Title: On the Bounce
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: All Harry Potter Books/Movies excepting the epilogue.
Rating: MA
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Starship Troopers.
Summary: After the end of the Second Wizarding War, Harry decides that he is done with the Wizarding World, and Hermione goes with him. Welcome to the Mobile Infantry. Crossover with Starship Troopers Book. AU
Harry paused for a moment and took in the breathtaking mountain view in front of him, then the wind caressed his naked body and he shivered before he adjusted his grip on the improvised spear he had sharpened on a sharp rock and began to make his way down the hillside. There was only a month left of the training left and this was one of the final tests, and all the remaining Recruits had been deposited sixty-five kilometres from the camp in virgin mountain territory, naked and without equipment (including Wands), and were given a week to get back to camp.
At the twelve-month mark, the training had moved from the Siberian Tundra into the mountains, and neither Marcus Swartz nor Janet Renault had made it to the camp change. Marcus had never really recovered from his shoulder and hip injury and had been given a medical discharge, while Janet Renault had quit thanks to her inability adapt to the silent casting requirement.
The mountain training had been going on for four months, teaching them all how to operate in mountainous terrain both in and out of Armour. They had also started doing Training Drops from a Navy Ship in orbit as a full Regiment, sometimes back onto their old training grounds on the Tundra and others into the new mountainous terrain, with Harry and Hermione having been trailed as Third Company Commander and Company XO on several occasions, but by no means had they dominated the positions.
At the start of the survival test, Echo Section was down to four Recruits. Harry, Hermione, Tara Mclay and Danny West. Of the other three, one Wizard died in a fall during their mountain climbing lessons; the Witch refused to get into her capsule for a Drop, despite having successfully made several drops before; and the other Wizard had collapsed with no warning during one of the combat exercises and earned himself a medical discharge. Just like Third Company, Echo Section had been reduced from twenty to four, the entire Boot Regiment had been reduced from around two thousand to around a hundred and fifty.
Reaching the bottom of the little valley, Harry turned slightly south of west, even though the camp was slightly north of west from his location. It was the second day of the trial and Harry was only twelve kilometres from where he had been dropped of the day before. The night before he had hunkered down under a ledge and shivered through the night.
Despite the gnawing hunger, Harry kept walking trying to ignore the chirping of insects, until at around midday the insects suddenly went completely silent. Harry immediately went on guard with his spear held ready. A large cat burst out of the bush heading directly for Harry. As he braced for the cat's attack, the cat was hit in the shoulder by a flying rock which came from Harry's left which slowed the cat enough for Harry to thrust his spear into the cat's neck and step out of its path.
Harry made sure to keep a bit of distance from the downed cat as it clawed at the ground in its death throws. Hermione came out of the bushes where the rock had been thrown from. Even though he had seen her just the day before, seeing Hermione walking out of the bush was like he had not seen her for months. She ran her hand through her short hair, something that still seemed a bit odd after almost a year and a half, as she approached.
Hermione proceeded to build a fire and light it, with a lot of effort, with a crudely made fire bow as Harry skinned and butchered the cat with a sharp rock. After cooking and eating their fill of the cat, they wrapped the remaining meat up in sheets of bark from a nearby tree, with the hide wrapped around them. That afternoon they made decent time for a few hours towards the camp until the snow started to fall, at first it was a light dusting so they continued but soon it got heavier and began to obscure the visibility.
Harry was the first one to spot the small hollow that was formed by a fallen tree which had a depression underneath, which had been hollowed out by flowing meltwater some previous spring. They had to dig out the accumulated snow that had settled in the hollow, but they used the snow to build up a semi packed 'wind break' on the exposed side as they settled into the depression, just barely large enough for them both to squeeze in.
As they were stuck in their little hollow for the duration of the snowfall, which made it dark enough that they could not do any precision work, like making makeshift clothes out of the Cat's skin, they fell back on the age old Solder's pastime… sleep. As Hermione snuggled into Harry's front, in order to share body heat, for a moment he was slightly grateful that the MI had cut her hair and it had only grown out some, barely reaching her shoulders and usually kept in a loose ponytail, because if she had her old wild mane of hair he would have choked to death on it. The settling into sleeping caused an unexpected shift and 'little Harry' ended up in the crack of Hermione's ass, not penetrating anything just 'nestled' in there. Slightly embarrassed at the involuntary re-arrangement, Harry tried to shift his position, but Hermione simply touched his arm.
"Don't." she said quietly. "It feels good, and flattering."
Harry remained still and tried not to think about anything arousing, and that was monumentally difficult, until he fell asleep from exhaustion. When he awoke the following morning, Hermione was not snuggled up to him. Stepping out of the hollow, Harry saw Hermione with a sharp rock finishing off cutting up the Cat's pelt into a pair of loincloths, a chest wrap for her and two pair of moccasins. After a meal of cold, cooked cat meat and dressing in their new makeshift clothes, they moved out.
