Chapter 9: Preventative Measures

A/N: Finished another chapter for you guys. This one was pretty fun to write for the most part. One of the first times that we'll focus almost exclusively on team HPRN. I hope you guys enjoy. The response to this story has been amazing! I can't believe it has almost 600 followers and 450 favorites! Last chapter we also broke 100 reviews so thank you guys so much! I love hearing all your thoughts! Please continue to let me know how I'm doing.

The bullhead hummed beneath Harry as they approached their destination. Team HPRN sat in silence, nervous for their first official mission. Normally, a mission like this would never be given to a first year team, especially without a fully qualified hunter accompanying them, but since Harry had been the one to interrogate Torchwick, Ozpin had made an exception. On top of that, the exact parameters of the mission would be nearly impossible without magic anyway. He was still amazed at the techniques the Headmaster had shown him in their short training session the other day.

"You want to train me?"

"Yes, I believe you have a sufficient grasp of the basics all thanks to Miss Nikos' instruction. You just need to keep practicing what you learned so it all becomes instinctive, and the rest will come with experience. What I want to show you is something most never gain sufficient control of their aura to accomplish." Harry watched the man in confusion when suddenly he was gone. Before Harry even had a chance to blink he felt something poking him in the back. Spinning around he found himself looking down the end of Ozpin's cane.

"Did you just apparate?" Harry gaped.

Lowering his cane, he just smiled and shook his head. "Draw your sword and try to land a blow." Still feeling like he was missing something he followed his instructions. "Well come on! What are you waiting for?"

Not needing anymore encouragement, Harry charged and swung. He was sure he was going to hit, everything was lined up, Ozpin's cane wasn't raised, but somehow he missed. He hadn't seen the man move. "Don't just sit around!" Gritting his teeth he swung again. The same thing happened. Cursing, Harry tried again, and again… and again. He tried everything he knew. Every slash, every jab, every swipe. He started working in multiple feints trying to throw him off but nothing worked.

Harry saw Ozpin's stance change, and knew he was about to attack. Shifting his blade to left he prepared to deflect the blow he expected to come towards that arm when it suddenly exploded in pain. How had he been hit? He had barely even began his movement. That's when Harry understood. "I haven't just been missing! You've been avoiding it all by moving… really really fast!"

The professor relaxed his posture. "Good. You figured it out."

"Is that what you're going to teach me to do? To move like that?" Harry grew excited. The possibilities open to him with those skills were endless.

"Yes… I plan to help you use your aura to augment your speed as well as your reflexes. I doubt you will ever come close to approaching my speeds, but my natural skillset tends to augment that." Harry wanted to ask what Ozpin meant about that, thinking he might be referring to his semblance, but he had noticed many hunters were touchy when people asked questions on that topic, so he decided to remain silent. "Like I said earlier, most never have the control necessary to use this technique, but I believe that your control over your magic will help in that area."

"That sounds amazing! When can we start?"

"I can explain the basics to you now, but you will need to practice this on your own time. I will check in on your progress and answer any questions you may have periodically. Does that sound fair to you?" At Harry's enthusiastic nod, he continued. "You have been able to do some magic without your wand, correct?"

"Yes, I can do some simple spells."

"Walk me through how you cast a spell with that method."

"Well… it usually requires a lot more concentration without my wand. With my wand, unless it's something really hard or new, I don't really put much thought into it. Without my wand, I have to sort of... focus my magic into my hand first, and then cast the spell."

"You also have had Miss Nikos help you work on your aura as well?"

"Ya, it feels really similar to my magic, like you said when we first met, I think they are connected somehow, so once I was able to tell the two apart I was able to control the two separately."

"Good. My theory has changed slightly though. After going over the tests and energy readings from when you were in the infirmary, I believe that the wizards from your world are able to harness an external source of energy in their universe, and thankfully for you, this universe as well. The strange part is that when they channel it through their bodies, it interacts with your soul, strangely similar to using your aura. That's why, when I unlocked your aura, it allowed you to cast your magic easier without a wand. I believe the adaptations your body went under, also widened the pathways through which you channel magic. Of course, this is all conjecture, but if I am correct, you should have the ability to eventually develop a semblance separate to your magical abilities. It may be redundant depending on what it is though."

