AN: So this is chapter two. Thank you for all the favorites and follows, I greatly appreciate it. This chapter is quite quick. I didn't want to go into too much detail with the Legion as yet. There is a lot of info to get through before the plot can start coming together. I hope this is alright.
Let me know what you think
Chapter 2
Hermione was angry.
She was beyond angry.
She was pacing in the back yard thinking about what she had just witnessed, one hand tugging on her, now much longer, curly brown hair, the bushiness being negated due to the length, and probably some growing up on her part too if she was honest, her other hand was gripped around her wand tightly, knuckles white from the grip. Every now and then whilst she paced, a small grubby garden gnome would pop out from between some of the bushes, and with only a flick, they would be banished by Hermione's wand, and the "Wheeeeeeeeee" of the gnome flying through the air, was only accompanied by the sounds of other gnomes giggling in the bush and her frantic footsteps on the dirt path.
She knew she had not spent as much time with Harry lately as she used to. Things had just been so busy. She had been working hard at the new independent magical research company that had started up, and Harry had been doing his Auror training. She also understood why he refused to just accept the Auror position and go through the full 3 years with the other candidates. He didn't want special treatment, and she understood that. Because even though they hadn't spent as much time together lately, he was still her best friend.
And now he thought that she had tried to excuse what Ginny had done. She just stood there saying nothing. Her shock at what she had witnessed had struck her dumb. But she was after all a thinker, not a doer, and now after spending more then a few minutes thinking she had started to put together all the facts, and the picture wasn't pretty.
To be fair she wasn't sure how the other Weasleys felt about what they had seen, well except for Mrs. Weasley. She had made her feelings perfectly clear. As long as Harry didn't know it wouldn't hurt him. She flicked a nearby gnome a little more forcefully at that thought causing him to land in the pond next door.
None of the rest of the family had said anything when they got back home. Mr. Weasley had gone straight to his shed, no doubt to hide his head in the sand. Bill and Fleur had not even come to the Burrow after the hasty departure. She was sure they made a quick getaway whilst the getting was good.
George had only stayed long enough to grab some sandwiches before he left back for WWW. Ron was in the kitchen stuffing his face, whilst Mrs. Weasley was puttering in the kitchen muttering about "that poor boy".
Her deep thought was broken by the sound of all the garden gnomes scattering in all directions, the sight made her eyebrow raise and she pondered that strange behavior, but the reason was soon coming as she saw Ron approaching her slowly as if approaching a bomb.
He didn't seem to be bothered by anything at all, judging by his facial expression and the sandwich he was still eating as he approached.
She stopped her pacing and turn her full glare on him.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Hello Ron! Is that it! You just saw your sister, cheating on your best friend and she admits to doing it more than once, and your mother tried to cover it up. Your so called best friend was so devastated as to cause accidental magic, and you come out here with stuffed to the gills with food. And all you can say is hello? Bloody hell Ronald Weasley!"
During her tirade she didn't even notice him slowly walking backwards with his hands raised as if to fend her off.
"Hermy, you know I'm not good with these kind of things. Let them sort it out. I-I don't want to get involved. Harry can fix things, you know he's good at that." He was probably not quite looking at her as well as he should as he said that.
Hermione's face was getting red and her lips were almost snow white due to how pursed they were as he spoke. She was just getting angrier the more he spoke. She wondered briefly if that's why he ate so much. So that he didn't get in trouble by actually saying anything. That thought aside, she nearly exploded in response.
"Do. Not. Call. Me. Hermy." She emphasized by giving him a poke on the chest with each word. "Harry is supposed to be your best friend, and he has just had a major upset, and you don't want to get involved. That's just perfect Ron."
"Well it's no use shouting at me!" Ron started getting a little braver as he started shouting back. It wasn't his fault after all. "I didn't do anything"
"Well that's just it Ron, you didn't do anything. And it doesn't sound like you plan to do anything. You know, I- I need to go. I need to think right now and you're not helping." She had started turning around as she finished talking, only to be interrupted by his parting words.
"Yeah, I'll just stay here whilst you go off and think, it's what you do best after all."
The last words were muttered under his breath but she still heard them, and it was like one final hammer blow to the heart.
She had seen her best friend get desperately hurt, and now her boyfriend had metaphorically kicked her in the gut.
She didn't even turn around. She took a few steps forward across the wards, and apparated to her apartment.
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Harry Potter was sitting in a large hall along with 20 other men of varying nationalities, waiting to complete their registration.
He wasn't quite sure how everything had happened and how he had gotten here. It had all gone quite fast. He was sitting in thought trying to piece together everything that led to sitting in this room.
