The Lion Cub (HP SI)

While Dumbledore had given him what the man assumed was a vital mission, Harry gave it no consideration. He continued attending classes as usual, doing the usual schoolwork and the prefect duties assigned to him.

In fact, he never even broached the subject with Slughorn. For now, he was content to leave Slughorn alone. Instead, he focused on other important matters like quidditch practice and assignments.

The snow covering the castle melted away as February arrived with rain to start things off. The cold blizzards were now replaced with cold, dreary rain in the mornings and wetness throughout the rest of the day, with the ground turning muddy. Harry felt the raindrops slam into him like bullets as he soared through the sky, chasing after the Snitch.

"Oh, come on, you little bugger. Why are you making this difficult?" Harry muttered as the Snitch went straight into a cloud, making him hang back while the Hufflepuff seeker chased the Snitch into the cloud.

He hung back, drenched from head to toe for a few minutes until, finally, the Snitch slipped out of the cloud, shooting straight towards the ground.

Harry didn't let up on the chase and followed after the Snitch while Simon Summerby was nowhere to be seen. It'd seem the Hufflepuff seeker got lost in the cloud.

"It's too bad Summerbelly got lost in the clouds. I wonder whether he'll stay there and enjoy the hospitality of Cloud Gnomes for the remainder of the match." Luna's dreamy voice boomed in his ears.

"It's Summerby!" McGonagall shouted exasperatedly.

Harry bit his lips as he struggled not to laugh while McGonagall scolded Luna to keep track of the score, but Luna was more interested in the comical looks Zacharias Smith was making, which she claimed mimicked a hamster.

"Oh, look! Smith dropped the Quaffle. I'm told he has small, slippery hands."

"Oh my." Harry muttered as Luna trolled Smith in a soothing, dreamy voice.

"Ginny Weasley has taken the Quaffle, and Smith looks livid as his small hands fail him at a crucial moment. It seems he is still suffering from loser's lurgy."

"Lovegood!" McGonagall hissed.

"Ginny passes to Katie, the Gryffindor captain." Luna said breezily, "Both quite likeable, unlike Smith, who looks quite red. Oh my, the poor Hufflepuff chaser must've seen a Blubbering Humdinger! Very unlucky for Hufflepuff's prospects in the game. For those who are not well-read, a Blubbering Humdinger is…"

Harry really had to struggle not to laugh out loud and fall off his broom. He heard Luna's spectacular commentary, and she explained in detail the effect of her imaginary creature on luck and whatnot. Even the stands were roaring with laughter.

The Snitch zig-zagged its way into the pitch between players, making Harry take sharp turns and swift dives to traverse the playing field. He ducked his head just as a Bludger whistled past his head. His eyes darted around until he found the Hufflepuff beaters setting up a trap for him by concentrating the Bludger on him.

Harry found Ritchie Coote moving in to intercept the Bludger, which made him stay on the chase after the Snitch instead of pulling out.

That decision turned out to be the right call because the next Bludger that came at him was beaten back by Ritchie, who intercepted quickly.

'The Nimbus 2000s have really enhanced team performance.' Harry thought.

As the Snitch decided to take refuge among the stands, Harry chased after it without any hesitation.

"Oh, look! Harry Potter is coming this way. I wonder whether he is coming to check on his girlfriend, who is a victim of unfortunate attention of the Wracksprut community." Luna said breezily, her voice echoing throughout the stadium, eliciting more laughter. 

This time, he couldn't help but laugh even as he chased after the Snitch right above the screaming heads of Hogwarts students. The Snitch, however, took a sharp turn and seared straight into a Gryffindor flag hoisted on a tower of the stadium. This made Harry struggle as he manoeuvred around the fluttering flag. He rocketed past the flag in the nick of time, but the Hufflepuff Seeker catching up with him was not soi lucky. Summerby got tangled in the flag and fell off his broom.

The Snitch tried to sneak into the pitch and disappear among the players, but Harry caught up with it and caught the Snitch in his grasp. The stands erupted in cheers as the Snitch remained firmly in his hands despite its attempts to escape. It beat its wings a few more times before falling silent.

