Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: I'm trying guys. I really am.

Thank you, to every single one of you that reviewed and said all of those amazing things. The rest of this story is for you. I really do love you all.

October

The Sorting and first feast of the school year came as a shock to most of the returning Hogwarts students, simply for the sheer reduction in population. There were gaps in the long House tables, the missing students whose families had fled now blatantly obvious. It had been solemn and almost quiet, with the reduced size combined with the sadness of friends who weren't there, classmates too scared to return. The largest class was seventh years, seeing as now that they were Wizarding adults, few wanted to jeopardize their academic standing.

Once school had started up and the seventh years were being worked harder than ever. The few that had enlisted and were undergoing basic training as well, and by the mid-mark of the month, the short tempers and bleary eyes told the soldiers from the students. The overall environment of the school had changed, as well. Aurors, Healers, and trained Ministry Officials were essentially a part of the staff, as they were solely installed in the school to train the select few students. Certain classes' sizes decreased even further, reducing some classes to two or three students. The upperclassmen had a more mature vibe than the Hogwarts teachers had seen in years. The only staple of normalcy and school-aged frivolity was Quidditch. Even the dual-enrolled soldiers participated. Some, like Albus, refusing point-blank to give it up.

For Albus, Quidditch was cathartic. It was his stress relief. The sudden influx of school work and training should have taken a huge toll on him, but all he felt was a inkling of stress at the quantity of the work. Other than that, Albus felt as if he was living his dream. He was partnered with a younger Healer, Haddic, a first year medic who like Albus, had decided to enlist. Haddic and three other Healers came every Tuesday and Thursday to teach the four students Emergency Field medicine. The other three days, they joined the twelve other enlisted seventh years in basic training. As it was their NEWT year, each seventh year had fewer classes since they were all focusing on their future careers Albus only had Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he only took two on certain days, three on the others.

Currently, Albus was on his way to Basic Training. Dressed down in his Quidditch practice clothes, he double checked for his wand and focused on clearing his mind. It was proving to be a difficult task. He silently cursed himself; being focused was key to getting better in training and if his mind was still reeling over the latest deaths, it could be disastrous to all of his hard work.

"Charlotte Slater, wife of Viktor Krum and mother of Hogwarts student Victrola, was found dead. Ms. Slater is the fifteenth victim of the Revolution. The news of her death comes just days after the murder of Cormac McLaggen..."

Victrola was devastated. Even though she had always been much closer to her father than her mother, she was understandably taking the loss hard. Albus tried to be as comforting and supportive as possible, but Victrola was the type to push people away and attempt to comfort herself in the quiet and would bottle things up until they explode out of her control. Albus and Scorpius both learned this the hard way in their third year, when Vic was on the receiving end of a similar spell to the one that their ex-Defense teacher/ Albanian spy had used on Rose. What had happened to Victrola had been kept quiet with in the school by McGonagall by the request of Victrola's parents, and the two boys were among the few outside of Slytherin that knew. Their friend had been inconsolable for days. She wouldn't eat, sleep or speak to anyone until the two snuck into the hospital wing and forced her to let them in. The entire experience had solidified their friendship and resulted in both boys being fiercely protective of her.

Albus made his way to the Transfiguration wing of the school, where renovated classrooms were being used to train. He entered the room, greeting the other cadets. He went to the other three guys who were his 'squad'. Since there were sixteen cadets and four med students, the trainers had taken advantage of the convenient numbers and the group was divided into four groups of four with one med student to a group. The groups were given colors to make it even easier for the trainers to keep track of them and identify them. Every member had to wear a bandana of their group's color. Most opted to just tie them around their wrist. It became a badge of honor almost. There was a sense of camaraderie instilled within them from the beginning, but when they had been forced to work together in teams, each became a sort of makeshift brotherhood. Scorpius, who was as good at understanding people as Albus was at curing illnesses, had said that it was because of the War. Albus had brushed this off, as he didn't like psychology and liked when everything had an easily quantifiable explanation.

Twisting the worn dark blue bandanna around his wrist absentmindedly, Albus sat down in a chair next to Tom Logan, one of the members of his team. Logan looked up as he plopped down, nodding in greeting before turning back to Landon Riley and Mark Tucker, who were deep in conversation.

"Riles, I'm telling you, we're gonna be shipped out before school's over," Tucker was saying. Albus looked up from his equipment pack in interest.

"What makes you say that?" Albus asked, looking to Logan for an explanation. Tucker and Riley glanced at each other.

"Potter, haven't you been reading the Prophet?" Riley mumbled in discomfort. Their reactions weren't comforting Albus in the least.

"Yeah," he replied defensively, looking back down at his healing potions and salves. Logan shifted in his seat as Tucker played with the zipper on his pack.

"Mate, they've taken Bulgaria."

Albus' head snapped up. "What?" he asked in complete shock. Surely he would have heard other students talking at breakfast? But as he tried to piece his morning together to see what clues he could have missed, the most blatant one struck him head on.

Breakfast at Hogwarts was never quiet.

It should have been obvious as he munched happily on his tenderly cooked bacon.

No wonder Cassie looked as if I was mad, he thought, recalling the affronted look his fellow Ravenclaw had given him this morning.

"Yep," Tucker sighed, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. He let his hand fall with a thud on the table they were seated at. "They invaded this morning at, like, two AM. They had an army of five-thousand. Five-freakin'-thousand, Potter." Shaking his head in disbelief, Tucker looked at Albus. "Minister Shacklebolt's calling for the first wave of our's, the U.S. and France's forces to help. They're most concerned about Durmstrang."

