge man, perhaps, or Weatherby, and even though his magic resistance helps some Harry still sucks hard at Occlumency so he's stil got the vision thing...
All my crystal ball shows is song lyrics now. Specifically, Vision Thing by Sisters of Mercy, which really isn't pertinent at this time. So, I guess I'll have to stop rambling on.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
I like. Harry as a Shadowrun-style physical adept is a very, very cool idea.
You should give him the ability to asense, too.
Please, please do more with this.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...
Three words (which form a possible title, if you don't mind a blatant ripoff) came to mind upon reading this:
"Rune Soldier Harry"
(Although this doesn't seem to be as comedic as Rune Soldier Louie was...)
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
"The Squib-Who-Lived"
Because, face it, that's what a physical adept Harry would be to the ignorant, prejudiced wizarding community.
So, Harry's a health nut... his discipline would be boxing or Greco-Roman wrestling, right? Everything else is too "not normal" for the Dursleys.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
(shrugs) I've never played Shadowrun, nor heard of Rune Soldier Louie beyond the title. I hadn't even heard of a similar concept aside from ki-powered martial artists at the time I came up with it, and this Harry doesn't actually have any traininng as such, at least up to the beginning of his school years, and Bumblemore never did seem that interested in providing him with any martial skills canonically. At the most basic level it's k9ind of the opposite of that comcept anyway - Ki users bring out their inner energy and make it act upon the world, an adeptus brings the ambient energy of the world in to bosst his own and channel it through himself.
Of course, there's another noteable person in the field of potions in the Potterverse, one who has elevated his knowledge to the level it can be called "alchemy," and who just happens to fit that description of the last known adeptus being recorded centuries ago - Harry inheriting things from more or less unexpected sources is too often a cheap plot device to load him up with loot, but surely it's not strange for one member of a very rare type of wizard to arrange for a newcomer to get training that will be useful to him? Nicholas Flamel hardly ever gets to do anything but die offscreen when his Elixer of Life runs out, except in that one humor fic where the name is like Dread Pirate Roberts. No one ever saves poor Quirrel, either, who's supposed to have been a nice young fellow before his disasterous field expedition.
That's getting away from the point, thoguh - Bob, what's this assensing, specifically? Presumably a Shadowrun Adept ability.
As for doing more with it... I really have a deep and abiding dislike of the Potter setting, for all that I can't seem to stay away from the edges of it - like Eva it has so much POTENTIAL, and yet sucks so much... and the only other note that's not already laid down here is that while Voldylocks has done various things to enhance his physcal body as well as his magic, to match or eceed a trained Harry who's developed his reserves to be able to hold a combat boost for useful amounts of time he'd have to sacrifice casting ability, and he's already gone too far down the "artillery" path to backtrack easily - or want to. Of course, the experience gap is very, very wide, and he's not going to be weak from recovering a physical existance for more than a few months, certainly not by their next encounter.
Humor... well, humor's part of the flesh of the story, this is just the bones.
- CD
ETA: Yup, exactly, Foxboy - even the most sympathetic teachers were saying similar things before that Halloween - well, not Hagrid, bless his heart - but in general, and during the bad press segments? Absolutely. Being able to cast just a few of the weakest sort of spells won't cut it when the social structure is laid out around visible magical power, and a 3rd year physically besting the bogeyman is even less believable than a duel.
As for physcical training, like I said he hasn't had anything formal, because spending Vernon's hard-earned pounds on lessons for the freak? Shya, right. Physical lessons are mostly what I had in mind that FLamel might provide for, in one discipline or another - I don't think a grappling style like wrestling would really be Harry's thing though - he's still not big in any sense. Boxing... I dunno, I'm not trying to go for "cool" in any way, but it was boring to watch more than a couple of rounds the few times I tried, and I can't imagine it being any more interesting in prose form.
One of the less commonly (ab)used eastern forms or an orignal one devised by Flamel himself after studying various styles from various places would probably be more engaging. It would probably be better to avoid going into extreme detail about it anyway beyond bits of a few training sessions, just to establish their existence, and moves directly used.
Oh, and the reason he has so much trouble with magic - he has to overcome his own spell resistance first, while the less structured emissions needed for potions (why else would they use their bloody wands as stirrer sticks, at least part of the time?) slip by it, being far more subtle - and fortunately, keys the potion to him so it doesn't trip the resistance either. Poor Poppy Pomfrey has a dreadful time trying to get a proper diagnostic reading from the boy, and if he wasn't such a prodigy able to help her brew the hospital wing stocks treating him even after she did would be simply a nightmare. (Oh yeah, like Snape is going to encourage harry's ability in his field, or let him use the lab to brew extracurricular things... grudging As for O+ work is all the brat can expect, and that's if there's not even the slightest mistake.)