He met Sergeant Major Donald's. They sat in the bar drinking some scotch and he remembered telling him about why he had left home. There were the magic words of course. French Foreign Legion. He had never heard of them but the brief description he had received had been enough to catch his attention. The Sergeant Major had somehow managed to convince the Flight hostess that they needed to sit together on the plane. So he didn't get much detail. But it was enough. Join the Legion. If he was good enough they would be his brothers. They would support him, and he would support them. They would travel and see the world. They would help to save people. At this point he was already sold. But it was the last point that connived him beyond all doubt.
"Potter, the army, be it SAS, marines, navy or the Legion. It is like joining a family."
Family. That was word that made up his mind. He thought he could have had a family with Ginny. But now he would have a different kind of Family.
O-O-O-O-O-O- O-O-O-O-O
Hermione had finally calmed down.
She had been furious, not only at Ginny for what she had done, but with most of the Weasleys as well. They all just seemed to ignore what had happened. She wouldn't ignore it. It had been about 5 hours and half a bottle of wine, since she had stormed off from the Burrow. She felt she was now calm enough to finally go back to Harrys place and see how he was doing. It was time to be there for him.
That decision made, she smoothed down her floral summer dress, wrapped the jumper over her shoulders and flooed to Potter Place.
Only to come tumbling out her fireplace again, having just spun around a few times before being aborted. That wasn't good, he had obviously closed the floo. With a frown and a quick shake of her head she left her apartment to the nearby apparition point and tried again.
She arrived in the back garden safely enough, and could see no signs to indicate anything was further wrong. It was only as she knocked and then opened the back door that she realized that there was more wrong then she thought.
The kitchen where she had entered was empty. Completely bare. All the cupboards still standing open from what was obviously a hasty departure. She would have thought the apartment was empty until she heard some footsteps in the sitting room. Making her way there she almost collided with someone, who got as big a fright as she did. It was the frightened squeak, and high pitched "Miss Granger" that clued her in to who she had almost collided with.
Looking down confirmed that.
"Winkey? What are you doing here? You don't work for Harry do you?" She gave a glance around hoping to see said, Harry, only to be met by another empty room. Well, empty except for the house elf she had just bumped into.
"Winkey is working for Elvens Storage and Removal, Miss. We is packing up Mr. Potter's house for storage."
The small house elf seemed to be genuinely excited to be packing up the furniture.
"Do you know where Harry is Winky?"
"I's don't Miss Granger. Mr. Potter only gave Winkey instructions, then Mr. Potter left."
That was not at all what Hermione wanted to hear. She really needed to find him.
With that thought in mind, she gave a hasty, "Thanks Winkey, Bye Winkey." Before rushing out to go to the Diagon Alley post office so that she could send Harry a letter.
She made quick work getting through the crowds, giving a halfhearted hasty greeting to the few people who waved at her as she past. Getting to the post office, she scrawled a brief note asking after Harry's well-being and location, before handing it over along with a few Knuts to the Postal agent. She watched him attach the note to the barn owl, and watched as the owl gave a few flaps out the open owl door.
Only for the owl to give a brief circle in midair, and then come straight back into the Post office, landing in front of the agent.
"I'm sorry Miss, the recipient seems to unable to receive mail for some reason."
That was not good. Hermione was at a loss.
She slowly made her way back through Diagon Alley and through into muggle London, thinking hard what else she could do.
"Where are you, Harry." She whispered to herself.
Not noticing the Aircraft high in the sky passing over London heading to France, and new adventures.
O-O-O-O-O-O- O-O-O-O-O
It had been a grueling week. 7 days of pure torture. Harry had quickly made a friend to endure the torture along with him. Together they trudged through the very gates of hell. They had survived the first week of joining the Foreign Legion. Together they survived 7 days of testing and administration.
They had been poked, prodded, interviewed, done medical check-ups, signed documents… It was torture.
That was where he met his new friend.
It was an odd meeting.
Harry had been in and out of offices, interrogation rooms, conference rooms and clinical offices all day. He was so lost, if it wasn't for the aid leading him all over the place, he would have given up already. He had been briefed, been x-rayed, interviewed, been weighed, urinated into more than one cup and had blood drawn.
He was now standing in a large room with a Doctor. A female Doctor. And she had just told him to get naked.
Now he had always been a bit wary of his naked body. Even living in a dorm room he had been cautious to only use the washing facilities when no one else could see him. The only person who had seen him naked that he could remember had been Ginny, and her first reaction of cringing when she had seen all the scars crossing his back, had not filled him with confidence. Now here was a strange woman, even a mildly pretty one at that, telling him to take off his clothes. Naturally he hesitated.
It was at this point that another man was led in by a Nurse and told to get himself naked too. Harry was not impressed. He spent a few seconds looking through his longer hair surreptitiously. The man was of average height, but he look quite muscular. He had long black hair and sky-blue eyes that almost looked white. And without a second thought the man started undressing, and whilst he was doing that he started talking.
