"So that's why the aegis aventum shield doesn't work on normal attacks, because it's fundamentally based on repulsing dark magic?" Katerina questioned. Ira nodded.

"Exactly, to be-duck!" she barked, throwing herself to the ground as a spell narrowly missed the top of their head. Quickly regaining their footing, they went back to back, their wands out and eyeing the corridor with suspicion.

One of the doors slammed, shut, and Katerina charged forward intending to pursue. She turned, intending to stop the other girl, when a spell clipped her shoulder, causing Ira to let out a pained gasp as she tried to turn.

But momentum was against her, and in the two seconds it took for her to turn back, another spell had struck her in the stomach, propelling her back and causing a sickening crack to erupt from her chest. She tumbled right onto Katerina, who caught her, only to be forced to let her go and shield against several more spells.

"Show yourself!" Katerina barked shakily, though there was no response for several seconds. Narrowing her eyes, she threw herself to the ground when a barrage of spells suddenly were cast from behind her, narrowly missing doing any actual damage, though a nasty orange cutting curse had clipped off several strands of hair and pricked her left ear, which was now bleeding slightly.

"Why...why are you doing this?" Katerina demanded, cursing herself for the stutter in her voice.

"Power," a disembodied voice returned, just as the door to her side burst open and a salvo of spellfire erupted from her flank, slamming her against the corridor wall and knocking her unconscious.

-Break-

Harry was meditating when he felt a knock against the wards of his common room. Standing up, he leisurely strolled to the door, opening it, and relaxed at the sight of Amanda Hurst.

"Professor, how ma-"

"Can I come in? There is urgent business not meant for prying ears," she whispered almost pleadingly. Frowning, he nodded, stepping aside to allow Amanda inside. "Thank you. I just received word from the hospital wing...many students are injured, the notable ones having associated with you."

"I see," Harry muttered, "a show of strength then. Very well, this demands a blood sacrifice. Thank you for alerting me professor."

Stalking out of his common room, he headed down the corridor, passing the transfiguration level and arriving at the medical wing to see that there were several dozen students injured and unconscious. He passed most of them, until arriving by the bedside of Katerina.

Casting an enneverate, he watched as he staggered for breath, and quickly met her gaze. "Calm. Who did this?"

"I don't know," she admitted guiltily. "They attacked from the shadows, I never got a glimpse of them. There were probably several attackers."

"I see...where is Ira?"

"Unconscious, two beds over," she answered, causing his eyes to widen briefly in surprise.

"Rest well, my dear. I'll get to the bottom of this," he promised, discreetly casting a sleeping spell to preempt any protests. She would be of little use in her current condition. Stalking over to Ira's bed, he frowned to see a mediwitch working over her frantically.

"Mediwitch, what's her prognosis?"

"Bad but stable. Her cracked ribs punctured her lungs. She's lucky to be alive. I've managed to stop the bleeding, but the blood will need to be drained out and the tissue repaired," the mediwitch answered.

"How long till she's recovered?"

"Probably four days." Harry inclined his head in thanks, cursing internally. His mind was running apace as he wandered back out, talking with several members of the neutral faction who had also been attacked. They sprouted similar stories, of being attacked and knocked unconscious, though Harry was not interested in that. They were all frightened, and frightened people did irrational things. He knew he would soon need a show of strength lest everything he worked for was undermined.

Walking towards the reception, he picked up the logs and inspected them. The patients arrived separately in small groups, though given they were unconscious, he could not firmly establish any reliable timeline.

It was a brilliant power play, he admitted. He had identified his allies as a potential liability, and thus tried to train them, but it had not been enough. That even Ira was injured so severely belayed the fact that at least some of the attackers were far beyond what any student could do. This was the work of professors.

Knowing he could achieve little more here, he ascended the several sets of staircases that would take him to the highmaster's office. When he arrived, he knocked on the door, before entering.

The highmaster's office was large and opulent. On one side, there was a stuffed grizzly bear, its claws extended as though ready to maul an invisible opponent to death. Various artifacts and trinkets dotted the wallspace around the office. Harry idly noted the details, however unimportant they may seem.

"Yes?" a grouchy highmaster Karkoff looked up.

"There's been a series of attacks on students," Harry explained calmly.

"That's normal. Just a bit of hazing. The medical wing will sort it out," the highmaster waved off. Harry sighed, it seemed there would be little point in trying to push the highmaster for anything.