ETA2: I'd forgotten - Snape came late to the graveyard, didn't he? So that's not a problem after all, perhaps - his reasoning wouldn't have changed in this instance. As for martial arts... a "hard" style would suit someone who's essentially guaranteed to be either faster or stronger (and probably both) than ANYONE he meets, I would think. If it weren't too recent for Flamel to have really noticed, I'd say the Shotokan-based karate I can't remember the name of that was developed in Hawaii, renowned for being one of the hardest of "hard" styles. Or... wasn't there some European style that developed around bare hands and weapons analogous to tonfas? Maybe near or middle eastern...SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Quote:
Bob, what's this assensing, specifically? Presumably a Shadowrun Adept ability.
Well, generally a Shadowrun magician ability. It's the ability to view things on the astral plane -- in Srun terms, basically he can see magical constructs, flows of energy and the like. Physical structures from the physical world are reproduced on the astral, so a magician can't see to the horizon in all directions, but it still comes in handy -- magical creatures have strong astral presences, enchantments and active spells (like wards of all sorts) have visible representations that he might be able to study to see how they work (or can be defeated), stuff like that. He can't actually project himself astrally -- he just "pops up" enough to take a look around. More properly called "Astral Perception". (Full magicians -- hermetic mages and shamans -- can project. Adepts are kind of stuck in their bodies.)
If you want a little more information on physical adepts, I found
this page through Google. It's a little game-heavy, but it might give you some ideas.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...
So basically mage sight, or some variation on Naruto dojutsu. I can buy that, I guess. It's interesting, at least - thgouh care must as always be taken to not make it too powerful just because it's kinda cool.
At probably the same time as you were searching aout that, I was looking up martial arts... European styles are all pretty much wrestling or blades, which don't really grab me - maybe Escrima (because it also incorporates swords, and effective basics can be taught quickly) supplemented by Capoeira for footwork and lower body conditioning? Flamel, born in the 1200s, would have been around long enough that Moors would have been respected as physicians (and hence herbalists/apothecaries, playing to his specialties) and so wouldn't necesarily hold the prejudice of later eras against blacks. As an adeptus, he has reason to be interested in physical arts regardless of their origin anyway.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Ooh, this is interesting. Some things to chew on:
As an adept(us), Harry's countermagic would prevent him from using his wand effectively...but he can still do potions. What about other forms of inherent magic? Can he still use a broom? Apparate? What happens when he touches a portkey, or uses floo-powder? Not that these questions need to be answered now (except perhaps the broom, that's important if he's going to continue as Gryf's Keeper).
Astral Perception/Asensing/Mage sight - I think that this could be done well if it's kept at, or below, the level of ability that Dumbledore shows at this. Basically, he becomes good at spotting things that have been touched by magic, and perhaps in figuring out what they do, eventually (it takes time to learn that trick, and time to use it as well). For the most part, if he could do it at all, it would just be that enchanted or magically active objects 'stand out' more, or in some other way become more prominent and detailed. It's a better way of visualizing (and breaks canon less) than having him peer into another world.
Mind Magic - To keep with the 'Harry annoys snape by being a prodigy in weird subjects' trend going, and because it is fitting to someone with inherent countermagic, Harry should be a natural prodigy at Occlumens. This effectively eliminates the 'Voldemort's plotting make's Harry's scar hurt' plot device, but it makes sense and could be used in interesting ways in the story. On the other hand, Legilimens is pretty obviously something that requires the use of a wand...
Aside from that, you're going to need an excuse for why Harry manages to pass his 'casting' based classes, such as Charms and Transfiguration - or he needs to drop these.
Martial arts - Nicholas Flamel was a famous french alchemist. The only European martial art worth a hill of beans is the french Savate. I think it's a match made in heaven.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savate
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Flamel
"Not
this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no
possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" -
Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
The "hardest of the hard" martial art from Hawaii might be
Kajukenbo, noted for joint breaking techniques, low blows, and an emphasis on winning a real fight rather than fighting fairly.
How anyone Harry comes into contact with might introduce him to this is a bit of a problem.
----------
No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.
I rather figured he could manage, with effort, to keep up throguh second year at least, and then third year there were no finals, fourth year he was mostly excused due to the Tournement, fifth year... he fails it. Hard. Herbology, CoMC, Divination, and of course Potions are the only OWLs he could possibly pass the practicals of, the no-practcals subjects like Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies are the rest of the options, really. Any competent advisor (as anyone except Snape would be) would be able to tell him something like this when he was trying to choose his electives - though they might not see it quite so strongly when he has been managing to get by, merely that any of the csating classes would become even more of a struggle, and that he should be sure to take electives that will give him useful skills withyout needing a great casting ability. Most of the time, people as weak in spell work as he is never even get accepted, and either end up apprenticing in some low-magic-requirement capacity or (if they can get their heads aroud it) living mostly in the nigg- "muggle" world.
