Tired
"ONE"
What had he been thinking?
"TWO"
Three weeks of hell.
"THREE"
He just had to say yes, didn't he?
"FOUR"
Anything to help in his fight, anything.
"FIVE"
His back felt like hell.
"SIX"
The ground underneath gave nothing to him, it was grim and unyielding.
"SEVEN"
Kind of like the voice, it too was grim and unyielding.
"EIGHT"
He had to make it through this last set.
"NINE"
Was this worth it? It had to be, he refused to believe this was fates joke on him.
"TEN"
At last, it was finished.
"Well done, Harry, we'll just have a short jog to cool down and then you can go get ready for breakfast." Lupin said as they started to jog around the lake.
"Slave driver" Harry muttered under his breath.
"What was that, Harry?" Lupin asked in a completely innocent voice.
Harry just shook his head and moved ahead of the werewolf, focusing just on breathing, putting one foot in front of the other. He knew damn well that Lupin had heard what he said, he knew he would pay for it in the next session.
He thought back to their first training session three weeks ago, he had just intended to continue with physical conditioning, running, stretching and some light weights. Lupin had suggested that he learn some self-defence, Harry had thought this a bit strange, Lupin didn't really look like someone who could fight someone physically but as with many things, the surface is deceptive.
Lupin during the time between his parents death and now had actually travelled at points, he had studied various fighting techniques in different places. He suggested to Harry that he could learn how to defend himself if his wand was taken away. The way he had put it had made sense to Harry, and the possibility of Voldemort being defeated by muggle means appealed to Harry's sense of irony.
Harry accepted and was eager to learn, now three weeks later, three weeks of absolute hell six mornings a week, he still wanted to learn but the reality of the training had dispelled the novelty of the training. Lupin wasn't teaching him any specific fighting technique, he was teaching him how to fight and survive.
At the first training session, Lupin said, "Fighting is about surviving, it doesn't matter how you fight, it matters that you survive. If you have to use what you consider a dirty tactic to win, then use it. Anyone you are fighting is out to hurt you or kill you, you have to stop them. If you are in a bar and get into a fight, don't try anything fancy, pick up the nearest chair and smash them over the head, then get the hell out of there. The only winner in a fight is the one that can walk away at the end."
Harry thought that Lupin was being a bit melodramatic but after three weeks of hard drilling, three weeks of getting knocked on his ass, he realised that Lupin was right. Voldemort wasn't going to fight as fair as Lupin did, nor would any Death Eater.
The training was split into two sections, the first was fitness and conditioning. Lupin said that if you can't last then you've lost. Three mornings a week consisted of running, stretching, circuit and weight training. Harry was making progress in his fitness, he had cut four seconds off his best mile time since he set it three weeks before returning to school. He could last longer running, he no longer felt as sore the next day. He could lift more than he used to, in general his fitness and strength were increasing quite well.
The other part of the training was the actual fight training that took the other three mornings. Mostly in the three weeks, they had covered how to fall. Harry had been taught how to roll out of a fall, how to minimise the damage caused by hitting the ground, how to have minimum exposure to follow up hits. He was trained outside on the ground, Lupin said there was no point in training on mats when in the real world you could fighting on any surface. This proved an incentive, the first three days of this training had been incredibly painful when Harry didn't do something right. Now he tried as hard as possible to get things first time, he still got numerous bruises and cuts but they were manageable, spurring him on in his training. It would be painful in a fight but exposure to now would give him some preparation.
Lupin had drilled into him that physical fighting was different from duelling, you couldn't just dodge a person like a curse. The person could adapt as you move unlike the curse, you constantly had to be aware, constantly had to watch the other person. Part of the training was having Lupin attack Harry and Harry had to dodge each hit, if he was hit then he had to get back up to block the next or be hit on the ground. It was brutal at times but it bloody well made him learn.
In the last week, Lupin had begun drills on punching, how to hold your hand so it didn't get hurt, how to stand, how to put energy behind the punch. Harry always thought punching would be simple but now he realised that the way most people punched was bad technique and could hurt the puncher as much as the target.
As much as it was sore, as much as getting up earlier than everyone else was annoying, he was immensely grateful to Lupin for the training and help he was giving to Harry.
They finally reached the castle doors and made their way to the Gryffindor tower where they bid goodbye to each other.
--
On September 24th, the Daily Prophet carried a shocking story, the wizarding community in Britain was thrown in turmoil as one of its most noted law enforcers was found dead in their home.
From the Daily Prophet, September 24th Morning Edition.
Death of Deputy Director of Magical Law Enforcement
The shocking discovery of the corpses of Deputy Director of Magical Law Enforcement, Misha Langford and her family at their home last night has led to serious questions being asked about the security and safety of citizens of the British wizarding community.
Mrs Langford, her husband and their two children were found dead at 6:30pm last night as a courier attempted to drop some important documents off at the Deputy Director's home. Currently the courier is unavailable for comment and is undergoing treatment for shock after discovering the family.
Mrs Langford was a decorated Auror, most active during the period of You-Know-Who, where she fought Death Eaters with zeal and determination found in few people. After the downfall of the Dark Lord, she moved to the training facilities for the Aurors to improve and redesign the training regime. After six years, she was promoted into the post of Assistant Chief of London Aurors. Her no-nonsense professional attitude had won her many supporters among her peers, who supported her promotion through the ranks to the post of Deputy Director. It was highly suspected that the current Director would be retiring after fifteen years service in the post in two years time and that Mrs Langford would be taking over. Now this plan has been left in ruins, and a great loss to the Auror service.
A press conference describing the deaths of the family was held late last night. The department has no solid leads on which to act, there is no evidence linking the murders to any known group or individuals.
The Auror, Nigel Taylor, gave a brief overview of the condition of the corpses, describing horrific acts perpetrated upon them. A brief description is provided on page 2, please note that young children and sensitive people should avoid this description.
Taylor then went on to describe that the murders were a mix of muggle and magical methods, meaning that there were most likely a number of attackers who possibly had muggles or muggle-raised persons among them.