Harry stared at Ozpin in shock. "I can't believe you figured all that out! Back home, wizards have had magic for as long they can remember and they have no real idea how magic works. Some of them like to claim it's created from wizards themselves, like aura, but that's not because they've actually done any tests, it's just propaganda to help support their discrimination of muggleborns."

"Yes, well, like I said, I'm not certain on any of this but the readings on your energy signature suggest it works in that manner." Pausing for a minute he collected himself. "Enough of that for now, you are able to discernibly manipulate your magic and your aura separately though?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Then what you will need to practice doing is focusing your aura intently on just one of your arms and holding it there. You have to allow your aura to infuse into your muscle and bones. After getting this you move on to doing the same to both your legs at the same time. This will increase both your speed and reflexes while your aura remains focused. Eventually this will become easy and require barely intention at all. I believe you will have no problem calling your aura there initially, but holding it steady may cause you some problems. If you enfuse too little, or too much, or if it fluctuates too much, you will have to deal with explosive outbursts of aura. Either way, it will probably be draining. When you have accomplished this, and only when you have accomplished this, you will start practice on focusing it around your head. This will eventually help your brain keep up with the quick motions of your body. Trust me, if you try that part too early you will be dealing the worst migraine of your life."

"Entering Mountain Glenn. Sixty seconds to drop point." Harry was shaken out of his thoughts by the pilot's announcement over the intercom. He had tried some practice of what the Headmaster had shown him a couple nights earlier, yet just like he had said, summoning his aura to where he wanted was easy, and holding it steady was the hard part. Luckily for him, this new technique wasn't needed for the mission.

The side hatch opened, which was immediately felt by the bullhead's occupants as the wind picked up. Stepping up to the edge first, Harry cast a cushioning charm on the ground below them, though it probably wasn't necessary for the height.

"Let's go." Stepping out of the aircraft, Harry fell towards the ground, landing in a crouch.

"Woah! That was a softer landing than I expected!" Nora was shifting her weight from foot to foot, staring at the ground curiously.

Harry gave her a small grin twirling his wand between his fingers. "Just a simple cushioning charm."

"Your magic is so awesome!" Nora giggled jumping onto Harry's back as if expecting a piggyback ride.

"Thanks… Nora," he grunted under the unexpected weight.

"Nora! Get off his back, we talked about this. You can't just jump on people… or Grimm." Ren was probably thinking of her infamous trip on the back of an Ursa. "You need to ask first."

"Ok…" she pouted, letting go.

"Are you all good with the plan?" They all nodded. "Good. Our main objective with this is stealth. I'll be applying disillusionment charms and silencing charms to each of you then. Since we all know what to look for, you should be able to make each other out. Stay close. I'll remove the silencing charms once our cover is blown anyway." He cast the silencing charms first, then one by one, he tapped his wand over his teammates head, watching as they slowly began to blend into their backgrounds. He gave Pyrrha's hand a reassuring squeeze as he finished with her before applying the same charms to himself, experiencing the strange sensation similar to cracking an egg over his head.

Harry started heading down the street towards the area where he knew the base to be located. He periodically checked over his shoulder to make sure everyone was still there, even though they just appeared as blurs in the air. Any Grimm they came across, Harry a wide berth. He was pretty sure they would be able to sense them if they got close enough, even with his charms.

Just as he started to worry that he was lost, Harry saw the abandoned building he recognized from Torchwick's mind. This whole place was pretty creepy, with no people around in years, everything had begun to crumble. He was able to locate the door they needed quickly and, excited at his success, proceeded to open it without a thought. The loud screech the rusted hinges made in protest this movement, had him cursing for not silencing the door first.

"Who's there?" A gruff voice called from down the stairwell. Stepping back quickly, he stood completely still beside the doorway. Heavy footsteps made their way quickly upwards. As the Faunus exited into the room, he gazed around for the intruder leaving his back open to Harry. Raising his wand, the Faunus suddenly sniffed the air and spun towards him. "Stupefy!" The red light shot towards him before he could react. He staggered on impact, but, to Harry's surprise, didn't go down. The Faunus wasn't wearing a mask and from his horn, appeared to be some kind of rhinoceros.

Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, the faunus charged. Harry snapped off a bombardment curse in his direction. This had more effect as he was blasted backwards, but was still back on his feet in seconds and starting his charge all over. Harry panicked trying to think of another spell to try that wasn't potentially lethal. He knew his options were limited, especially with the lack of mobility available inside. Before he had made up his mind, the Faunus was smacked to side with even more force revealing a grinning Nora hefting her warhammer Magnhild.

He dispelled the silencing charms in the room with a wave of his wand. "Thanks Nora."

"No problem fearless leader!" She chirped. "I do accept payment in pancakes though."

"Harry! Why didn't your spell work on him." Pyrrha placed her hand on his shoulder causing him to jump. Only her and Ren still had their disillusionment charms intact and he hadn't seen her approach. He dispelled them with another wave of his wand.

"I had a friend back on Earth who was a half-giant, so he was very big compared to most people. Thicker skin too. It had the side effect of making him very magically resistant. I'm not really sure what kind of Faunus he is, but-"

"Actually, from what I can see, I believe he is a Rhinoceros Faunus. The singular horn on their forehead is quite distinctive for their kind." Ren interjected.

"Thank you Ren. That was actually my first idea as well. Anyway, I believe it may be a similar situation to the friend I just told you about. It's not that my magic didn't work but more that it didn't really affect him. My stunning spell did stagger him slightly, but to most people that would completely knock them out. My bludgeoning curse, which just creates a physical force, worked. Nora's hit just had a bit more… kick to it."

"What are we going to do with him then?" His partner asked.

"Incarcerous!" The unconscious Faunus was bound tightly in ropes. "I should've just tried this in the first place when he attacked me.

"Do you think that will hold him if he wakes?"

"I have to agree with Pyrrha. With the strength he displayed earlier, I believe he may be able to easily break through those." Ren was looking at their captive contemplatively.

"Fine. Let me try something." Harry crouched down beside him. He remembered reading about a spell similar to the one he'd cast that conjured chains instead of ropes That would have been perfect, but he unfortunately had never tried it and could not remember any of the instructions in the book. That's when he got another idea. Twirling his wand over the ropes in an intricate pattern over the ropes. Nothing happened. Growling in frustration, he visualized what he wanted clearly in his mind and cast the spell. The ropes changed colour slightly, and gained a slight lustre but that was all. Resisting the urge to hurl his wand across the room, he took a deep breath, and tried for a third time, this time pushing more magic into it. The ropes turned to steel. Pumping his fist, Harry stood with a grin. He'd heard from many people over the years how his father had been a transfiguration prodigy, but it had never come easy to him. Sure his grades had been decent enough, but it didn't come with the same ease of most charms or new defensive spells.

"Oooo shiny!" Nora announced after looking at what had made Harry so excited.

"What did you do?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well I wanted to conjure to some steel chains to replace the ropes, but I don't know how to do that spell. Then I remembered a task we had to do in transfiguration last year. We were given a wooden block and had to transfigure it into different materials. I decided to apply that here. It has the same shape and structure of the rope from before, but now its steel."

"Transfiguration?"

"Oh, sorry Ren. It's a branch of magic and a required course in school. It's basically turning one thing into another. It's not very exciting in the beginning. In first year, we were just turning matchsticks into needles. The really cool stuff doesn't come until the higher years." Ren nodded in thanks.

"I can't believe he was able to smell you though!"

"That's a good point Nora." Pyrrha was looking between the unconscious Faunus and Harry thoughtfully. "We never thought of that before. Is there anything you can do to mask that?"

"Err… not that I know of." Harry ran his fingers through his hair distractedly as he searched for a solution.

"We'll just have to be careful then. We'll have to hit them before they notice." Ren cautioned. "Even if they do smell us, they probably will be confused if they can't see us. This one was already looking for an intruder at the time."

"That's a good point. Let me recast all our charms, then we'll continue on."

A few minutes later the group was again on the move, slowly descending the staircase in silence towards the abandoned underground city. They didn't meet anyone else until entering the large underground cavern where the majority of the work was being done. It seems they had only left one person upstairs to make sure their entrance was not discovered.