"Hey man. Why you still got your clothes on. We don't got all day. These fine ladies are in a hurry." He did not seem to be bothered at all, to be talking to another man, and in front of two woman, whilst divesting himself of his clothes. He was naked so fast, Harry almost thought it was magic.
Harry made a glance at the two woman who were not paying any attention at all as they were busy talking whilst pointing out things on a clipboard. Without knowing what to say, Harry started to slowly take off his shoes and socks. He barely had his left sock off when he heard two 'clicks' of someone snapping their fingers.
"Come now Potter, it's not something we haven't seen before and we don't have all day." The Nurse that snapped her fingers said in a no-nonsense way. The Doctor just watched him expressionlessly, while the other chap standing naked as the day he was born was standing with his arms crossed, an impudent grin on his face watching Harry.
Knowing there was no other option, he started getting undressed. Not able to help the blush on his face and neck. Once he was finally naked and trying to cover himself with his hands, the Doctor and Nurse started their checks. He was pulled around, arms pulled up. Hands were checked. He had to bend and twist. Touch his toes, and all manner of otherwise embarrassing things. They didn't even make a sound when they saw the damage to his back.
It was as he was finished and getting dressed again that he heard the chap with him speak again.
"I'm Running-with-eyes-closed. But you can call me Hayes" He had a grin as he said that, his eyes dancing with mirth.
"I'm Potter." My reply was still quiet due to my embarrassment.
"Well Potter. We've seen each other naked. I guess that means we friends" He was still naked as he held a hand out to shake.
After a brief glance at him, a quick look away upon realizing his state of undress, and then a glance at the hand, there was nothing else to do. I Shook it.
"Friends it is."
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"Good morning ladies. Welcome to the Farm! I am going to be making men out of you. You may call me Sergeant or Sir. Today we will be starting your 6 weeks of Initial training. I will not lie to you. Most of you men will not make it. This is the most brutal training you will ever experience. If at any point you feel you cannot continue and wish to give up. You can go the square, and ring the bell. At that point you will be picked up, and taken to do your debriefing before being discharged. Is everybody ready for the torture, I mean training to commence?" The large man standing in front of the lines of recruits looked like a brick wall. He was easily 2meters tall, and weighed about 120kg of pure muscle. Even without his rousing speech he was intimidating.
And that was how it started.
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That was all the warning Harry had before the wake-sirens started going off the in room, followed by all 44 men in the room jumping out of bed and grabbing their clothes to get ready.
This was how everyday had gone since they had started their 6 week initial training. Already 12 men had either left of their own accord, or had been forced to leave due to injury. It was now week 4 and Harry didn't even feel any pain anymore. His blisters had stopped even trying to close up. His hands were still raw from the rock climbing they'd been doing. His back was aching from the 35kg backpacks they'd been carrying around since day 1. He was beyond the point of being tired. He along with the other men were dead on their feet, but they just kept pushing. And he loved every minute of it.
The man were like a family. No one was left behind. Everyone was pushed together. It was brilliant.
O-O-O-O-O-O- O-O-O-O-O
Harry and Hayes had become close over the time they had been training together. Harry had found out that Hayes was actually a Native-American. His family descended from the Sioux tribe and had become horse ranchers in America. He had left home after he beat a neighbor, who was trying to rape his sister, near to death. He left to preserve the families honor and business. Harry had shared some minor details about his own home life. Explaining that he had left after catching his wife cheating on him. One of the rules was that no one asked too many questions. Everyone's past was their own. There were often times where they had to push each other. Harry seemed to be better at the climbing, shooting and pure determination, whereas Hayes could run further, was stronger and could sneak near silently. Hayes had also been showing Harry how to meditate. They spent many nights over the weeks in meditation. Harry was finally learning how to control his emotions. Even if it wasn't an accurate form of Occlumency as taught by the Auror corps, this form of meditation, along with the occumency training he had already done easily bolstered his mental defenses.
Tomorrow they would be starting their March Raid Marche. They had to do a 120km march in 3 days. No one was looking forward to it. But after completing all their training and receiving their Elementary Technical Certificates, this was the last test for them. At this point the remaining 26 recruits who remained were a brotherhood. They were family and would push themselves through the march.
O-O-O-O-O-O- O-O-O-O-O
It had been just over a year since they had joined the Legion.
Potter and Hayes had been partners since the first day. They had passed training together. Had gone out and gotten wasted together, and they had gotten their Legion tattoos together. Today they were being promoted together. They had just come back from assisting with an uprising in North Africa. They had only gone to assist in keeping the peace, but ended up in the middle of a 3 week battle in the city. It only ended when the Leader of the rebel forces had been taken out during the last charge by the Legion soldiers upon accidently stumbling across their Operational Headquarters. Harry had taken a bullet in the back, just below his left shoulder and Hayes had only been hit by some shrapnel. Otherwise they only lost one of their brothers in the fighting.