When he looked at the scoreboard, he saw that it was 40-210 in Gryffindor's favour. The feeling of victory was enough to chase away the pinpricking he was experiencing across his face, thanks to the rain.

"Wooooo!" Harry punched his fist in the air as the Quidditch Cup was almost within their grasp.

The only remaining opponent was the Ravenclaw team, which was slotted to be the last match. The next game, however, was between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. It was not much of a deciding game, as Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were far ahead of points. So, unless there was one side drubbing in the coming match, it was likely that Hufflepuff would come third and Slytherin would come fourth. There was only a 30-point difference between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw for the Quidditch Cup, which made the final match all the more interesting. Their team was in good form, and they were 30 points ahead. Harry had a good feeling the cup was theirs this season.

'Hopefully, this bloody weather will change by that time.' Harry thought as he joined the team hug and the celebratory march into the Gryffindor common room for the party.

*****

"So, all we have to do is think of the place we need to travel to and whether we will get into the place." Susan asked, wringing her hands anxiously.

"There is magic involved." Harry added, seeing the stupefied look on Neville's face.

On the other hand, Daphne was unbothered by the whole conversation while Tracey was hanging on to his every word. Hermione also looked the least interested as she was scribbling away in a notebook. Still, she occasionally looked up when he shared his experience of apparition.

"I'd be careful in taking his word without a pinch of salt. He has developed a mean pranking streak these days." Daphne cautioned everyone.

"Please don't mind her. She's upset she got insulted during the match." said Harry.

Tracey giggled, earning a glare from Daphne, but her best friend was hardly intimidated. 

"There is nothing to worry about. It's an easy skill to learn. There is no complex wand-waving involved like other disciplines of magic. It just requires your will, concentration and imagination."

"It's easy for you to say. Whenever I think of apparition, I fear leaving parts of my body behind." Susan said with a shiver.

"It's nearly ten. We should go," said Hermione, standing up and dusting away soil from her skirt.

When Harry arrived at the Great Hall with his friends, the hall was already filled on Saturday morning, and all the house tables were absent. All sixth-year students were filled into the hall, and he could see a ministry employee having a silent conversation with Professor McGonagall. Just as they settled against a corner of the hall, he noticed the high windows of the hall darken slightly, and rain clouds covered the sky. Pretty soon, rain started pouring down in earnest.

"Good morning to you all." said the Ministry man after McGonagall closed the door and raised a silencing ward, which warded off the sound of rain and wind from outside. 

"My name is Wilkie Twycross, and I shall be your Apparition instructor for the next couple of weeks. I hope to impart the skill of Apparition and prepare you for the test after twelve weeks. I hope everyone here knows how useful instantaneous teleportation is, especially now. Apparition helps you escape dangerous situations or even quickly bring help."

"He wants us to run away." Neville muttered with a scoff, "Why am I not surprised."

"I hope by the time my classes end, each of you will be capable of securing your Apparition licence." Twycross continued.

As McGonagall and Flitwick went around the hall arranging the students into orderly lines with even spaces between each student, Twycross continued to explain what they were about to do in the session.

"As you already know, Hogwarts doesn't allow anyone to apparate or disapparate within the castle grounds. But Headmaster Dumbledore has graciously lifted the wards within the Great Hall for one hour so that you may practise."

The students scrambled to arrange themselves while Twycross placed a hoop in between the negative space between students.

"Your task is quite simple. All you have to do is apparate into the hoop before you. Apparition does not require a spell. All that is needed is for you to remember the three Ds!" said Twycross, "Destination, Determination, Deliberation!"

"Psst, Harry." A whispered call came for him from his left side.

Harry found Ernie Macmillan looking at him.

"I heard you know how to apparate. Any tips?" Ernie asked in a whisper.

"It's all about belief. You have to believe you can teleport. Then comes will and imagination." Harry whispered back.

"Potter!" Snape marched towards him with a sneer plastered on his pale face. "Do you think yourself above these lessons?"

Harry didn't respond and merely stared ahead, his eyes pinned on Twycross while ignoring Snape and his yapping.

"– turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation! On my command now… one, two, three!" Twycross shouted towards the end.

Harry saw almost everyone looking like they stopped breathing and looking intently at the hoops before them. Ron looked like he was about to faint by holding his breath while glaring at the hoop. Seamus spun on his feet and fell comically on the floor while trying to apparate. Lavender looked happy she succeeded, but he could hear Hermione say she just jumped into the hoop.

"What is it, Potter? Are you scared to apparate?" Snape asked nastily.

Harry rolled his eyes and apparated into the hoop without much effort with his hands in his pocket. The air snapped, and the telltale popping sound was heard as Harry gracefully landed inside the hoop.

"I think I'm doing fine." Harry said to Snape before he repeatedly apparated between the hoop and his original position to rile up Snape.

"Shall I go again?" Harry asked with a raised brow.

Snape curled his lips with an angry sneer on his face and walked away with his black robes billowing behind his back. 

'That was surely therapeutic.' Harry thought as he watched Snape run away while Twycross rushed to Harry's side.

"That's fantastic! You might just be a natural Mr Potter." Twycross looked positively glowing as he heaped praises on Harry for what everyday wizards do.

Thankfully, when he pulled the stunt of apparating around the hall repeatedly and scaring the shit out of students from all four houses, he was excused from the lessons on account of his superior mastery over teleportation magic. That stunt lost Gryffindor ten points because McGonagall was not amused, but he was excused from future apparition classes. He was promised the licence to arrive by Monday morning and that was how he earned himself a free hour daily for the next twelve weeks. 

***Branch Reality***

Christianity in the Scottish Empire by Mariyam Evenglass, Published by Glasgow Books 2002

The Kingdom of Scotland was formed as a direct consequence of persistent witch burnings and the persecution of pagan cultures that thrived in the Scottish Isles. The Roman invasion of Britannia and years of the Roman Empire's attempts to forcibly convert and destroy the predominant Celtic and Gaelic cultures in the Isles resulted in the consolidation of wizards and witches who were scattered throughout the land.

So, when Hadrian Targaryen started his conquest, the most obvious target was the prevalent Roman hold on religion, which was sustained even after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire. In King Hadrian's mind, the Romans may have left the land, but they were colonising the minds of his fellow brothers and sisters.

Therefore, his initial campaigns were specifically targeted at the churches. Once a church fell into his grasp, he'd use it as a learning centre to 'deromanise' the populace. Consequently, this policy adopted by Hadrian I led to the rise of Celtic and Valyrian religions in the Scottish Empire.

But Christianity was not completely wiped out. Pockets of Christian faith remained within the empire, primarily thanks to the reign of Visenya I, the granddaughter of Alexander I.

Queen Visenya's reign was most interesting as she, like her grandmother, was no proponent of the Valyrian faith or the Celtic religious practices. Queen Visenya viewed the flowering of polytheistic religions in the Scottish Islands as a stagnant outlook on the realm of all things spiritual. She was of the belief there was an inherent weakness and tribal mentality that comes with too much emphasis on polytheism or even adopting a pantheon of gods.

It was even more troublesome considering most of the Celtic gods were just ancient wizards, Fey or Veela or even wizards themselves. Queen Visenya took some aspects of Christianity and adopted them into the Valyrian faith.

It was a pragmatic move on her part to the faster assimilation of her Christian subjects in Ireland, a recent conquest of her grandfather Alexander I.

There is, however, another version of the story involving a scandal within the Targaryen royal family.

There are claims to suggest that Queen Visenya's father, Daeron Targaryen, fell in love with a Christian woman. This claim, while unverified, remains relevant because nothing is ever said about the Queen's mother other than her name, Rachel. The suspicious circumstances in which both Prince Daeron and Princess Rachel lost their lives in a storm, sinking their ship in the sea, further strengthened such rumours.

Whatever the case, Visenya I, in her reign, formulated a new approach to her Christian subjects. She reformed Christianity and took an active part in editing the Bible to a version which she believed would mesh well with the Valyrian faith. At the same time, she considered the Roman Catholic Church as a sworn enemy of House Targaryen and Scotland to appease those in her court.