Riley spun his wand on his fingertips. "It's starting to look like they're caring less about the survivor's kids and more about getting revenge."

Albus nodded. "I've always thought that the whole "kill the survivors and their kids" stuff wasn't their real goal. I mean, clearly it's important to at least Koroleva, but I think most of the other Albanians are just pissed."

Logan and Tucker both looked like Albus' reasoning made sense, but Riley looked skeptical.

"I've always wondered why Koroleva's going after you guys at all. Well, I get the Golden Trio, but why the rest of the Weasleys, as well as everyone else?"

Albus shook his head. "I don't know. But whatever the reason is, it doesn't change the fact that some of them are already dead."

The four were so engrossed in their conversation that none of them noticed the sudden stillness that had descended upon the room.

"Riley! Tucker! Logan! Potter!" The four boys jumped up, the notion to be in action at a moments notice being second nature to all of the cadets by now.

The Ministry-approved-and-trained instructor was staring at the four intensely. He was a tall, stocky guy by the name of Staff Sergeant Anderson Rhodes. He was no nonsense, no holds barred, and instilled the cadets with a sense of pride, unity, and hard workmanship. He was in charge of Albus' team as well as the green team.

"You four," Sergeant Rhodes boomed, effectively silencing the room. He walked toward them slowly, hands on his hips, staring at his boots as he scuffed the tips on the stone floor of the classroom, and twisting a toothpick between his teeth. Albus wanted to glance at his team mates, but knew better; if Sarge caught him, they'd all be forced to do wind sprints while dodging hexes and jinxes.

"You. Four." Sarge said again, his voice a low growl. There wasn't a hint of malice in the way he said it, but the blue team of four could practically hear the thoughts of their fellow cadets, all of whom were praising their chosen deities for the tone not being toward them.

Sarge stopped directly in front of the team, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark aviator sunglasses. It didn't matter that it was in doors or that the sky was overcast; Sarge wore his sunglasses the way a wizard wore his robes.

"Potter, Logan," Sarge barked, stepping in front of them. Albus stared directly at the center of Sergeant Rhodes' forehead, refusing to look away lest it be taken as a sign of disrespect or weakness.

"Would either of you kindly care to share what exactly your squadron deemed so important that you neglected to keep yourselves aware of the beginning of today's training?"

Logan cleared his throat. Albus internally grinned; Tom Logan was the self-professed King of Bullshitting. The Hufflepuff could talk his way out of any detention and boost almost any grade.

"Sir, my squad and I were discussing the Bulgaria situation. I think I speak for all four of us when I offer you our deepest apologies; we meant absolutely no disrespect. It's just that the invasion really changes things for us, well, the world really. Again, I apologize."

Sergeant Rhodes appraised the team, his thick arms crossed. The only noise came from Sarge, as he continued to twist the toothpick in his teeth.

"How, exactly does the Bulgaria invasion change things?"

Logan inhaled sharply; Sarge wasn't punishing them, but this was still a test. He was always like this with their team. Albus had the sneaking suspicion that Sergeant Rhodes favored them the most. The four usually tried not to gloat about it. But, the task proved rather difficult, as several other members of various teams were glaring mutinously at the four.

"Well, sir," Logan began, a sly smile forming over his face. There were hisses and groans of anger to be heard from around the room. Albus fought back a grin and he heard Tucker hastily turn a snicker into a cough. Sarge's lips quivered into a smirk for a brief second. "We were just sharing our thoughts on why Koroleva is targeting survivor's and their children in the media, but actively extending Albania's land reign."

Sarge nodded, grunting in affirmation. "What do you think, Potter?"

Albus bit the inside of his cheek before he phrased his next words.

"Well, speaking from the point of view as a survivor's child, I'd have to say that I agree with my teammates. Koroleva is using her hatred of those who survived the War as a fallback of sorts; I personally believe that she's just a totalitarian dictator, hellbent on ruling a large empire and she's using the thought of a nation as a whole going after a select group of people to instill a false sense of security in the witches and wizards who don't belong to that group."

Sarge stopped chewing on the toothpick, looking at Albus with what he believed to be a shrewd expression behind his glasses.

"You don't believe she's actually interested in taking out the survivors and their families?"

Albus gulped and inhaled deeply.

"I think she'd like nothing more than to kill my family. I think she knows what kind of message that'd send."

Albus stared directly at Sergeant Rhodes' forehead, even as his teammates all turned in unison to stare at him.

Sergeant Rhodes started to twist the toothpick in his teeth again. He reached up and removed the glasses as he looked directly at Albus.

"I think you're all a hell of a lot smarter than the rest of these teams, boys."

Sergeant Rhodes replaced his glasses and turned away, walking to the front of the room. The four boys all let out their breath, turning to look at each other with wide eyes.

They sat back down and gathered their gear packs, snapping straps into place and sliding their wands up the special sleeve of their uniforms. No one spoke, the only sound in the room being zippers on backpacks, the clanking of potions vials as the Meds Specialists checked their supply, and the scuffing of boots on the stone. The teams filed out of the room, every group in two lines of two. Albus, who was next to Tucker and in front of Riley, turned to glance at Sarge as he passed.

Sergeant Rhodes just tipped his hat before turning to chastise a red team member who forgot his Tac pack.

AN: Next chapter- Rose/Scorp-centric.

Reviews are deeply appreciated :)