They had only just returned to France after their discharge from Hospital 3 days ago.
Today Harry had been ordered to Legion Headquarters in Paris.
"Good Morning Corporal Potter. I am Major DuPont, I'm sure you might remember Sergeant Major Donaldson, I believe you've met before."
To say that Harry was surprised when the two men, one of which he had met before, walked in would be an understatement. He knew that Sergeant Major Donaldson was a recruitment officer for the SAS in England. It was a bit surprising to see him here, along with the head of the recruiting office for the Foreign Legion. They all exchanged greetings and took seats around the conference table to begin the briefing.
"I'm sure you're wondering why you've been called to see us today." The grin on the Sergeant Majors face matched the grin from Major DuPont. It seemed they were quite excited about something.
Without giving any form of response, Harry just quietly watched the two officers.
"Well, I will get right to it then." The lack of response from Harry seemed to cause his grin to dim a bit.
"As I told you before. I am a recruitment officer for the SAS, but I don't do the normal kind of recruiting that you might think. I recruit special people from all the military services in the I.C.W states."
If he was expecting some kind of reaction from that revelation, he got it.
Harry twitched so hard he bumped his knee against the desk.
"I'm sorry. I.C.W? I'm not sure I'm following you, Sergeant Major." The tenseness in Harry's voice carried over into the polite response.
"Well yes of course. The International Confederation of Wizards. We know you're a wizard Corporal Potter."
That didn't get as much of a reaction as the first bomb that was dropped. However to the keen observer, they might have seen Harrys jaw clench. The veins standing out on his now well muscles arms as he clenched the arm rests of the chair.
"And what exactly do you want with me Sergeant Major." His voice was deadly calm, and Major DuPont for the first time in a long time was a little worried about how this conversation would go. He was also wondering where the breeze was coming from, as the windows were all closed.
"Uh, Corporal Potter. Nothing to get upset about. I think if you let me explain, you'll understand better. I promise." Sergeant Major Donaldson was wondering if he had approached this situation the wrong way. He could see the man sitting across from him was a killer. He had read the reports, and knew his past. He had effectively taken a very accomplished Wizard who had killed a very dangerous and almost undefeatable dark lord. He had an immense amount of magical power, and turned him into a soldier who could kill as easily with magic as without. Now he seemed to be quite upset, borderline angry.
"You see, although I recruit for the SAS, I only recruit soldiers from muggle military organizations that exist in the ICW state areas. We offer the soldiers a chance to try out for selection with the SAS. After they have passed selection, trained, and then worked with them for an amount of time, they will then be trained in MMA, Uh that is Magical Military Arts. Thereafter they join our Elite, Magical Special Forces."
It took Harry a few minutes to think all that through. He could join the SAS. He had heard a lot about the SAS from some SAS soldiers he had met in Somalia. They were reported to be some of the best in the world. The SAS selection process was so tough that people had died in the past, and they only had a 10% pass rate for the recruits. It was an interesting proposition. But there was one thing that bugged him.
"I have been offered French citizenship by 'Français par le sang versé' (French by spilled blood). So who will I be working for if I train with the British SAS then the MMA? I don't have any desire to work for the ICW or even the British Wizarding world." He had left that life behind, and although he had not heard any news from anyone back home in the year he had been gone. He had no desire at this time to return and work for the Wizangamot again. He didn't regret leaving the Auror forces at all.
"The MMA is not affiliated with the Wizarding world, nor with the ICW. They started as a branch off the SAS, but now report directly to the Commander-in-Chief of the British Military. We reports directly to the Queen."
That was not a response he was expecting. Harry suppressed the urge to scratch his head in confusion.
"Since when did the Queen have a Magical Military? Why didn't they help us with Voldemort?"
The two Officers shared a glance at that. If they were honest they had been expecting that question.
"Well Mr. Potter, the Queen had been receiving updates from the Minister for Magic saying that everything had been handled. By the time she received intelligence stating otherwise, the MMA were split between taking out a group of Giants that had entered England, a renegade dragon Voldemort tried to bring into the country and stopping a muggle terrorist uprising in London. By the time the forces were able to assist with Voldemort, you had already done it."
That explanation did seem to make sense. It also explained to Harry why there weren't more giants or dangerous creatures involved in the final battle. There were certainly less than he had expected judging by how much time Voldemort had to gather them.
"So I will be joining a muggle/magical special forces team managed directly by the queen."
Upon seeing their nods and sounds of assent, there was only one more question.
"When do I start?"