"Very well, as assembly master, I am invoking my right to address the school at tonight's dinner."

"Done, is there anything else?" Karkoff barked.

"I need to inspect the oaths of all the professors."

"What?" Karkoff scoffed. "Impossible, no student has been allowed access, and I'm not about to defy that."

"The scale of attacks was unprecedented. Ira Ivarin, one of the most talented combatants in the world, period, was stuck down and is now in intensive care," Harry countered. "I daresay there is no student who could have achieved that."

"Are you accusing a professor of this...incident?"

"Yes."

"If I give them to you, will you leave my office?"

"Expediently."

"Fine," Karkoff spat. Harry resisted the urge to appear incredulous, instead accepting the stack of oaths and quickly turning on his heel, leaving the room.

-Break-

"Before the feast commences, assembly master White has invoked his right to address the school," Karkoff acknowledged grudgingly. Harry nodded in thanks, walking to the podium.

"Students, as many of you will be aware, there was a series of coordinated attacks today on a scale nearly unprecedented. As of now, there are over one hundred and thirty students in the medical wing. This is unacceptable." His gaze swept across the room, noting down the individuals who seemed to be defiant.

"You all know what happened when I was irritated with Ira Ivarin. I am now annoyed. Step forward, and there may be leniency. Otherwise, be prepared when the walls of Durmstrang are painted with blood. All members of the neutral faction are to convene in the guild hall after dinner tonight. That is all."

Stepping down from the podium, he stormed out of the hall as chatter erupted from the various gathered students. He had no appetite right now, he had plans to draw up.

-Break-

The gathered members of the neutral guilds which were not injured, numbering somewhere in the five hundreds, all waited nervously as he sat in the guildmaster's chair. After counting that most if not all members were here, he flicked his wand, slamming all the doors shut and forcing a silence to descend on the gathered members.

"I will speak bluntly, what we witnessed was a coordinated attack against the neutrals. It has scarcely been three weeks, and already, our enemies have gathered strength and struck at us. I have investigated the issue, and it is my belief, that at least part of the attacks were the work of a professor."

He allowed the chaos that arose from his announcement to rupture for several moments before raising his hand for silence. "After being granted access to the oaths of the professors, I have found that they are not as secure as we have been led to believe. While I am not at liberty to share such details, know that our very livelihoods are being threatened."

He paused, allowing the muttering between the students gathered to flow for several moments before speaking again.

"The professors cannot be trusted. They have the means, but also a motive. For far too long, this assembly has been fractured and weakened, such that the board and the professors, so long as they reach an accord, can act with impunity. Now that such is threatened by our reforms, they seek to undermine us!" he proclaimed. Shouts of anger spontaneously erupted, and the tension was palpable in the air.

"Will we stand for this?" Harry challenged them. Shouts of 'no' quickly turned into a rallying cry, as the students stamped their feets and banged their fists in unison. Harry allowed this to continue, until he felt the momentum start to ebb, and raised his hand for silence.

"When we are no longer safe, when we are threatened, bullied, harassed, there is only one answer. A call to arms! Now that we would stand up for ourselves, we are assailed from all sides. Know this: we have no one to rely on but each other. With much of the guild leaders representing us incapacitated, until this crisis has abated, I am asking for you to vest in me emergency powers to consolidate our faction and ensure the safety of our members."

There was a silence as the gravity of the situation settled in, before one member shouted, "To arms!"

This seemed to rally the entire room into a frenzy. Harry allowed it to continue for several minutes, before signalling for silence again.

"It has become clear...that whatever differences we may have had must be set aside. From now on, all guilds are henceforth to be reorganised into groups of seven. Your guild shall be your family, you shall be the first line of defence against any attackers. You will protect each other, care for each other and learn from each other. Make no mistake, we live in dangerous times. I will be personally leading self-defense sessions every Tuesday night. I implore you all to attend, if not for yourself, then for your friends. I also encourage each reorganised guild to practice group fighting. Learn to work as a unit, to protect each other. Only then, can your security be assured. For unity!"

"Unity! Unity! Unity!" the chants echoed, shaking the very foundations of the guild hall. Harry merely raised his ring solemnly in acknowledgement of this.

-Break-

"I now call this staff meeting to order," highmaster Karkoff announced gravely. The professors were all clearly agitated, some more than others. "Let us begin with the most pressing issue, the increased amount of incidents between students."