The Aurors would appreciate any information or witnesses to the crime and a reward for useful information has been made available not only from the Law Enforcement Corps but the Ministry itself.
Minister Fudge has commented that this is a dark day for the wizarding community and that every effort would be made to find the perpetrators.
Reporter L. Orwen
Page 2:
Mutilation of Decorated Auror and Family
The shocking deaths of the Deputy Director and her family were compounded by the method of death. It is known by all that the Killing Curse is the most serious of Unforgivables but that curse seems tame in comparison to the method of death used in this case.
The Deputy's children, Liana 6 and Michael 4, were found hanging in the kitchen. Both causes of death were from a broken neck. We can only thank Merlin these innocent children did not suffer more.
The Deputy Director was found in the main living room, tied spread-eagle on the floor. She had been cut from groin to sternum, with a muggle scalpel, and her internal organs removed. No sign of these organs was found. The killing appears to have had a ritualistic motive, according to the experts from the Auror division. The most horrifying aspect of the crime was that Mrs Langford was forced to remain conscious as long as possible during the extraction through means of a Consciousness potion, the remains of which were found near the body. We can only imagine what the pain was like, the brave woman had screamed so much that her vocal cords had burst.
The criminals not content with mutilating the woman forced her husband to watch from above, the late Mr Langford was found nailed hands and feet to the ceiling above his wife. Mr Langford had died from blood loss from deep cuts on all four limbs and his main torso. Experts believe he died shortly after Mrs Langford. The man was forced to watch, unable to look away or shut his eyes, as butchers eviscerated his wife; his eyes had been physically stitched open, his head held in place.
The Auror division believes that the killings were part of a ritual, the removal of the organs lends credence to the theory. However, they are unable to further their theories at this point due to lack of information.
We would ask anyone who was in the neighbourhood of the Deputy's home to come forward and describe anything that may have happened that night.
Reporter J. Jamieson
--
For the last few weeks Harry had been helping Professor Lupin teach the first year DADA course, the work while basic for Harry had given him an insight into the effort the teachers had to make when working with the students. Harry's duties, up till now, mostly involved helping with the practical work, marking homework and giving individual help to the students.
This was changing; today Harry was leading the lesson. Lupin had decided it was time for Harry to deal with a topic by himself, Lupin would still be in the room but Harry was in charge. Harry felt nervous, this was different to anything he'd done before, teaching was so new to him. He didn't know if he was doing it right or not, he hoped Lupin would step in if he was doing something wrong, he hoped the kids wouldn't think him stupid or boring. He kept running through everything that could happen in his head. He rose from his chair, took a deep breath and calmed himself before the students entered.
Harry stood at the front of the class as the first year Gryffindor and Slytherin students entered and took their seats. No one ever dawdled into this class, not even the Slytherins dared to be late, nor would they want to. The DADA lessons were fast becoming the favourite ones of the first year students. Lupin and Harry made a good team teaching the students, Lupin had a vast array of knowledge and experience, Harry had his own experience but was easy to relate to for the students because of his young age. They had few behaviour problems, no one wanted to piss off a werewolf or the Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry took the register for the class but no one was missing. He saw his young friend Samantha sitting in the front row, her parchment and quill at the ready like usual. She wasn't the best student ever but she tried and got good marks for her efforts. She often came with Professor Lupin and himself to visit Hagrid when they had time, she loved the animals that Hagrid had and was the best student in his Care of Magical Creatures class.
On the board, Harry had written two phrases, 'Pureblood' and 'Muggle-born', he asked the class what the difference between them was. The predominate answer was that a pureblood had magical parentage while a muggle-born was from a non-magical family.
"That's is correct, but are there any other differences?" Harry continued.
The class looked at him confused, then a Slytherin said a lot of the older students in his house considered purebloods better than anything else and that they were a superior breed of wizard, or to quote one of the older students, "The only type of wizard that should be allowed."
"Does anyone in here believe that is the case?" Harry asked.
The whole class shook their heads.
"Why not?"
The answers were slow in coming but eventually Harry managed to get out of them that they didn't see what was different between the two groups, neither one was more powerful or smarter magically speaking.
"That's right, there is no real difference between the two groups, there is only one group, and that is the group of magical people we call wizards and witches. Some people would have you believe that purity of the blood is a measure of worthiness as a wizard. That is bull, its rubbish and anyone who tells you that is an idiot. I know for some of you, that the older students or even your families may tell you that but I am telling you now that it is wrong. Professor Dumbledore doesn't think that, he believes everyone is equal, Professor McGonagall doesn't believe it, Professor Lupin doesn't believe it. Only narrow minded individuals believe it."
"We see in the muggle world how discrimination like this can grow out of control, who knows anything about what was called World War II?"
Most of the students, muggle-born or not had heard of this war, it had been to big to be ignored and had infringed upon wizard society as well as muggle.
"Hitler was a person with a delusion vision that one group of people were superior to another, he feared certain groups of individuals. He hunted them down, put them in camps and killed them. He degraded them, he stole from them yet people still supported him. Fear of others is an easy thing for a person like Hitler to play on, he used the fear of others to get power for himself. He was wrong, millions of people died in the war, not just from fighting but more due to the atrocities committed by Hitler and his regime. Can anyone tell me what this has to do with the Dark Arts?"
The students looked a bit confused at this but Lupin sat at the back of the room watching his student draw the younger ones into what they had to know.
"Can anyone tell me who wanted to purge the wizarding world of those not of pureblood?"
"You-Know-Who" came the answer.
Harry feigned ignorance, "I'm sorry, who?"
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" came a second answer.
Again, Harry put on ignorance, "I'm not sure who you mean?"
"Voldemort" came a quiet voice.
"That's right, Voldemort." Harry said in a loud voice.
He looked at the room as everyone flinched at the name, these students weren't even born the first time he was around and they still feared him.
"Voldemort is our version of Hitler, he wants to get rid of those not of pureblood. As you may or may not know, Voldemort has returned to the world. I am not going to go into how," Harry paused, a brief flashback played in his head, "but you do have to know about him."