Therefore, the Christian population of the Irish Isle, which was a recent conquest, fared better compared to the Christians in mainland Scotland.

The neo-Christian faith considered Jesus Christ as a lord and saviour in the same status as Hadrian Targaryen. The story Queen Visenya developed established continuity between Jesus Christ and Hadrian Targaryen, not as children of God or even as a God in human form.

Instead, she established that Valyria is the name of the city of angels and that both Jesus and Hadrian were human forms taken by Angels most dear to God. Their mission was not just to spread the word of God but to enlighten humanity to seek out the enormous complexity of the world and beyond. That was the message Queen Visenya and her propaganda arm of the Scottish state spread.

This later evolved into a much greater political arm within the Wizengamot. Starting as a minor caucus within the Scottish Wizengamot, this group gained much traction as the movement brought together muggles and wizards alike under a common umbrella. The propaganda that wizards and witches were descendants of Angels made the overwhelming majority of the Christian populace revere and even worship those with magic.

It has to be assumed this particular twisting of the Christian faith proved quite effective as Scottish citizens led relative lives of peace within its boundaries. However, religions continued to clash in mainland Europe, Asia, and the Americas. There were even great battles within Christianity, which only made the Scottish Christians develop a new belief that Roman Christianity had perverted the teachings of Christ for Roman imperialism.

The Valyrian faith, though not expressly prescribing a Christian view of the world, was all too happy to propagate anything that painted Roman imperialism in a bad light. The Catholic Church, being a strong arm of Roman imperialism, inevitably became a common villain in the religious lore of both faiths.

In 1085 AD, churches across the Scottish Kingdom declared Rome as the guilty party for the murder of Christ and declared all Roman and Roman-born states to be an empire of Satan. This movement gained official recognition by the Wizengamot in 1095 AD after Rhineland Jews were subjected to a crusade by the marching crusader army, heeding the call of Pope Urban II. This incident even led the Wizengamot to officially recognise the rest of Europe as Satandom as opposed to Christendom.

The Scottish antagonism of the time was such that they even decided to harry the ships of European kingdoms to disrupt the crusades in the Holy Land.

This policy directly resulted in three crusades being declared against Scotland by different Popes and earning the eternal enmity of the Catholic Church.

Positioning themselves as the enemy of Western Christian states naturally attracted pagan tribes of Germany to the Scottish Isles as the Crusaders turned inward to purge non-Christians from mainland Europe. Jews and Muslims also migrated to the Scottish Isles in smaller numbers, first as traders and then in later years, as it became clear Scotland remained a kingdom of a thriving economy and a land of miracles. Endless wars and sicknesses were a rarity in Scotland compared to Europe or Asia Minor as the Wizengamot slowly weaned itself out of religious politics in the 1300s.

By the 1350s, Scotland remained entirely unbothered by the affairs of Europe or Asia, preferring strictly a transactional relationship with Europe and other polities of the world. This policy of isolationism was naturally formed within the Wizengamot and the royal court after seeing three crusades consuming life and money in a needless religious war.

This forced isolation was only possible by maintaining a strict noninterference policy in the affairs of other nations. This peace was further enforced by building a dedicated spy and assassin network throughout Europe that purged radical elements within European royal courts and the Catholic Church.

A golden age of peace and prosperity for Scotland until Titus Targaryen launched ten years of a brutal war on Europe. The subjugation of Europe under House Targaryen brought peace between the warring European states but also gave birth to a new conflict.

If the crusades and jihad were the result of Christianity and Islam clashing in the Holy Land, the Great War was the result of the Scottish Empire and Ottoman Empire fighting for world supremacy. It was, in the end, a war that was inevitable. Rome fell in Europe to be supplanted by the Scottish Empire.

However, unlike the Roman Empire, the Scottish Empire was ruled by the most powerful family. That was one fact the European kingdoms knew and factored into their decision to make peace at any cost before the Continental War.

This was a lesson the Ottoman Empire learned too late when they started hostilities with the Scottish Empire.