A/N: I'm really sorry that it took so long for me to update! I really am. Well, this chapter is pretty long, so enjoy, and then review! I repeat: REVIEW!
Lily was in high spirits the next day, for she was eager to help in the effort. She fairly bounced from class to class. The only thing that could have dampened her spirits was-
"Malfoy," Sirius spat.
"Black. And I see you have your little cronies, as well," Malfoy sneered.
"We really should be getting on, now," said Lily pleasantly. "We might be late to Herbology, and that would be a shame!"
"Well, if it isn't the little mud blood. Why don't you go help the house-elves with dinner, eh?" Malfoy mocked.
Lily flushed red, and was about to make a reply, but Remus beat her to it.
"Hm, what was it that the Headmaster said about racial discrimination? You, obviously, weren't listening. I wonder what the headmaster would do if this reached him…" Remus let his words trail off.
"Till next time, then." Malfoy sauntered away.
"Thank you, Remus. Shall we continue on to Herbology, then?" Lily asked, hoping that in the fuss over the mud blood comment, none had wondered what Malfoy had meant by the second remark.
And fortunately for her, none mentioned it later.
***
It was around 7:00, so Lily took her leave from her friends and went to her room to practise. When she took the book Tutela Iubar: The Story of My Life out, Lily decided to practise more wandless magic. She decided that it would be helpful to know how to cast light without her wand, so that if she ever lost it under the bed, she wouldn't have the troubles of her other roommates in finding light to search by. Lily remembered that when she had mastered Wingardium Leviosa, she had needed to visualize her wand in her head. She sat down and began practising.
"Lumos!" Lily yelled, for what seemed like the millionth time that night. In fact, she had started work at 7:00, and now it was nearly 11:30! After a few seconds, a faint light shone from Lily's hand. It went out after a few seconds, but Lily decided that it was better than nothing. By the time she had written her progress to Dumbledore, it was 11:55, and nearly time to go for training.
Lily held tightly to the port key, which was a badge that said Discipulus on it in red lettering, and after a few minutes was transported to the camp.
"Hello, Lily!" Frank said with a smile. "Ready to start training?"
"Sure! Mr. Beechman told me a little about training, but not much. Can you tell me a bit more before I dive in head-first?" asked Lily.
"Of course! The first thing to do, always, is go to the showers. Remember to keep a sharp lookout for the different spells, curses, hexes, jinxes, and so on. If your hit when in training, you have to take everything off yourself. Put on the uniform waiting, and be careful that there isn't a surprise inside of it! Your wand will be waiting in the cubby-hole where you put it before entering the shower. And don't worry if one of the spells that hit you was particularly nasty. We do have a hospital wing, contrary to popular belief! It's just that if you don't hit the ground out cold, and if you do and can be revived, you don't see it! After this, you take your first course. Let's see, that looks like hand-to-hand for you. HTH is a martial arts technique, except much deadlier. The teacher isn't afraid to hit hard, nor to hurt you; actually, none of the teachers are, so you learn to get good fast! One tip: it's always easier on your body to dodge instead of blocking! On your first day, you have HTH, and on the second you have transportation. That includes everything from flying to riding horses, biking to running distances. Okay, let's see, then it looks like you go to WSF. That would be, Woodcraft, Stealth, and Fencing. When you're in the woods or trying to sneak about, the easiest way to do so is to feel your body. Be so in tune with yourself that if you step on an uneven stone, or a stick, you will be able to navigate past silently. Also, being in tune with yourself helps your senses, which in turn means less hits with spells, weapons, etc.! With Swordsmanship, try not to whack about. The sword is like an extension of your body. Wait!" he said, holding up a hand. "I know what you're going to ask! We learn these because someday they may be the only tools we have! After this you have AM, or Archery and miscellaneous. It's basically Archery, plus everything else you have yet to take, including knife fighting, and some political skills, as well as much more! The last class you have is a magical class, covering duels, defences, and such! Then the only thing left is to make it through the two obstacle courses, using the knowledge given to you by those classes! And don't forget to practise! Well, off you go now! You don't want to be late. First door on the left. And also, you come for training twice a week. Your schedule has you here Mondays and Thursdays, so you're in luck! Those are the days that I'm here! I'm also here Wednesday, and Friday. Well, you really better hustle! Have fun!"
"Oh, I will!" Lily murmured sarcastically, taking the envelope that Frank handed her. She hurried to the shower room, where she did her best to dodge spells.