"Voldemort is a ruthless killer, he will maim, torture and kill for anything, even if it is just for his pleasure. He kills those he calls 'mudblood' or 'half-breed' because they are not of pureblood as he calls it. We teach this course, Defence against the Dark Arts so you have some basic defence skills against the darkness in wizarding society, but I will say this, if you ever think Voldemort is around, do not try to face him. He is one of the most evil and powerful beings ever, you should not try to face him, leave fighting him to those who are trained to fight him, only ever face him if you cannot get away from him. You are all flinching when I say his name, you have to learn to stop that. Hitler was just as evil but you don't flinch now when his name is spoken, Voldemort is powerful and evil, you should be scared of him. He wouldn't think twice about killing you, but do not be afraid to speak his name, he is not going to appear and strike you dead. By not speaking his name you give him power over you. Now I would like each person in the class to say his name."
Harry made each student speak his name, some of them stumbled over it repeatedly but eventually he managed to get them all to say his name.
"Now that you have all said his name here, I don't want to hear about you calling him You-know-who again, his name is Voldemort and call him such or his other name is Tom Marvelo Riddle. You can call him either of these but never fear saying his name."
"Now, can anyone tell me why Voldemort's quest to rid the wizarding world of non-purebloods is ironic from his point of view?"
Few people knew this fact in this time about Voldemort and Harry was not expecting an answer, he was not surprised when the class remained silent.
"Voldemort hates those not of pureblood, yet he himself is not a pureblood"
The students looked slightly shocked at this, no one had ever told them this although few people ever discussed Voldemort openly and especially did not talk of him like Harry and Dumbledore did.
"Voldemort was born to a witch and a muggle father. He grew up hating muggles and this eventually warped him into what he is today. Voldemort had managed to play the purebloods fear of change to their position in society due to the increasing numbers of mixed and muggle-born wizards perfectly to recruit a following of people which are called Death-Eaters."
"Next time we will discuss the Death-Eaters and how they try to cause fear, but that is all for this class. You can leave and remember his name is Voldemort."
The class flinched slightly as they rose from their seats and exited the room. After the last one left, Harry collapsed in his chair, exhausted from the effort.
--
Duelling
Four weeks after the beginning of term, the duelling club was holding open duels for the fifth years, here anyone could challenge anyone to a duel. Every fifth year had turned up to watch this event, hoping it would prove exciting, they were not going to be disappointed.
Most of the duels were fairly similar although some of the duels between Ravenclaw students proved highly informative as to use of esoteric curses. During the duels, Harry had been watching the combatants, making an internal commentary on each one in case he had to face one of them. Ron and Hermione were sitting next to him, having an argument about the validity of different curse usage in duels. Harry tuned out the argument, it was a fairly standard one that they had been having since the first meeting of the duelling club.
Next up, Draco and a Hufflepuff student who had accidentally bumped into him today. The Hufflepuff was a muggle-born and Draco had taken severe offence to the accident. The student had tried to refuse the duel, but Snape had forced him to accept. Harry felt sorry for the boy, Draco knew what he was doing, the boy was not a fighter; he was quiet and worked hard, probably end up a nurse or working with animals for what he had heard about him.
As the two stepping up and took stance, the differences in demeanour were obvious, Draco stood tall and proud, his eyes almost slits in his face with a vicious grin completing the image. Whereas the Hufflepuff was shaking, you could see his wand move erratically, sweat forming on his brow, his eyes wide with fear. Harry understood why the boy was like this; Draco had gained a reputation in the club as nearly unbeatable, only one person had beaten him. Only Hermione had managed one victory over Draco, but had been beaten every other time out by him. Draco was downright vicious in a duel, although he had studiously avoided Harry, while Harry observed him closely. Draco was good, fast and strong but not as good as everyone believed, Draco played the psychology game like an expert and this was why he won.
Snape started the duel, Draco just stood stock-still glaring at his opponent who was hastily constructing a shielding charm around himself. Draco stalked around the arena, his eyes never leaving the boy, his breathing even and regular. Classic Draco duelling technique, throw off the opponent before casting a spell. Draco waved his wand as if to cast a hex, the boy cringed, then Draco merely said, "Lumos" and the end of his wand lit up. Relief was evident on his opponents face while Draco merely maintained his grin. The boy attempted the disarming spell, but Draco merely sidestepped it. The boy tried again, and again, and again. Each time Draco stepped to the side, leaving it till the last possible second, the boy tried other hexes and curses but Draco kept avoiding them. All the time, his gaze never wandered, his expression never changed. Then it happened, the boy tried one more curse, as Draco sidestepped, he moved forward his wand arcing down, yelling a curse. Blue light sped towards the Hufflepuff, who was trying to reinforce his shield. The light struck the shield which flared violently then collapsed, fear and worry were visible in the boy's posture. Just as the shield collapsed, Draco released yet another spell causing the boy to loose the power of his voice. The boy tried to cast a spell to remove it but it didn't work. He tried to move away from Draco but couldn't as Draco locked him into a full body bind. The boy fell to the floor, his wand rolled to Draco's feet. Draco bent, picked up the wand and said, "I win"
Draco threw the wand to Professor Flitwick and walked off to his seat, while Professor Lupin assisted the boy to his seat, releasing him from the curses.
Harry watched the duel, it was a classic Draco manoeuvre, but it wasn't impressive. Draco rarely choose opponents against which he would have to work, he only ever had to work against Ron and Hermione who were both competent duellers and two of Draco's favourite targets.
As Harry was musing over the duel, he didn't realise the next duel had been announced. He sat amused as Ron and Hermione stood up and took opposing places in the arena. This wasn't the first time the two had duelled; in fact they duelled a lot. Harry wondered how their relationship had survived so long, they were always fighting but lately the fights were more one-sided, it seemed Ron was always criticising Hermione. Ginny had told him that in the beginning it was similar to what their fights were before, but about two weeks before coming back to school the fights had begun to turn a little nastier. This was beginning to take its toll since being back at school, Hermione seemed distracted a lot, always seemed pale and downcast. Harry tried to talk to her but Ron always interrupted and took over conversations or claimed they had prefect work to do. Also Harry's schedule meant he had little time to go look for her so many things prevented him from getting to the bottom of what was wrong with her but he would get there.