It took them another three days, trying to keep to the valleys as much as possible and eating the remainder of the cat meat and some berries they found along the way. In an odd kind of way, it reminded Harry of the Horcrux Hunt, particularly the later part of the Hunt after Ron had left. Several times, for a few hours at a time, the two of them started to chat and joke as they walked, but soon enough the scars from the end of the War bore down on them and they would fall into silence.
When they arrived at the camp, there were only two Recruits who had arrived before them and it was only by under an hour. Of the next two days all of remaining Recruits returned, with Tara Mclay returning several hours after Harry and Hermione and Danny West returning the next morning.
Harry and Hermione stood on the road side with their kitbags, both dressed in their MI uniforms as newly minted Privates. They had a few day's leave between graduating from Boot Camp and having to report to their shuttle to their Platoon, both of them having been assigned to the same Platoon.
After the Alpine Survival Test there were a few more exercises and then the 'final exam' which was a Drop onto the Moon, where they were launched out of the Launch Tubes at three-hundred feet and they had to land with nothing but their Jump Jets.
"You ready for this?" Hermione asked, looking across at Harry.
"Rather be back in those mountains naked." Harry replied. "Come on, let's get this over with."
With Hermione's parents in Australia with no memory of her, and Harry having no desire to ever see the Dursleys again, this was the only family they had left. Approaching the house, and knocked on the door of the Burrow. A moment later the door opened to reveal Fleur.
"Arry! Mione!" Fleur said with delight, giving them each a hug in turn. "Come in."
They waked into the Burrow and found the entire Weasley Clan, along with Luna Lovegood. Luna had been staying with the Weasleys since the end of the war as her Father had been killed prior to the Battle of Hogwarts. It was Sunday, and almost lunchtime, so they had all come for the weekly Weasley Lunch. Ron and Ginny both jumped up when they saw the new arrivals, then stopped as they really looked at them, the uniforms; their posture and their kit bags. Fleur went back to her place besides Bill, with Charlie also on the same couch. Luna smiled at them from across the room. Percy and his wife, Penelope, were over next to George and Angelina. Arthur and Molly were standing by the door to the kitchen.
While Ginny and Ron stood stunned, Luna pushed past and hugged both Harry and Hermione at the same time.
"I missed you." Luna said. "When are you shipping out?"
"Shipping out?" Penelope asked.
"They have finished Basic Training and have a few days before they ship out to their unit." Charlie replied. "So, you two posted together?"
Harry and Hermione both nodded together, relaxing into parade rest.
"We have forty-eight hours." Hermione said.
The group moved to the massive Weasley Dining Table and enough food was brought out to feed a squad of MI, and most of those present tried to eat like Troopers, only Ron, who always ate that much, Harry and Hermione, who were Troopers, actually managed to eat that much. Talk went back and forth amongst the Weasley Clan but Harry, Hermione and Luna were mostly silent. Ron was at the Auror Academy and Ginny was in the reserve grade team for the Hollyhead Harpies. The rest were still continuing with what they had been doing before Harry and Hermione had joined up. Percy, Penny and Arthur at the Ministry; Charlie at the Dragon Reserve; Bill and Fleur at Gringotts and George running Weasley Wizarding Wheezes with Angelina.
"Neville joined up six months ago." Luna said in a lull in the conversation. "I am considering joining up too."
The Weasleys went silent at this comment. The topic of the Federation was… touchy amongst the redheads.
"Which service did he choose?" Hermione asked.
"He went to the Combat Engineers." Luna replied. "I was thinking R&D or Intel."
"Good luck." Harry said. "We can always use good R&D or Intel people, if you can cut it."
"Combat Engineers seems a good fit for Neville." Hermione added. "He did not have the disposition for the MI, but he has the guts and work ethic that would do him well in the Combat Engineers."
Harry and Hermione spent most of the rest of their leave chatting with Luna, letting her know that Federal Service was not something to undertake lightly and there was a real possibility of debilitating injury or death, though it was less for R&D or Intel personnel than for MI any Federal Service was potentially dangerous.
When Harry and Hermione reported to the Federal Recruiting Station in London two days later, where their shuttle was to depart from, they were joined by Luna. The same MI Recruiting Sergeant that had been there the day Harry and Hermione had signed up was sitting behind the recruiting desk.
"Sergeant." Harry said as the approached.
"Potter and Granger, right?" The Sergeant asked. "Looks like you made it through Boot, Privates."
"We're reporting for deployment, but we have a friend who wants to join up." Hermione said.
"My name is Luna Lovegood." Luna said, then remembered something Harry had said. "I am M Class."
The Sergeant looked up at Harry and Hermione with a slight frown.
"You know; I've been Recruiting Sergeant for almost ten years. You two were the first M Class to come through here in that time, and now Miss Lovegood is the fifth, not including you two, in the last eighteen months."
Harry and Hermione just shrugged. They left Luna when Major Abbott arrived to escort her for her interviews and testing, moving off to the Shuttle Departure area to await their shuttle.
TBC…