Brooms, sure, Apparition, either works or doesn't, if he goes anywhere he's no more likely to splinch than anyone else, but it takes him a whole lot of extra power, Floo I always figured made a space-fold-like-gate so no problem there, likewise portkeys with their wormhole effect, a temporary enchantment that affects the space the user occupies, not the user directly. I think he'd probably stay Seeker, improved eyesight has to be good for something after all - look at eagle-eyes Hooch herself.
The mage sight/assensing thing - after reading the page Bob provided, I think it would probably end up like the Byakugan, but only with lots of training to get to that level - starting out, he'd be able to see very well at a distance (no glasses for him!) percieve the ambient magic of the world well enoguh to function as nightsight and a partial invisibility-counter (that would take work - he'd notice the edges of things not fitting in, like a Predator cloak, but not any detail) and se things as if in peripheral vision (just enoguh to make you jump) 360 degrees - and of course spells would be much more intricatly detailed weaves and forms rather than the bright blobs of a normal wizard's magesight. Probably a great aid in arithmancy and ancient runes that, the two together being the most probable backbone of warding and enchantments.
For sixth year, he'd probably be training hard with the tutors and materials Flamel provided, or Flamel himself if he decided that he'd put off the next great adventure in favor of teaching a successor and that since he'd managed to keep his Philosopher's Stone safe for over 600 years including Voldie's first reign of terror before Bumblemore talked him into turning it over, he can manage a few more, return or no.
At some point, then or before, Harry could learn to disrupt spells since he can see them so clearly, giving him a better chance against a caster too far away to hit, possibly from Lupin instead of the atronus, if irregularly at first - the man's supposed to be really smart, and he has to have kept his mind occuied with something all those ears doing "squib's work." Later, figuring out a way to bat away spells like an arrow defense technique might be a possibility, though not something to try on anyting a good shield spell couldn't handle. Basically, his magic resistance keeps up with his magical growth, so the simpole stuff any skilled second or lackluster thrid year could do is about all he'll ever manage for direct casting, but his ability to instill effects in potions, runes, etc. - the more subtle magics - will continue to grow in step with will and raw power.
Occlumency... Snape likes to just crash in, which would get bogged up in his magic resistance like a car in a mudhole, but a more subtle approach like Dumbles or invading throguh dreams will slide through with only moderate difficulty. This will again piss off Sniv, and make the sessions less physically exhausting, but he still gets the joy of repeated mental violation, having his worst memories raked up, and a headache that takes an hour to get really raging instead of minutes.
Savate, Hmm?
(side note: "wikipedo" does not bring up any useful web site. Not to someone who doesn't speak... Spanish? Brazillian? Portugese? Something like that...)
Quote:
It is conjectured that the kicks were done in a way that allowed the kicker to use a free hand for
a wand...
That sounds like a possible win, though the 1800s is kind of recent for Nick - maybe he was involved in developing it, and later adding the stickfighting elements, being knowledgable in Escrima from travels in the East? (since that's actually old enough to have been around when he was a restless young fellow, eager to travel the world in search of new tests for his amazing speed and strength) These foreign techniques are all well and good, of course, but surely the men of la Belle France can come up with something that's distinctly their own!
- CD
yes, I find I rather like Escrima as described, also Wing Chun and CapoieraSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's
IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
"I rather figured he could manage, with effort, to keep up throguh second year at least, and then third year there were no finals, fourth year he was mostly excused due to the Tournement, fifth year... he fails it."
An excellent point.
"Herbology, CoMC, Divination, and of course Potions are the only OWLs he could possibly pass the practicals of, the no-practcals subjects like Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies are the rest of the options, really."
It's unfortunate that he couldn't squeak by in DADA, but it requires far too many charms. I don't think he'd care much for 'muggle studies', but it would be interesting to see Harry hanging out with Hermy in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.
"Most of the time, people as weak in spell work as he is never even get accepted, and either end up apprenticing in some low-magic-requirement capacity or (if they can get their heads aroud it) living mostly in the nigg- "muggle" world."
This brings up an interesting point. How many 'squibs' are actually adeptus? That could be a very interesting exploration. Also, are all adeptus created equal? Perhaps some are better at, for example, sneaking and tracking...like, say, Filch?
"it would probably end up like the Byakugan, but only with lots of training to get to that level"
Hmm...I was thinking less of the mundane senses boost, but it might work. Still, Harry without his glasses...just doesn't seem quite right.
"At some point, then or before, Harry could learn to disrupt spells since he can see them so clearly, giving him a better chance against a caster too far away to hit"
I would think you could just have him learn to 'focus' his natural antimagic.