"Ai!" Lily exclaimed as she was hit by a spell that pelted her with cold water. Oh well. At least I'm already wet.
Lily felt quite proud of herself by the time she was dressed. The only other spell that had hit her was one that made her eyesight blurry for about a minute, but as Lily could still hear, she managed to avoid spells during that time. Lily also found out that there was a small area where the spells didn't reach- right behind the door. It was only a little over half a meter by half a meter, and Lily only barely fit in. In addition, it was only about half a meter high as well. For once, I'm glad that I'm small! Now if another spell like that blurry-eye thing ever hits me, I can wait for it to pass there!
When Lily was out, she remembered the envelope. Taking it out of her uniform pocket, where she had absently placed it before, she opened it. A slip of paper fell out. It read:
Lily~For safety reasons, what you are must not be discovered. From now on, tell all that you are Zia Rhannon. This is your schedule, and some other information for you. Enjoy the night!
Sincerely,
T. Beechman
Lily shoved the paper back into the envelope, deciding that she had better get to class. She made a mental note to say she was Zia. Then she took off at a run.
Lily found the HTH room easily. The board read: Sit down on the mat and wait. Lily looked to be the first there, so she sat down on the mat to wait for the other students and the instructor to arrive. She didn't have to wait long. Soon a tall man with curly brown hair walked in. He looked to be middle-aged, with a kind face and nice looking grey eyes walked in.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Someone's here already? It usually takes five more minutes for the first bedraggled Discipulus's to start coming in. Well, have you done this before? No, I don't think you have. You look rather too young and I haven't seen you before, and you would have had to go through HTH. Well, what's your name?"
"Er- Zia, sir. Zia Rhannon. I'm new here. I was here last night, so it was my second time through. But I've never taken a class before," Lily responded, only just remembering to use her new "name."
"Ah, so you're a fast learner. Well, as you probably know, this is HTH. More I will not say until the majority of the class is here, except that I am Master Proelium."
Lily leaned against the wall of the room to wait, thinking, I hope I don't make a complete fool out of myself. Nearly 5 minutes later, the rest of the class started trooping in, most with an assortment of oddly placed extra limbs, colourful hair, and many other oddities.
"Well, now that you're all here, five minutes late!!!!!!" boomed Master Proelium.
Everyone muttered soft apologies and excuses about the curses and hexes. Master Proelium brushed them aside.
"I am Master Proelium. This is Hand-to-Hand, or HTH. We are learning fighting. Any questions?"
Everyone just stared at him. They had all expected a terribly long lecture on hard road to Aurorship, and what they got was far from it.
"Good. Now pair up." Everyone moved for a partner. Lily found herself with a man who introduced himself as Jon. He looked to be at just under 2 meters tall.
"Are you sure you want to pair with me? I'm just a tad taller than you, so it might place you at a little bit of a disadvantage!" Jon pointed out.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. If worse comes, I'll just duck under you!" Lily said with a laugh.
"Okay then! Listen up!" Master Proelium proceeded to demonstrate many moves for combat. Then, he let them practice for about a half hour.
"Well! You all did better than I thought you would. In about a month we will be staging fights, so train hard! Dismissed!" he bellowed. The class straggled out. Lily felt sore all over.
"Hey! Zia!" Frank came running over. "Your next class was WSF, right? Then go over to the hut at the edge of the training compound, by the woods. See it? Good! Off you go!"
"Thanks!" Lily yelled after him.
"Well, you'd better get going, Zia. My next class is Magical Arts, so I'll see you around!" said Jon.
"Okay! Bye!" Lily waved to him as she set off at a jog towards the hut. Once again, she was the first there, but for the instructor.
"Hello. I'm Master Nemus. Shall we wait for the rest of the class to arrive?" asked the instructor, a man with coppery skin, brown eyes and hair. He looked as though he was made out of the wood, like he could blend into the trees perfectly.
Lily nodded her assent. She sat down on the floor to wait for the rest to arrive, which didn't take as long as before. Within a few minutes all were there.
"This is Woodcraft, Stealth, and Fencing. It takes a double period, as you can see on your schedules." Master Nemus said. Lily pulled out her schedule, which read:
24:10: 24:50- HTH
1:00- 1:45- WSF
1:55- 2:40- WSF
2:50-3:35- AM
3:45- 4:30- MA
4:40- 5:50- OC
"Woodcraft is how to move silently in the woods, tracking in the woods, and survival skills in the woods. Stealth is how to get by undetected, and Fencing is, for those idiots out there, swordplay. Well, let's get started."