"It's spiralling out of control! There might as well be a full on gang war with the amount of students being sent to the infirmary!" Professor Petrov sighed worriedly. "Something must be done about this?"

"What can be done? White has essentially created his own personal army and declared war on the rest of the school," Ivarin growled. "I say we expel the brat, maybe the tensions will die down then."

"Your personal grudge against White aside," Hurst chided, meeting his gaze unflinchingly, "the situation is at a boiling point. I believe a series of de-escalations will be needed to ensure the survival of the school."

"What do you propose?" Irman asked. "Mister White has made it clear that his faction will return any aggression faced twofold, and we still have no leads to who the culprits behind the original attacks were."

"Find a few kids as scapegoats, expel them and be done with this then," Ivarin grunted. Several of the other professors expressed their outrage. "If anyone has any better ideas, I'm all for it. As is, we're getting nearly fatal injuries every third day, classes are nearly non-functional with the three way hostilities, and every activity has turned into a proxy war. Raids on dorms and common rooms will begin in weeks, mark my words."

"As...reluctant as I am to do so, Isard is correct," Hurst noted grudgingly. "I believe the best course of action would be to find the culprits behind the attack. It is clearly the only way to end this crisis."

"If you have any method of doing so that we have not explored, I welcome it," Karkoff sighed.

"How can we? The students all seem to distrust us. They're creating alibis for their allies, such that we can't even punish the brats! White must have put it in their heads that one of us was responsible."

"And is he wrong?" Hurst questioned. "No student would have been capable of such...an atrocity! Frankly, if I were him, you would be my prime suspect, Isard. Afterall, you're one of the few who might have taken down your daughter with such ease, not to mention your grudge against White…"

"I would hardly waste my time with such trivialities," Ivarin snorted. "Why not ask White? He seems to be the one who benefits from all this!"

"Are you accusing mister White of such savage attacks against his own friends? This is a low, even for you, Isard, especially when you so often call him an incompotent dunderhead. So which is it, is he talented enough to pull such a feat off, or a dunderhead?"

"Enough!" Karkoff barked, slamming his fist on the table. "It is clear that nothing will be resolved through discussion here. Just do what you can to end this mess. That is all."

With that, the highmaster stormed out of the meeting room, though this surprised none of the professors assembled, as they all dispersed to attend to their own duties.

-Break-

"One!" The four shielders in each group of seven dropped their shields.

"Two!" The three behind them fired off their spells.

"Three!" The four shielders in each group of seven raised their shields again.

"One! Two! Three! One! Two! Three!" he barked, on and on as each group continued to practice their defensive techniques. Occasionally, he would fire a weak blasting curse at the shielders, testing the integrity of their defenses. The exercise continued for thirty minutes, before he finally called for a stop, and the sweaty members gathered around him, coalescing like an army around their general.

"You have all improved significantly, and for that, be very proud," he complimented, causing grins to emerge on most of the members present. "Keep practising. In reality, there will be no one to yell one two three to you. An enemy will not alert you before they fire a spell. You must be able to identify the threat, alert your comrades and raise a defence in a matter of seconds. That is no easy feat, and only through repetition can it be achieved. Learn to read each other. Casters, I want you to know before the shield has dropped what spell you are going to fire, where you are going to fire it and when you will fire it. Shielders, you need to be in sync with each other as well as the casters. When the caster is ready to fire, your shield should have dropped."

Determined nods were given, and he smiled. "But you have all done well. Rest now, and send the next group in."

"Yes sir!" the members barked, quickly vacating the duelling arena. Another group of roughly one hundred fifty replaced them, causing him to smile.

"Welcome everyone. You're the last batch to require basic, so don't worry, I've done this four times with others already," he joked, drawing out several laughs. "Before we can get to training, we need to understand what the difference between a group fight and an individual fight is. When you fight alone, you are free to act as an independent. You choose when to dodge, what to cast, where to change positions to. In a group, you do not have such a luxury. You are an appendage to an organism, and must act as such. Let us start with the most basic training. Pair up."

Quickly, the people around partnered with those next to them, eliciting a smile from Harry. How quickly the barriers and minute differences between them had been swept aside in favour of unity when they were attacked.

