Harry's Armada

Wanda: Hello everyone, and welcome to the interlude in Harry's Armada, and yes, I'm sorry it took so freakin long. Consider it a combination of writer's block and school crap, which is why this is an interlude instead of a full chapter, and it's mostly Harry thinking for me to get a few things straightened out and what the army will be doing. So, I do not own Harry Potter, and enjoy.

Interlude One: Sections, and Basic Training

Harry was surprised by how many people were waiting for him at the training plaza. Rachel wasn't, and seemed to take amusement out of how bashful this made him.

Hestia and Flora were standing near the front and looking quite eager to get started. Fred and George were there too, and Flora was shooting occasional looks at Fred that reminded Harry of the interactions between Remus and Tonks. Hermione and Ron were there too, smiling and waving when they saw them walking in.

Ginny was standing in between Luna and Heather, two other girls his age, deep in conversation. Blaise was hovering not far from them, watching, in a way that Harry had just realized he always did in the halls. He wondered why he hadn't noticed Luna and Heather being Ginny's friends before this, and came to the conclusion that he hadn't been particularly observant in his earlier years. It embarrassed him to come to this conclusion.

Dennis and Sally were sitting side by side along with Natalie MacDonald, who was happily looking to be in much better shape then when Harry had first seen her in the infirmary. Mandy and Meghan were holding up and apparently exchanging notes about some speeches and propaganda they had written; this was going to be their contribution to the 'invasion' of Magical Britain after they went through basic training.

Harry was glad to see the Slytherins mixing in with the other houses without any obvious strife; he could see Tracey talking with Hannah as though they had known each other their entire lives, though there were still a few holdouts. Daphne Greengrass and Su Li were talking, but there was an amount of uncertainty in their posture; Harry hoped it would dissolve as they got to know each other more. Astoria was a bit less concerned then her sister, she was happily talking to Susan Bones.

Graham and Maya Pritchard, cousins, were leaning against a pillar and watching Harry with their unnervingly intelligent eyes.

The boy's chilly and mature personality never failed to disturb him; a lot of pureblood children were like that. They never really had a chance to be children. Harry wondered if he should exclude them from the army, before deciding that they should be allowed to choose for themselves after having their entire lives dictated at them. Harry understood bone deep what it was like to have all his decisions dictated for him, and he wasn't about to force that on someone else.

Colin was looking a little starry-eyed as he talked with Rayne, something that caused Rachel to smirk mischievously. "I'll get her back for all the boyfriend jokes she's been making at me," She said happily.

"Boyfriend," Harry echoed, turning back to stare at her. Rachel flushed and quickly ushered him towards the podium.

Harry tapped the mike with his finger, getting the attention of the four hundred plus students, who stopped chatting and turned their attention to him almost as one. He smiled in pride. They were already starting to come together.

"Hello everyone." He said. "Hello, and welcome to basic training. To those of you who are wondering when you'll be moving on to your Technology with Magic designations, you will all be passing through basic training to see what your best aptitude is. Taking this into consideration, you will be directed to your squads once basic is completed."

One of the things he and Rachel had decided on not long before basic training was that they would be using the magical technology as an important part of the army. It would be a godsend because most of the purebloods wouldn't be expecting it, and it allowed for a lot of the rescues that they would inevitably come across. Along with this would be radio broadcasts, manifestos to be spread across magical Britain, and other intimidation tactics that Voldemort usually used to turn the tables and prepare for their assault.

Rachel already had an idea of what to do with the Dark Mark. Once Harry had seen it, he had laughed himself sick, and then gave it the clear.

Sirius and Remus were going through their own version of basic training with Edmund, to become Praetorians. Sirius wanted to join the guard to be a better guard for Harry out in the thick of things, while Remus was simply planning on harnessing his inner beast for the better during the battles. Harry couldn't wait to see how they had progressed together later in the month.

Mandy and Megan were going to be in charge of propaganda, they had approached himself and Rachel about the placement even before basic training was announced. Both girls were clever and intelligent speakers, both for persuasion and intimidation. Rachel was already setting up their office, along with Colin and Rayne who were quite good and handling the press.

And of course, there was the idea of Sleeper Agents. Rachel had already picked out both Blaise and Daphne to serve as sleepers just by their personality alone, and most of their skills seemed to be geared towards this qualification. Blaise even came out and said that most of his years he had spent pretending to believe in different ideologies to get close to assassination targets.

Harry was inclined to agree with her, though he was going to have a look at their training scores before they made the final decisions, just in case.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team were all probably going to be in the Flying Team with him. Harry didn't doubt that; Katie and Alicia definitely had the aptitude for it. He was quaking at the idea of putting Fred and George in bombers, though he knew they'd be perfect for it, because he wasn't sure he was evil enough to inflict that on Malfoy.

But then again...after the Diary...yeah, he was that evil. Hey, Harry was looking forward to bombing Malfoy Manor just as much as the twins were.

He was looking forward to seeing Hermione and Ginny in tanks.

"Basic training will continue for six weeks," Rachel began, bringing Harry's mind back to the present as she took on the second half of the speech. "This will not be like your training from Hogwarts. You are going to forget everything you thought you knew about magic."

She paused, before continuing in the graceful candor that her mother Elizabeth usually used in her speeches in the court. "This is going to be rough, I'm not going to lie to you. But real war is going to be like that. You are allowed to back out if you don't think you are prepared to handle it. There's no shame in that. But if you're ready to take you home back, this is your chance! Take it back!"

"TAKE IT BACK!" The congregation roared.

Rachel and Harry raised their wands. "Let training begin!" They said in unison. The floors transformed as everyone rushed off to their designated gyms.

End Chapter

So yes, Sirius and Remus will be praetorean guards, and more HarryxRachel teasing! This contains hints of who's going where, and yes there will be lots of planes and tanks goodness when the invasion of Magical Britain begins!

Read and Review please!