The first half of the lesson was devoted to Woodcraft and Stealth. They had a 10 minute break, in which they could only get a drink of water if they could get past Nemus undetected, and then they worked on fencing.
Unfortunately, the sword was almost as tall as Lily herself, and nearly impossible to swing. Master Nemus came over and gave her a smaller blade, which he called a dirk. It was just about a perfect fit for Lily! It took her about five minutes to get the hang of using the blade.
"Class, like in most of your other classes we will be having competitions, or fights, in time. Remember to practice! Dismissed!" And with that, WSF was ended. Lily looked at her schedule. Where is AM? she thought. Well, I think I passed targets on the way here. It was difficult to tell, in the light, but it won't hurt to check.
Luckily, Lily was correct in her guess about where AM was. She arrived just before most of the others, who had waited to get drinks before coming. The trainer was a man, tall and very thin. His black hair reflected off the moonlight. How odd, Lily thought. He looks like an older version of James!
"Good evening. I am Master Sagitto. This is Archery and well, a little bit of everything else that wasn't previously covered! So it's called Archery and Miscellaneous. The majority of the time is devoted to Archery, and fifteen minutes to other things that will help you on the road to Aurorship. Please come up here, tell me your name, and I will give you a bow that looks like you can use it. Then you will grab a quiver of arrows that is the same colour as your bow. For instance, red and red. Clear enough?" Master Sagitto asked.
The class murmured an assent, then formed a line to get their bows. When it was finally Lily's turn, she went up to Master Sagitto and said, "I'm Zia Rhannon."
He replied with, "Zia. I've been expecting you. Actually, I was told to make ready for a very short student! This is a special bow for you to learn on, and your arrows. Once your good enough, you can come for some special training in how to use a bow twice your size!"
"Thank you, sir," Lily responded. She took the bow and quiver, strapping the quiver to her back as she knew they did in medieval times. It felt right on her, like it was part of her. I think I'm going to like Archery! Lily thought to herself.
"All right! Line up! Everyone in front of a target!" Master Sagitto yelled out, proceeding to show how to draw a bow, and shoot. He showed how to aim, then showed how to shoot seemingly without aim! "Don't be fooled. I will be amazed if you get within two feet of the target on your first try. I make it look easy, but it's not. Most of you will only be adequate archers, and that will be an accomplishment. Some of you may be abysmal, some may be absolutely amazing. Just don't give up. We have 20 more minutes. Take 15 to see how much natural talent you have. I will come around to help. Try to get within a few feet of the target by the end of class. Shoot!"
Lily carefully aligned herself as Master Sagitto had shown. She reached back into her quiver and carefully notched her bow. Taking careful aim, she released. The arrow thudded into the outer edges of the target. Just a few inches to the down and to the left and I would've hit centre! Lily thought with excitement. Nearly shaking with anticipation, she carefully notched another arrow. Waiting until her trembling abated, she took careful aim and shot again. This time the arrow was a little closer to the centre. She let off five more shots, each coming closer to target hair by hair.
Looking around, Lily noticed that most people had yet to get one shot off. Master Sagitto was working his way around. Lily was only two away from him. Maybe he can tell me how my aim is wrong. I was so certain that I had it correct last time! Lily thought. She knew she was a bit of a perfectionist, and it was driving her crazy to be always a little bit off.
Lily thought back to what she had read about archery. Of course! In the books, it said that an arrows path curves slightly up! If I aim a little below target, I should hit! Taking painstaking care with her aim, Lily shot one more arrow. It hit dead centre.
"Have you done this before?" asked Master Sagitto behind Lily.
"No. I've always wanted to. I was forever reading about medieval times, and wanting to learn fencing, horseback riding, but especially archery. It's been so since I was around the age of 8."
"Well, you have an extraordinary talent. I would like to take you for private lessons; you could become better than any with enough time. Of course, it's thought that archery is a 'lost' skill, and we don't need to learn it nor teach it, because we have magic. It's your choice," Sagitto told her.
"I would love too!" Lily exclaimed. "That would be groovy. Thank you so much!"
"No problem. Well, as you were the last student and it is nearly time to end this, I'll let you get a few more shots in."
Lily hit centre once more, and was off a bit for one shot. Then class was dismissed.
"And don't forget to practice! We will be having a tournament later!" roared Master Sagitto after them.