He watched the two of them, one small brown haired woman against a large, heavy redheaded man, a wealth of knowledge against a tactician's mind. The dichotomy in their approaches was interesting to examine, Hermione knew by far more spells, hexes and curses whereas Ron used relatively few but was far better at the tactical side. So far Ron was one up in their rivalry at the duelling club. Harry watched, making more notes in his head about his friends as they managed to duel each other to a standstill. Both had managed to stun the other at the same time, Harry watched as the Professors revived the two. They shook hands and returned to their seats, the air between them just a little bit cool.
That was the last scheduled duel, but before everyone could leave Professor Snape spoke out, "The next duel will be Harry Potter against.."
The room filled with gasps and questions, Harry had never taken part in a duel in the club, he practiced behind a privacy spell and no one knew what he was capable of.
"About time Potter had to do something" Draco shouted out.
Harry tried to protest but Snape waved him silent, "Harry Potter will duel against Ron Weasley"
Ron interrupted to protest but Snape again waved him silent, "I know you have just duelled, but let me finish what I am saying. Harry Potter will duel against Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."
Astonishment silenced the room, not only was it Harry's first duel in the club, it was a two on one duel against two of the best in the year. Snape looked at Harry, he had a disgustingly smug expression on his face as he sneered at him, motioning him to the arena. Lupin and Flitwick looked shocked but were unable to protest the decision without undermining Snape's authority.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, conflict evident, but moved to the arena after a few hurried whispers, one of which Harry heard, "we'll make it quick on him since it's his first time". Ron said this, Harry was angry, 'Ron thinks it was going to be easy did he, we'll see about that.'
As the three friends took their places, the students hurried back to their seats, eager to see what the Boy-Who-Lived would do in this situation.
Hermione had a worried expression as she took her place, a sad look in her eyes as she turned towards Harry. Ron had taken his place with confidence, his eyes looking straight at Harry, as if he knew he would be the one to defeat Harry.
Harry to his part, stood there, almost like Malfoy had but Harry was less proud looking, less aloof. He looked almost tired of it, his eyes looked first to Hermione, he nodded his understanding to her, she didn't want this, neither did he. When he looked at Ron, he saw the other boy's expression and wondering what had changed his relationship with Ron. They weren't as close any more, Ron always seemed to flaunt his prefect status, always took over conversations.
Harry was shaken out of his thoughts as Snape told them to begin.
The world to Harry began to get smaller, only the arena existed, only him and his two opponents. They bowed to one another and took their beginning stance. Harry began a strong shielding charm, he raised it just in time to absorb a curse from Ron. He looked to the opposing duo, Ron was slightly behind Hermione casting curses, while Hermione was crouched in front creating shielding over the two of them.
Harry noticed this, it made his job easier, as yet another curse flew into his shield. The shield held strong as Harry began to concentrate on the next part of his plan, he had only practiced this a few times, he was attempting to generate two spells at once, one through his wand, the other through a focus rune in his mind. The difficult part was keeping the focus of the two spells separate and not allowing them to collapse into each other.
Hermione had completed her shielding and joined Ron in throwing curses at Harry, the shield in front of him began to flare more and more, the shield was strong but it could not hold up to the combined efforts of the two for long. Harry's eyes were focused on the ground behind Ron, he paid little attention to the two combatants flinging curses at him.
Then he began, weaving his wand in front of him, the pattern engrained in his memory from four weeks of practice, as he reached the climax of the spell, he uttered the phrase, 'caligatio'.
As before when he cast the spell, the room fell into complete darkness, he could hear at the edge of his consciousness, Ron and Hermione attempting to dispel his charm or to generate light. They failed each time. As they were doing this, Harry returned to his second spell, the focus in his mind complete, he concentrated on releasing the energy, feeling it flow through him guided by his mind, 'talamh turus'.
He felt himself, sink into the ground, his thoughts placid as he moved forward. After thirty seconds or so, he began to rise out of the ground into the darkness above, turning towards the sounds of Ron and Hermione casting charms to rid themselves of the dark as he did so. He began to weave another pattern, he knew he had to finish this quickly, the spells had drained him of a lot of energy, even with his training and practice over the last month, the spells still exhausted him. He pointed to the voices as the pattern neared completion; 'sol erumpo' was spoken. Harry had remembered to cover his eyes as a bright flare of light destroyed the darkness.
As the light faded, he opened his eyes, inside he was jumping for joy as he saw his plan was working. Ron and Hermione were now only a few feet in front of him, their unshielded backs to him. He could see them rubbing at their eyes, wands in front of them as they tried to regain their vision. He quietly cast a full-body bind on Ron, he body going rigid as it fell to the ground, Harry stepped forward, bending down to take his wand, Ron's eyes were wide as he felt Harry remove his wand and as he said, "You were going to take it easy on me, were you?"
Harry straightened as he heard Hermione cast a charm to clear her eyes, he was only a few yards away from her, he shifted his wand into a tight grasp, hidden from her with only Ron's wand visible to her.
She turned to face him, wand raised, she looked at his and cast the disarming spell. Harry was expecting this, he fell backwards, just before the energy hit him. He flung Ron's wand towards her waiting hand as he used his training to flip back to his feet. He watched as Hermione caught the wand in her open hand, then the puzzled look on her face as she realised that it wasn't Harry's wand. She looked back at Harry, now standing in front of her, wand pointing at her chest. He said quietly, "I'm sorry", then cast a stunner at her. The world fell into darkness for her.
The room was filled with silence as Harry picked up both wands and handed them to a furious Professor Snape then walked out of the room. Professors Lupin and Flitwick were shocked, as were the students. No one thought Harry would beat both of them, no one but Harry.