Their first objective was to subdue the White Fang workers as quickly as possible, taking advantage of the element of surprise. They wouldn't be expecting a team of hunters to have infiltrated their base. Moving into their preplanned positions, Harry began counting down in his head. When he reached zero he began casting.

"Stupefy! Incarcerous!" The Faunus in front of him dropped to the ground unconscious and bound. The rest of his team had similar luck, knocking out the surprised workers. Harry followed behind, binding them after his teammates finished with them. Each of them had already dealt with three or four each before the rest of the room had even realised what was going on. That's when the shouting started.

Harry hadn't been worried about his team dealing with the low level White Fang left to guard and work the tunnel, but he knew, if Ozpin's plans were to stay intact, he couldn't let any of them escape, so when he saw a group of the workers running towards the subway tunnel, he cursed himself for not thinking of it earlier. "Confringo!" There was a large explosion over top of the tunnel, as stone came tumbling down essentially sealing off the passage. It seems he'd completed one of his tasks early.

A moment later, another problem presented himself as he spied one of the workers, cowering behind the train, and dialing on his scroll. He was either going to call in for reinforcements or further instructions. Harry couldn't allow that. "Accio Scrolls!" He decided to go for all of them so someone else didn't get the same idea. When upwards of 30 scrolls came pelting his way, including those of his teammates, he decided that may not have been the smartest idea.

The battle was finished quickly after that. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora did most of the fighting, Harry just hung back binding the enemies when needed.

"What happened to our scrolls? It went flying out of my pocket in the middle of the fight. I was so distracted they almost got the upperhand?"

"Ya, about that… sorry guys. I got a little overeager with my spell work. You'll have to dig through all of those to find yours." Harry pointed towards the pile of devices.

"We'll have to search through all of those?" Nora sounded exasperated.

"Well I guess I could always try this. Accio Nora's scroll." The pile shifted as a singular device flew towards him and landed in his outstretched hand. "I guess that worked." Two 'accios' later, his teammates were reunited with their scrolls.

"Should we do anything with all of them yet?" Pyrrha asked motioning towards their captives.

"Not yet. Let's take care of everything else first, and then worry about moving them." Jogging over towards the train, Harry started blasting the wheels off with magic before varnishing them. After that was complete, and some overpowered cutting charms later, Harry was staring at the engine of this beast of a machine. He was happy to note after some experimentation, that the engine and surrounding wiring did not react well to a conjured flame directed at them and sustained over several minutes.

"Harry! I found the dust." Pyrrha voice called to him, drawing them all over to a door that led to a small antechamber. The front area looked like a small scientific laboratory. He could see specifications for the dust powered bombs Harry knew, from Torchwick's mind, that they were planning to build. A quick "incendio" took care of that. Behind that was where the dust was stored. Harry had known they had stolen a lot, especially with the effects it was having on the dust market in Vale, but to see it all, actually in person was staggering.

Ren pulled out a couple of cases they had brought with them, while Harry began the mind numbing task of shrinking the crates all down, and putting them away. He cast featherweight charm on the cases before Ren picked them up. He knew it should last until they arrived back at Beacon seeing as the charm he'd cast on his new cloak had only needed to be reapplied once in the last week.

"Now, time for the hard part." Returning to where their captives were slumped unconscious, Harry noticed one that he was sure he'd seen issuing orders earlier. Dragging him off to the side he checked that his bindings were still secure before enervating him.

As soon as he woke, Harry could see the panic on the Faunus' face. He didn't blame him really, he knew what it was like to wake up bound, thinking back to that horrible night in the graveyard when Voldemort had regained his body. He crouched down level with the prisoner. "I need to know which one of you is responsible for reporting in your progress down here to your boss."

"I won't tell you anything," the Faunus spat. Harry sighed, it looks like he was going to have to try some more intimidation. He only wanted to have to use legilimency again as a last resort.

"Torchwick said much the same thing, and was a much better liar. He spilled all his secrets to me in the end though." Harry hated being like this, it went completely against his nature. He had to pretend he was acting a part just to get through it.