"While there are many fighting forms, I will be teaching you the basics. One of you will shield while the other casts. This strategy is effective for fighting against an enemy on one side. You might believe it easy, but let me assure you, it is not." He paused, meeting the gazes of those around him. "You don't believe me. Fine, each pair is to find another. Take turns trying to cast at each other. Let's see if any of you actually manage it."

Eagerly, the groups matched, and began trying to coordinate. As expected, more often than not, shields were not cast when they needed to be, or otherwise were up when a caster attacked, rendering their spell unable to reach their opponent. After several minutes of this chaos, he called them back around, and it was a much more demure group that faced him.

"As you can see, it is not easy. Fundamentally, the thinking is different. Your caster and shielder must be in perfect sync. When an opportunity presents itself, you might have one second between identifying it, to the shielder lowering their shield, to the caster firing their spell, to the shielder reraising their shield. Aurors are trained for years with the same partner because of how difficult this is," he lectured, receiving nods of understanding. "Though admittedly, I haven't been fair to you."

Several chuckles were given. "You do not just pair up with random people, or even your friends. Everyone's styles have minute differences, which means there are better pairings and worse pairings. Two excellent fighters with poor coordination might well lose to two poor fighters with excellent coordination. Remember when I faced each of you in individual duels? That was to find each of your styles and optimise your pairings. The group here I have selected is not coincidental. This morning, you were each given a slip of paper. Find that person now."

With mutters of appreciation, the group shuffled around, trying to find their pairings. It took several minutes, but eventually everyone was paired up. "Excellent. Now, I want you to divide between shielder and caster."

He allowed several minutes for the discussions to happen, trusting in their judgement. Upon seeing most had decided, he gathered their attention again.

"Shielders, please follow Ira to the far side of the room. Casters, you are with me." The groups quickly separated, until he was left with half the group facing him eagerly. "Right, casters, you have the easier job. Wherever you see an opportunity, you fire a spell. Simple, right?"

Several uneasy nods were given, though most looked unsure.

Form a ring around me," he ordered, "two steps between each of you, ensure you've got enough space."

When they had done this, he raised a shield around him, the massive blue dome nearly forty meters in diameter. Most merely stared in awe. "I will drop the shield at random intervals. Do your best to hit me."

After several seconds, he dropped the shield, and several hundred spells were sent at him, causing him to grunt slightly in exertion. However, all of them had impacted against his shield, none of the individuals having casted fast enough to penetrate the shield. He repeated this several times more, before gesturing for a stop.

"Not so easy, is it?" he teased, receiving several embarrassed chuckles. "There is no shame in this, in a week, I will give you the foundation to become proper fighters. Now, let us practice our casting speed and reflexes with a game."

He conjured several rubber balls, and the shivers he received elicited a feral grin from Harry.

-Break-

Harry frowned as he traced a finger along the wardstone protecting the Lost's common room. He had hosted hundreds of other students and several professors, and by extension had to weaken his wards to accommodate for such. It was not ideal, but until he found time to refurbish the common rooms of the other neutral guilds, he would have to live with it.

Yet there was something different about the stone. Frowning, he reached out with his magic, sensing a foreign presence not his own. Suddenly, a smile emerged on his face, and he left the wardstone, humming a merry tune.

Author Note:
So you thought Harry was going to have smooth sailing? Wrong fic, buddy, this isn't one of those wish-fulfillment fantasies! So we have a cold war brewing in the halls of Durmstrang. Ironic, no? That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I want to welcome you to the final major arc of the story before the year ends. Who is behind the attacks? What is their motive? Be sure to leave your speculations in the comments!

Now I wish to address Lukasekpazour's comment on whether there will be more exploration of the Magical Baltic Union. To that, absolutely! Over the summer, a large chunk of time will be spent in the MBU, where we're going to see a bit of the politics and social situation play out. You also mentioned Russia, so I'll touch on that briefly. I have big plans for Russia in the future, though we're going to see that play out probably between Year 5 and Year 6, so unfortunately it'll be a while until we get to that. There are reasons why it cannot happen right now, though I get your frustration, it's fascinating. I'm definitely hoping to use the summers to flesh out more magical cultures as Harry travels around the world to explore, buy stuff, and in the future, perhaps complete 'missions'. Thank you for your comment, and for sticking around!

I want to thank you all for absolutely smashing it in terms of support, yesterday we broke 1.3k reads, taking our total to 7500 and total visitor count to 1500. As always, if you enjoyed, follow, favourite, share and leave a comment, even if just to say hi!