--
"ONE"
What had he been thinking?
"TWO"
Three weeks of hell.
"THREE"
He just had to say yes, didn't he?
"FOUR"
Anything to help in his fight, anything.
"FIVE"
His back felt like hell.
"SIX"
The ground underneath gave nothing to him, it was grim and unyielding.
"SEVEN"
Kind of like the voice, it too was grim and unyielding.
"EIGHT"
He had to make it through this last set.
"NINE"
Was this worth it? It had to be, he refused to believe this was fates joke on him.
"TEN"
At last, it was finished.
"Well done, Harry, we'll just have a short jog to cool down and then you can go get ready for breakfast." Lupin said as they started to jog around the lake.
"Slave driver" Harry muttered under his breath.
"What was that, Harry?" Lupin asked in a completely innocent voice.
Harry just shook his head and moved ahead of the werewolf, focusing just on breathing, putting one foot in front of the other. He knew damn well that Lupin had heard what he said, he knew he would pay for it in the next session.
He thought back to their first training session three weeks ago, he had just intended to continue with physical conditioning, running, stretching and some light weights. Lupin had suggested that he learn some self-defence, Harry had thought this a bit strange, Lupin didn't really look like someone who could fight someone physically but as with many things, the surface is deceptive.
Lupin during the time between his parents death and now had actually travelled at points, he had studied various fighting techniques in different places. He suggested to Harry that he could learn how to defend himself if his wand was taken away. The way he had put it had made sense to Harry, and the possibility of Voldemort being defeated by muggle means appealed to Harry's sense of irony.
Harry accepted and was eager to learn, now three weeks later, three weeks of absolute hell six mornings a week, he still wanted to learn but the reality of the training had dispelled the novelty of the training. Lupin wasn't teaching him any specific fighting technique, he was teaching him how to fight and survive.
At the first training session, Lupin said, "Fighting is about surviving, it doesn't matter how you fight, it matters that you survive. If you have to use what you consider a dirty tactic to win, then use it. Anyone you are fighting is out to hurt you or kill you, you have to stop them. If you are in a bar and get into a fight, don't try anything fancy, pick up the nearest chair and smash them over the head, then get the hell out of there. The only winner in a fight is the one that can walk away at the end."
Harry thought that Lupin was being a bit melodramatic but after three weeks of hard drilling, three weeks of getting knocked on his ass, he realised that Lupin was right. Voldemort wasn't going to fight as fair as Lupin did, nor would any Death Eater.
The training was split into two sections, the first was fitness and conditioning. Lupin said that if you can't last then you've lost. Three mornings a week consisted of running, stretching, circuit and weight training. Harry was making progress in his fitness, he had cut four seconds off his best mile time since he set it three weeks before returning to school. He could last longer running, he no longer felt as sore the next day. He could lift more than he used to, in general his fitness and strength were increasing quite well.
The other part of the training was the actual fight training that took the other three mornings. Mostly in the three weeks, they had covered how to fall. Harry had been taught how to roll out of a fall, how to minimise the damage caused by hitting the ground, how to have minimum exposure to follow up hits. He was trained outside on the ground, Lupin said there was no point in training on mats when in the real world you could fighting on any surface. This proved an incentive, the first three days of this training had been incredibly painful when Harry didn't do something right. Now he tried as hard as possible to get things first time, he still got numerous bruises and cuts but they were manageable, spurring him on in his training. It would be painful in a fight but exposure to now would give him some preparation.
Lupin had drilled into him that physical fighting was different from duelling, you couldn't just dodge a person like a curse. The person could adapt as you move unlike the curse, you constantly had to be aware, constantly had to watch the other person. Part of the training was having Lupin attack Harry and Harry had to dodge each hit, if he was hit then he had to get back up to block the next or be hit on the ground. It was brutal at times but it bloody well made him learn.
In the last week, Lupin had begun drills on punching, how to hold your hand so it didn't get hurt, how to stand, how to put energy behind the punch. Harry always thought punching would be simple but now he realised that the way most people punched was bad technique and could hurt the puncher as much as the target.
As much as it was sore, as much as getting up earlier than everyone else was annoying, he was immensely grateful to Lupin for the training and help he was giving to Harry.
They finally reached the castle doors and made their way to the Gryffindor tower where they bid goodbye to each other.
--
On September 24th, the Daily Prophet carried a shocking story, the wizarding community in Britain was thrown in turmoil as one of its most noted law enforcers was found dead in their home.
From the Daily Prophet, September 24th Morning Edition.
Death of Deputy Director of Magical Law Enforcement
The shocking discovery of the corpses of Deputy Director of Magical Law Enforcement, Misha Langford and her family at their home last night has led to serious questions being asked about the security and safety of citizens of the British wizarding community.
Mrs Langford, her husband and their two children were found dead at 6:30pm last night as a courier attempted to drop some important documents off at the Deputy Director's home. Currently the courier is unavailable for comment and is undergoing treatment for shock after discovering the family.
Mrs Langford was a decorated Auror, most active during the period of You-Know-Who, where she fought Death Eaters with zeal and determination found in few people. After the downfall of the Dark Lord, she moved to the training facilities for the Aurors to improve and redesign the training regime. After six years, she was promoted into the post of Assistant Chief of London Aurors. Her no-nonsense professional attitude had won her many supporters among her peers, who supported her promotion through the ranks to the post of Deputy Director. It was highly suspected that the current Director would be retiring after fifteen years service in the post in two years time and that Mrs Langford would be taking over. Now this plan has been left in ruins, and a great loss to the Auror service.
A press conference describing the deaths of the family was held late last night. The department has no solid leads on which to act, there is no evidence linking the murders to any known group or individuals.
The Auror, Nigel Taylor, gave a brief overview of the condition of the corpses, describing horrific acts perpetrated upon them. A brief description is provided on page 2, please note that young children and sensitive people should avoid this description.
Taylor then went on to describe that the murders were a mix of muggle and magical methods, meaning that there were most likely a number of attackers who possibly had muggles or muggle-raised persons among them.
The Aurors would appreciate any information or witnesses to the crime and a reward for useful information has been made available not only from the Law Enforcement Corps but the Ministry itself.
Minister Fudge has commented that this is a dark day for the wizarding community and that every effort would be made to find the perpetrators.
Reporter L. Orwen
Page 2:
Mutilation of Decorated Auror and Family
The shocking deaths of the Deputy Director and her family were compounded by the method of death. It is known by all that the Killing Curse is the most serious of Unforgivables but that curse seems tame in comparison to the method of death used in this case.
The Deputy's children, Liana 6 and Michael 4, were found hanging in the kitchen. Both causes of death were from a broken neck. We can only thank Merlin these innocent children did not suffer more.
The Deputy Director was found in the main living room, tied spread-eagle on the floor. She had been cut from groin to sternum, with a muggle scalpel, and her internal organs removed. No sign of these organs was found. The killing appears to have had a ritualistic motive, according to the experts from the Auror division. The most horrifying aspect of the crime was that Mrs Langford was forced to remain conscious as long as possible during the extraction through means of a Consciousness potion, the remains of which were found near the body. We can only imagine what the pain was like, the brave woman had screamed so much that her vocal cords had burst.
The criminals not content with mutilating the woman forced her husband to watch from above, the late Mr Langford was found nailed hands and feet to the ceiling above his wife. Mr Langford had died from blood loss from deep cuts on all four limbs and his main torso. Experts believe he died shortly after Mrs Langford. The man was forced to watch, unable to look away or shut his eyes, as butchers eviscerated his wife; his eyes had been physically stitched open, his head held in place.
The Auror division believes that the killings were part of a ritual, the removal of the organs lends credence to the theory. However, they are unable to further their theories at this point due to lack of information.
We would ask anyone who was in the neighbourhood of the Deputy's home to come forward and describe anything that may have happened that night.
Reporter J. Jamieson
--
For the last few weeks Harry had been helping Professor Lupin teach the first year DADA course, the work while basic for Harry had given him an insight into the effort the teachers had to make when working with the students. Harry's duties, up till now, mostly involved helping with the practical work, marking homework and giving individual help to the students.
This was changing; today Harry was leading the lesson. Lupin had decided it was time for Harry to deal with a topic by himself, Lupin would still be in the room but Harry was in charge. Harry felt nervous, this was different to anything he'd done before, teaching was so new to him. He didn't know if he was doing it right or not, he hoped Lupin would step in if he was doing something wrong, he hoped the kids wouldn't think him stupid or boring. He kept running through everything that could happen in his head. He rose from his chair, took a deep breath and calmed himself before the students entered.
Harry stood at the front of the class as the first year Gryffindor and Slytherin students entered and took their seats. No one ever dawdled into this class, not even the Slytherins dared to be late, nor would they want to. The DADA lessons were fast becoming the favourite ones of the first year students. Lupin and Harry made a good team teaching the students, Lupin had a vast array of knowledge and experience, Harry had his own experience but was easy to relate to for the students because of his young age. They had few behaviour problems, no one wanted to piss off a werewolf or the Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry took the register for the class but no one was missing. He saw his young friend Samantha sitting in the front row, her parchment and quill at the ready like usual. She wasn't the best student ever but she tried and got good marks for her efforts. She often came with Professor Lupin and himself to visit Hagrid when they had time, she loved the animals that Hagrid had and was the best student in his Care of Magical Creatures class.
On the board, Harry had written two phrases, 'Pureblood' and 'Muggle-born', he asked the class what the difference between them was. The predominate answer was that a pureblood had magical parentage while a muggle-born was from a non-magical family.
"That's is correct, but are there any other differences?" Harry continued.
The class looked at him confused, then a Slytherin said a lot of the older students in his house considered purebloods better than anything else and that they were a superior breed of wizard, or to quote one of the older students, "The only type of wizard that should be allowed."
"Does anyone in here believe that is the case?" Harry asked.
The whole class shook their heads.
"Why not?"
The answers were slow in coming but eventually Harry managed to get out of them that they didn't see what was different between the two groups, neither one was more powerful or smarter magically speaking.
"That's right, there is no real difference between the two groups, there is only one group, and that is the group of magical people we call wizards and witches. Some people would have you believe that purity of the blood is a measure of worthiness as a wizard. That is bull, its rubbish and anyone who tells you that is an idiot. I know for some of you, that the older students or even your families may tell you that but I am telling you now that it is wrong. Professor Dumbledore doesn't think that, he believes everyone is equal, Professor McGonagall doesn't believe it, Professor Lupin doesn't believe it. Only narrow minded individuals believe it."
"We see in the muggle world how discrimination like this can grow out of control, who knows anything about what was called World War II?"
Most of the students, muggle-born or not had heard of this war, it had been to big to be ignored and had infringed upon wizard society as well as muggle.
"Hitler was a person with a delusion vision that one group of people were superior to another, he feared certain groups of individuals. He hunted them down, put them in camps and killed them. He degraded them, he stole from them yet people still supported him. Fear of others is an easy thing for a person like Hitler to play on, he used the fear of others to get power for himself. He was wrong, millions of people died in the war, not just from fighting but more due to the atrocities committed by Hitler and his regime. Can anyone tell me what this has to do with the Dark Arts?"
The students looked a bit confused at this but Lupin sat at the back of the room watching his student draw the younger ones into what they had to know.
"Can anyone tell me who wanted to purge the wizarding world of those not of pureblood?"
"You-Know-Who" came the answer.
Harry feigned ignorance, "I'm sorry, who?"
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" came a second answer.
Again, Harry put on ignorance, "I'm not sure who you mean?"
"Voldemort" came a quiet voice.
"That's right, Voldemort." Harry said in a loud voice.
He looked at the room as everyone flinched at the name, these students weren't even born the first time he was around and they still feared him.
"Voldemort is our version of Hitler, he wants to get rid of those not of pureblood. As you may or may not know, Voldemort has returned to the world. I am not going to go into how," Harry paused, a brief flashback played in his head, "but you do have to know about him."