The Faunus, if possible, paled even further, but still looked defiant. "I don't care what that disgusting human did-"

Harry stood, cutting him off. He wandlessly conjured a small breeze with his left hand that flowed through his cloak and ruffled his hair. His wand was in his other hand, glowing brightly as he pumped a little magic into it. The faunus just sneered.

Pumping aura into his arm like Ozpin had shown him, his hand shot out, unnaturally fast, grabbing the Faunus by his shirt, picking him up, and throwing him backwards so he slid across the floor. That was about the extent he could do with the new skills the Headmaster had taught him, if he had try to hold it any longer he would have lost his grip on his aura. The move itself wouldn't hurt the Faunus, but would hopefully throw him off balance and help with the intimidation factor he was aiming for.

"I can ask anyone else here and give them a chance to answer, but I thought I would be generous enough to give you the first opportunity." With a wave of his wand, a circle of flames sprung up around his downed foe, "So… do you have anything to say?"

"H-how are y-you doing this?" The Faunus' voice was trembling.

"That is none of your concern. Now, I will ask one last time. Who is in charge of reporting back your progress to your boss?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, but hurriedly began talking as soon as Harry raised his wand again. "Me! It's me! I'm the one who reports in about our progress." Harry had to fight the urge to smirk. He'd been right about this one seeming to be in charge here. He lazily waved his wand dispelling the flames.

"See, that wasn't so hard. Now, go find your scroll."

"What?"

"Go. Find. Your. Scroll." Harry motioned towards the pile he'd made earlier with his summoning charm.

"Ok! Ok! On it." He scurried over nervously, digging through the pile of devices for a few moments. "Here it is! I found it."

"Stupefy." The faunus slumped towards the ground once again, but Harry managed to accio the scroll he retrieved before it hit the ground. As soon as it was in his hands, he slumped against the nearby wall feeling exhausted. None of the magic he'd used during the mission had been particularly draining, it was more a mental tiredness from having to act like this. He couldn't wait till they had finished taking this Cinder down. Her plans needed to be stopped no matter what, but Harry disliked the methods they had to employ. He wasn't cut out for this kind of subterfuge.

"Woah! Harry, you were like… really scary!" Despite her words, Nora couldn't sound more thrilled by the prospect.

"Are you doing ok?" Pyrrha laid a comforting hand on his shoulder but he just pulled her into a hug. He didn't care that her armor wasn't that conducive to physical contact, simply her presence helped give him the boost he needed to finish the mission.

"Ya, I'm fine." She pulled away obviously not believing him. "I just needed that. We'll talk later."

Stepping back he knelt beside the Faunus he'd been interrogating minutes before, once again. Concentrating on everything that had happened since they'd invaded the underground base he cast, "Obliviate." Then looking back at the Faunus' scroll, that he was still holding, he cast both the confundus and compulsion charms on it and put it back in it's owner's pocket.

"What's that?" It was Ren asking this time.

"I cast a confundus and compulsion charms on his scroll. It should compel him to go about his daily life after he wakes up. Every time he is supposed to contact to his bosses, this should also make him report that everything is going according to plan, and if by some chance we're found out, it should compel him to report that fact to a special phone line that Professor Ozpin set up." Ren nodded. "Now, Pyrrha, can you call ahead to the transport bullhead waiting on standby and let them know we are on our way to the extraction point. Ren, I need you too keep ahold of all the dust until we get there. Nora, I'll need absolute focus to be able to levitate all of the remaining prisoners out of here at once, so I'll need you to watch all our backs and take care of any situations that may arise." At all there nods he continued on, "Ok. Let's head out."

A/N: I know I took some liberties with the confundus charm in this chapter, but the only other way I could think of accomplishing what I wanted was for Harry to use the Imperius curse. At this time I don't think Harry would use an unforgivable when he planned it out ahead of time, so I had to improvise. The only time he tried one so far was on Bellatrix and that was after she'd killed Sirius. When he used the Imperius in Gringotts in canon, he was almost two years older than he is here and lived through a lot worse stuff in the war. I just don't feel it is in character for him.

EDIT: Thanks to Fenerath for the idea to help me figure out the confundus / compulsion charm issue.