Lily was already exhausted, and she still had MA and the obstacles to go through! Sighing, she trudged to the room she had earlier passed marked MA in swirling golden letters. Once again, she was the first student through the door.
"Hello, I'm Zia Rhannon. Is this Magical Arts?" she asked politely.
"Yes, it is, Zia. I'm Master Jahns. Ah, your all here now. This is Magical Arts. We will be learning effective duelling, poison antidotes, magical healing, and much else. For those that didn't hear, I am Master Jahns. Please pick up a ledger and a quill. We will take notes for about 20 minutes, then we will practice effective duelling and taking off the effects of effective duelling," said the man, his long brown hair tied back into a ponytail. Obediently the class filed past to grab a ledger and a quill, then taking seats at tables. Lily found herself on an end, sitting next to a boy that looked about 18.
"Hey! You're a little young to be here, don't you think, little girl?" a voice whispered from behind her.
Lily turned around. "You're a little too much of a prat to be here, don't you think?" she whispered back.
"No! You're the one that shouldn't be here, little girl," whispered the boy behind her maliciously.
"You don't think? Oh, dear. That would be a problem, wouldn't it?" Lily asked, quite innocently. She had learned her lessons from the Marauders well.
Luckily, the other boy was kept from answering by the Master. For the next 20 minutes, they took notes on the proper ways to duel. Not the kind of duelling that was standard, but in a fight to the death, or capture. There was a difference, as Lily soon discovered. Tournament duelling was honourable, and when the first spell hit was when the winner (and loser) were declared.
Duelling as an Auror was nothing like that. You were supposed to do whatever you had to do to get the upperhand. Lily remembered Frank's advice and dodged whenever she could. Unfortunately, Lily had not the advantage of duelling class at school. The basic result of this was that Lily ended up dodging a lot. The good news was that she made a pretty compact target, harder to hit, and easier to dodge.
Finally it was time to take off any ill effects. Lily only had green hair, and it was pretty easy to do. Then she helped with the burns and cuts of many of the other participants. Lily found that she had a natural ability for healing. She was able to heal burns and cuts that others had problems doing. Probably some other side effect of being the Tutela Iubar, Lily thought.
Then suddenly, class was over. Lily made her way to the obstacles, where Frank was waiting. She silently handed him her wand and resolutely went into the course. Unfortunately for Lily, she was dead tired. She came out worse than she had the first time. The dragons, pits, and climbing wall were hard to make it through. The bridge was what really had tested her courage, though.
The bridge was very narrow, only about a hand-spans length. It was impossibly long, and the fall looked to be impossibly deep. Lily took a deep breath and started to walk across. When she had reached a quarter of the way through, she fell. She only just managed to hang on to the bridge with one hand. By this time she was cursing the fates that had decided to make her the Tutela Iubar. She carefully swung on the bridge, trying to get enough momentum to swing her other hand onto the bridge. With that accomplished, Lily started to swing once more, until she was able to clamber back into the very narrow bridge.
Being in tune with yourself helps you senses…
Frank's earlier words came back to her. She concentrated on her breathing, on feeling the bridge through her foot. In a few moments everything came into much sharper focus. Lily smiled grimly and began to walk along the bridge once more, with no more mishaps.
When Lily got out of the first course, she quickly caught her breath, grabbed her wand, and jogged into the second, making sure to feel herself.
It was a good thing that she did. A few seconds into the course, magical creatures were lying in wait around the corner. The only thing that let Lily know they were there was her heightened eyesight, allowing her to catch a glimpse of electric blue. She racked her mind to think of what it could be. Of course! Cornish Pixies! Lily got past them with ease.
It was all the other things that gave her trouble.
When she finally emerged, Lily was in a sorry state. She was drenched in sweat, had an extra arm, and various cuts and bruises. On top of that she was dead tired. Lily didn't know how she was going to stay awake the next day.
"Congratulations!" Frank exclaimed. "You made it out. Most don't, not after the first day of training!"
"Well, I feel awful, and probably look worse, and you're congratulating me?" Lily asked with disbelief.
"I looked worse, if it makes you feel better! Got taken out by the dragon, which turned out to be an illusion with a fire spell. Woke up in the hospital three hours later!"
"Yurck. Why do people become Aurors? Why?" Lily asked the heavens, not expecting an answer.
"It pays well!" Frank responded cheerfully.
"And how can you be so wide-awake?"
"I dunno! Well, you better be off if you want any sleep!"
"Good night, Frank."
"Good night. It's actually morning, though."
"Good night!" Lily repeated emphatically. "Transportium!"
***
Lily slept right through breakfast. Luckily, the first class of the day was History of Magic, double period, so Lily slept through that as well. By the time it ended, Lily felt well rested again. Well, as well rested as she could having just several hours ago been hanging of the edge of a bridge.
"Why so tired, Lilycake?" asked Remus.
"I had to finish that blasted Goblin essay that you finished during lunch yesterday. I had no such luxury," Lily replied. She felt bad about lying to her friends, but what else could she have done?
"Okay then," Remus said, a little suspiciously. "If you say so."
"And I do."
Charms was right after lunch, and then a free-period. Lily was an above-average student in Charms, so she made it through that class okay. The free-period she used to do the History of Magic Essay (Why was Heetful the Hateful important? 3 rolls of parchment.) It took only half her period, so she grabbed her Charms book and did the Charms essay as well.
Dinner was an uneventful affair, partly because Snape, Malfoy, and their friends were in the Hospital Wing because of an unfortunate issue dealing with swelling potions dropping on heads, armed with a Timed charm.
"Well, for once the size of their heads matches that of their ego's," Sirius had impertinently told Professor McGonagall, earning a week's worth of detention. ("Yes! 7 closer to the record!")
The other reason was that there was an attack on a wizarding village just west of Canterbury, called Forthwithering. Apparently, about 20 black-robed masked wizards had apparated in, set fire to houses and performed random acts of killing before shooting a sign into the sky and leaving. The sign was that of a skull, with a snake entwined through it. The worst rumour of all was that the group had found a spell to simply kill a victim, with no visible marks. It would simply leave them dead.
After dinner, the Headmaster stood up to make an announcement. "Students. You are all talking about the attack on Forthwithering. I'm not going to lie to you and say that there is nothing to worry about. This is something quite serious. Some of you have lost family or friends in the attack. I offer you my sincere condolences and support. You may rest assured that you are safe at Hogwarts. Thank you."
Now the whole Hall was abuzz with talk. One girl burst into tears and ran outside. Lily wondered if this was the danger that she was to protect the world from.
***
In the next two days, Lily formulated a solid training plan. In training for her special powers, she would go on alternating Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at night. That way, she might at least prevent suspicion from setting in on where she went every night. The Auror training took place after she parted company with all of her friends, so that wasn't a problem. She didn't plan on training Mondays and Thursdays because of how intense the classes themselves were on their own. She knew she would need all her strength.
Thursday night came. At midnight she went to the facilities, where she again met with Frank, as she would do for many more nights. Lily wasn't hit by any spells in the shower! She was so happy, she nearly skipped to the clearing Frank had indicated was for Transportation.
The instructor introduced herself as Mistress Eques. She was quite tall, and slender.
"The most work we will do will be horses, long-distance running, driving cars, and flying. Today is horseback riding. It will change with each class. Please proceed to the stable and choose a mount. These are the mounts that you will be using for the rest of your time as a Discipulus, and as an Auror, so choose carefully. If you need help, ask for it," she said.
Lily was thrilled. She had always loved horses. Once in the stable, she spotted a beautiful black stallion near the corner of the stable. Something possessed her to walk over to him.
"Girl, you don't want that one. He's vicious. Watch-" Mistress Eques cut off her words abruptly. The stallion was nuzzling Lily's hand with his nose.
"Well, maybe it'll be okay. His name is Wind Dancer. We can find you a slightly smaller saddle, so that you'll fit," Mistress Eques remarked.
"Thank you," said Lily.
"Class!" Mistress Eques then showed them how to saddle the horses and lead them out. Lily awkwardly slipped the saddle onto Dancer, then finished with the rest of the gear and led him out. Then Eques told them how to be safe and direct the horse. When they were finally allowed to ride, Dancer was a dream. He responded to Lily's every thought, it seemed. When class was over, Lily was quite disappointed.
The rest of the night went well, with Lily constantly improving. Master Sagitto arranged for private lessons from midnight to one every Tuesday. He said that he would meet her at the field, and that she didn't have to dress or anything. By the time the obstacle came around, Lily was confident that she would do better.
She did do better. Lily came out with a few minor cuts and bruises, easily healed away. Life as a Discipulus was getting easier already.
When she said goodbye to Frank, he commented on it. "How come you're the one who's so cheerful tonight?" he teased.
"I dunno! Bye!" With a wave, Lily activated the port key and was gone.