"Voldemort is a ruthless killer, he will maim, torture and kill for anything, even if it is just for his pleasure. He kills those he calls 'mudblood' or 'half-breed' because they are not of pureblood as he calls it. We teach this course, Defence against the Dark Arts so you have some basic defence skills against the darkness in wizarding society, but I will say this, if you ever think Voldemort is around, do not try to face him. He is one of the most evil and powerful beings ever, you should not try to face him, leave fighting him to those who are trained to fight him, only ever face him if you cannot get away from him. You are all flinching when I say his name, you have to learn to stop that. Hitler was just as evil but you don't flinch now when his name is spoken, Voldemort is powerful and evil, you should be scared of him. He wouldn't think twice about killing you, but do not be afraid to speak his name, he is not going to appear and strike you dead. By not speaking his name you give him power over you. Now I would like each person in the class to say his name."
Harry made each student speak his name, some of them stumbled over it repeatedly but eventually he managed to get them all to say his name.
"Now that you have all said his name here, I don't want to hear about you calling him You-know-who again, his name is Voldemort and call him such or his other name is Tom Marvelo Riddle. You can call him either of these but never fear saying his name."
"Now, can anyone tell me why Voldemort's quest to rid the wizarding world of non-purebloods is ironic from his point of view?"
Few people knew this fact in this time about Voldemort and Harry was not expecting an answer, he was not surprised when the class remained silent.
"Voldemort hates those not of pureblood, yet he himself is not a pureblood"
The students looked slightly shocked at this, no one had ever told them this although few people ever discussed Voldemort openly and especially did not talk of him like Harry and Dumbledore did.
"Voldemort was born to a witch and a muggle father. He grew up hating muggles and this eventually warped him into what he is today. Voldemort had managed to play the purebloods fear of change to their position in society due to the increasing numbers of mixed and muggle-born wizards perfectly to recruit a following of people which are called Death-Eaters."
"Next time we will discuss the Death-Eaters and how they try to cause fear, but that is all for this class. You can leave and remember his name is Voldemort."
The class flinched slightly as they rose from their seats and exited the room. After the last one left, Harry collapsed in his chair, exhausted from the effort.
--
Duelling
Four weeks after the beginning of term, the duelling club was holding open duels for the fifth years, here anyone could challenge anyone to a duel. Every fifth year had turned up to watch this event, hoping it would prove exciting, they were not going to be disappointed.
Most of the duels were fairly similar although some of the duels between Ravenclaw students proved highly informative as to use of esoteric curses. During the duels, Harry had been watching the combatants, making an internal commentary on each one in case he had to face one of them. Ron and Hermione were sitting next to him, having an argument about the validity of different curse usage in duels. Harry tuned out the argument, it was a fairly standard one that they had been having since the first meeting of the duelling club.
Next up, Draco and a Hufflepuff student who had accidentally bumped into him today. The Hufflepuff was a muggle-born and Draco had taken severe offence to the accident. The student had tried to refuse the duel, but Snape had forced him to accept. Harry felt sorry for the boy, Draco knew what he was doing, the boy was not a fighter; he was quiet and worked hard, probably end up a nurse or working with animals for what he had heard about him.
As the two stepping up and took stance, the differences in demeanour were obvious, Draco stood tall and proud, his eyes almost slits in his face with a vicious grin completing the image. Whereas the Hufflepuff was shaking, you could see his wand move erratically, sweat forming on his brow, his eyes wide with fear. Harry understood why the boy was like this; Draco had gained a reputation in the club as nearly unbeatable, only one person had beaten him. Only Hermione had managed one victory over Draco, but had been beaten every other time out by him. Draco was downright vicious in a duel, although he had studiously avoided Harry, while Harry observed him closely. Draco was good, fast and strong but not as good as everyone believed, Draco played the psychology game like an expert and this was why he won.
Snape started the duel, Draco just stood stock-still glaring at his opponent who was hastily constructing a shielding charm around himself. Draco stalked around the arena, his eyes never leaving the boy, his breathing even and regular. Classic Draco duelling technique, throw off the opponent before casting a spell. Draco waved his wand as if to cast a hex, the boy cringed, then Draco merely said, "Lumos" and the end of his wand lit up. Relief was evident on his opponents face while Draco merely maintained his grin. The boy attempted the disarming spell, but Draco merely sidestepped it. The boy tried again, and again, and again. Each time Draco stepped to the side, leaving it till the last possible second, the boy tried other hexes and curses but Draco kept avoiding them. All the time, his gaze never wandered, his expression never changed. Then it happened, the boy tried one more curse, as Draco sidestepped, he moved forward his wand arcing down, yelling a curse. Blue light sped towards the Hufflepuff, who was trying to reinforce his shield. The light struck the shield which flared violently then collapsed, fear and worry were visible in the boy's posture. Just as the shield collapsed, Draco released yet another spell causing the boy to loose the power of his voice. The boy tried to cast a spell to remove it but it didn't work. He tried to move away from Draco but couldn't as Draco locked him into a full body bind. The boy fell to the floor, his wand rolled to Draco's feet. Draco bent, picked up the wand and said, "I win"
Draco threw the wand to Professor Flitwick and walked off to his seat, while Professor Lupin assisted the boy to his seat, releasing him from the curses.
Harry watched the duel, it was a classic Draco manoeuvre, but it wasn't impressive. Draco rarely choose opponents against which he would have to work, he only ever had to work against Ron and Hermione who were both competent duellers and two of Draco's favourite targets.
As Harry was musing over the duel, he didn't realise the next duel had been announced. He sat amused as Ron and Hermione stood up and took opposing places in the arena. This wasn't the first time the two had duelled; in fact they duelled a lot. Harry wondered how their relationship had survived so long, they were always fighting but lately the fights were more one-sided, it seemed Ron was always criticising Hermione. Ginny had told him that in the beginning it was similar to what their fights were before, but about two weeks before coming back to school the fights had begun to turn a little nastier. This was beginning to take its toll since being back at school, Hermione seemed distracted a lot, always seemed pale and downcast. Harry tried to talk to her but Ron always interrupted and took over conversations or claimed they had prefect work to do. Also Harry's schedule meant he had little time to go look for her so many things prevented him from getting to the bottom of what was wrong with her but he would get there.
He watched the two of them, one small brown haired woman against a large, heavy redheaded man, a wealth of knowledge against a tactician's mind. The dichotomy in their approaches was interesting to examine, Hermione knew by far more spells, hexes and curses whereas Ron used relatively few but was far better at the tactical side. So far Ron was one up in their rivalry at the duelling club. Harry watched, making more notes in his head about his friends as they managed to duel each other to a standstill. Both had managed to stun the other at the same time, Harry watched as the Professors revived the two. They shook hands and returned to their seats, the air between them just a little bit cool.
That was the last scheduled duel, but before everyone could leave Professor Snape spoke out, "The next duel will be Harry Potter against.."
The room filled with gasps and questions, Harry had never taken part in a duel in the club, he practiced behind a privacy spell and no one knew what he was capable of.
"About time Potter had to do something" Draco shouted out.
Harry tried to protest but Snape waved him silent, "Harry Potter will duel against Ron Weasley"
Ron interrupted to protest but Snape again waved him silent, "I know you have just duelled, but let me finish what I am saying. Harry Potter will duel against Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."
Astonishment silenced the room, not only was it Harry's first duel in the club, it was a two on one duel against two of the best in the year. Snape looked at Harry, he had a disgustingly smug expression on his face as he sneered at him, motioning him to the arena. Lupin and Flitwick looked shocked but were unable to protest the decision without undermining Snape's authority.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, conflict evident, but moved to the arena after a few hurried whispers, one of which Harry heard, "we'll make it quick on him since it's his first time". Ron said this, Harry was angry, 'Ron thinks it was going to be easy did he, we'll see about that.'
As the three friends took their places, the students hurried back to their seats, eager to see what the Boy-Who-Lived would do in this situation.
Hermione had a worried expression as she took her place, a sad look in her eyes as she turned towards Harry. Ron had taken his place with confidence, his eyes looking straight at Harry, as if he knew he would be the one to defeat Harry.
Harry to his part, stood there, almost like Malfoy had but Harry was less proud looking, less aloof. He looked almost tired of it, his eyes looked first to Hermione, he nodded his understanding to her, she didn't want this, neither did he. When he looked at Ron, he saw the other boy's expression and wondering what had changed his relationship with Ron. They weren't as close any more, Ron always seemed to flaunt his prefect status, always took over conversations.
Harry was shaken out of his thoughts as Snape told them to begin.
The world to Harry began to get smaller, only the arena existed, only him and his two opponents. They bowed to one another and took their beginning stance. Harry began a strong shielding charm, he raised it just in time to absorb a curse from Ron. He looked to the opposing duo, Ron was slightly behind Hermione casting curses, while Hermione was crouched in front creating shielding over the two of them.
Harry noticed this, it made his job easier, as yet another curse flew into his shield. The shield held strong as Harry began to concentrate on the next part of his plan, he had only practiced this a few times, he was attempting to generate two spells at once, one through his wand, the other through a focus rune in his mind. The difficult part was keeping the focus of the two spells separate and not allowing them to collapse into each other.
Hermione had completed her shielding and joined Ron in throwing curses at Harry, the shield in front of him began to flare more and more, the shield was strong but it could not hold up to the combined efforts of the two for long. Harry's eyes were focused on the ground behind Ron, he paid little attention to the two combatants flinging curses at him.
Then he began, weaving his wand in front of him, the pattern engrained in his memory from four weeks of practice, as he reached the climax of the spell, he uttered the phrase, 'caligatio'.
As before when he cast the spell, the room fell into complete darkness, he could hear at the edge of his consciousness, Ron and Hermione attempting to dispel his charm or to generate light. They failed each time. As they were doing this, Harry returned to his second spell, the focus in his mind complete, he concentrated on releasing the energy, feeling it flow through him guided by his mind, 'talamh turus'.
He felt himself, sink into the ground, his thoughts placid as he moved forward. After thirty seconds or so, he began to rise out of the ground into the darkness above, turning towards the sounds of Ron and Hermione casting charms to rid themselves of the dark as he did so. He began to weave another pattern, he knew he had to finish this quickly, the spells had drained him of a lot of energy, even with his training and practice over the last month, the spells still exhausted him. He pointed to the voices as the pattern neared completion; 'sol erumpo' was spoken. Harry had remembered to cover his eyes as a bright flare of light destroyed the darkness.
As the light faded, he opened his eyes, inside he was jumping for joy as he saw his plan was working. Ron and Hermione were now only a few feet in front of him, their unshielded backs to him. He could see them rubbing at their eyes, wands in front of them as they tried to regain their vision. He quietly cast a full-body bind on Ron, he body going rigid as it fell to the ground, Harry stepped forward, bending down to take his wand, Ron's eyes were wide as he felt Harry remove his wand and as he said, "You were going to take it easy on me, were you?"
Harry straightened as he heard Hermione cast a charm to clear her eyes, he was only a few yards away from her, he shifted his wand into a tight grasp, hidden from her with only Ron's wand visible to her.
She turned to face him, wand raised, she looked at his and cast the disarming spell. Harry was expecting this, he fell backwards, just before the energy hit him. He flung Ron's wand towards her waiting hand as he used his training to flip back to his feet. He watched as Hermione caught the wand in her open hand, then the puzzled look on her face as she realised that it wasn't Harry's wand. She looked back at Harry, now standing in front of her, wand pointing at her chest. He said quietly, "I'm sorry", then cast a stunner at her. The world fell into darkness for her.
The room was filled with silence as Harry picked up both wands and handed them to a furious Professor Snape then walked out of the room. Professors Lupin and Flitwick were shocked, as were the students. No one thought Harry would beat both of them, no one but Harry.
--