"Occlumency... Snape likes to just crash in, which would get bogged up in his magic resistance like a car in a mudhole, but a more subtle approach like Dumbles or invading throguh dreams will slide through with only moderate difficulty. This will again piss off Sniv, and make the sessions less physically exhausting, but he still gets the joy of repeated mental violation, having his worst memories raked up, and a headache that takes an hour to get really raging instead of minutes."
Snape can be very subtle when he wants to be. Perhaps his first few attempts might just bounce off...but I doubt he'd even try it the forceful way if he had any idea about Harry's spell resistance. More likely, he'd find a way past that, or use a potion that negated anti-magic (ooh...that could lead to very interesting plot later on, too). I was thinking that, instead of flubbing the Occlumency lessons, Snape does his best to just mind-bash Harry, and Harry picks up the trick to it almost immediately - becoming as good or better at Oclumens than Snape himself. Not a terribly overpowered ability considdering everything else he can do...just another way to piss of Snape.
"a wand..."
Oh, that's great! Especially with the Savate stance that has the reserve hand over your head and pointed at your opponent (similar to the fencing stance).
Some other ideas:
Underage magic - Would Harry's adeptus abilities set off the ministry's underage magic sensors while he's home with the Dursleys?
Sparring matches with Hagrid
More interaction with the Beauxbaton students in GoF - he's got a French 'tutor', perhaps he's learned some French?
Less afraid of Hagrid's brother - He can take an Ogre barehanded...perhaps he'd be more willing to spend time with Hagrid's idiot-giant brother?
"Not
this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no
possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" -
Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
Another style that Harry might pick up is Krav Maga, the fighting style developed for the Israeli military.
Brutal and direct, the basic forms can supposedly be picked up in two weeks, with the rest of the training teaching you how to do it under suboptimal conditions, like strobelights, blaring sirens, heavy gunfire, etc.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Quote:
This brings up an interesting point. How many 'squibs' are actually adeptus? That could be a very interesting exploration. Also, are all adeptus created equal? Perhaps some are better at, for example, sneaking and tracking...like, say, Filch?
No, it really is that rare - squibness results from having the ability to channel magic but no "power supply." What makes an adeptus is really unknown, since there's a general lack of study subjects. Certainly, as far as Poppy can get her diagnostics to report, Harry has a normal magical core, its just that the power flows in and around his body are much stronger. Since there's no physical basis for the flows in the first place, the reason for that is a mystery.
Occlumency - I never said Snape couldn't or wouldn't adapt, only that his preferred "Clear your mind, Potter - I wouldn't think you'd find it hard. Legilimens!" technique for mental torture in the feeble disguise of training wouldn't be effective.
Quote:
Underage magic - Would Harry's adeptus abilities set off the ministry's underage magic sensors while he's home with the Dursleys?
Sparring matches with Hagrid
More interaction with the Beauxbaton students in GoF - he's got a French 'tutor', perhaps he's learned some French?
Less afraid of Hagrid's brother - He can take an Ogre barehanded...perhaps he'd be more willing to spend time with Hagrid's idiot-giant brother?
It's fairly well established that only wand magic sets off the Underage Magic detectors - Bumblemore's array of instruments is a different question, but liekly the old coot would just think such active "accidental magic" was a good sign, meaning the boy would be a very powerful wizard once it was under control, and then after Harry actually arrived in Hogwarts he'd understand what he was really seeing.
Hagrid... I'd expect him to be more a grappler/bull-dogging style fighter, given his physical size and the fact that he's an animal handler by preference. He'd probably be more useful in teaching Harry how to subdue people he doesn't want to (or simply must not, like fellow students) really injure, and for physical conditioning. He'd probably get tapped for the job between first year Halloween and whenever Flamel or whoever Flamel arranged for as a tutor showed up.
(A simply delightful image popped into my head just now - Harry confronted by Malfoy & goons in some empty corridor, slapping a couple of firstie-level jinxes aside as he closes and tossing them all into each other, then wondering quite what to do as he has a knee on Malfoy's back and both arms engaged holding a goon in an arm lock on either side, at least until someone else - the Twins, say, having heard mischief afoot - happened along)
Further social interactions - possibly, possibly. The Bauxbatons students had occured to me, Grawp had not, but either could work. Grawp might be able to offer valuable insight on the better sort of trees to uproot as clubs
![[Image: wink.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif)
"Not use oak. Oak big strong, good club, bad pull. Pine easy pull, bad club - it soft and too sticky hands. Maple, ash pretty good!"
- CD
ETA: Krav Maga - too new - these are wizards, after all, if it's less than a hundred years old it's certainly not important enoguh to bother with.SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's
IST: Holy Sea World
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows