The room was set up outside with a large lake and a forest against the walls and a meadow off to the side. It was another training session with the Golden Trio. Hadrian stood watching as they did laps in the lake in the room of requirement. From here he could hear Ron complaining, Mikeal is slow but doing it. Over the couple of days Mikeal has learned and recognized how the Jinx works Hadrian and Marcus put on them. Hermione constantly glares at Hadrian whenever she passes him where he stands; she has been quite pushy in her demands for what she read in a book.
Damian thought since he had asked to join it was never late and always returns since then. By the smile Hadrian could see he was having a blast. Harry shifted his eyes over to the other end where Marcus was setting up the next part. He gets a nod signaling they are ready to move on. Looking at his watch Harry calls for them to stop, the three teens flop to the ground while Damian gulps some water.
"Ok listen up!" Hadrian calls for their attention, "you three are still abysmal though making progress. The next part of training today will still focus on endurance." Hadrian pointed to where Marcus was ten feet in the air "today you four will go through it with pairs when I call. You are to go through each step without a harness and make it to the end. Marcus will show you what to expect." Hadrian gave Marcus a nod sending him through the obstacle course.
There were five stages they had to go through: First is the unstable bridges, where they have to exercise the ability to control their surroundings. One false move could send either of them falling; it is a way to test their balance. Second was a giant ladder built for problem solving to get to the next stage, which was the single line bridge. It was a single line that spans from one platform to the next. They must figure out how to get to the other side. The fourth stage was a zip line balance beam. It was in the pattern of a Z with beams attached by a typical rope. Forcing them to change direction every 4 feet requires careful thought and planning. Lastly, there was the free fall dive, they must have a leap of faith to get to the finish line.
Hadrian sent Damian and Hermionie together first after Marcus went through. He watched them making it through. When the second stage came, they actually worked as a team to get through. In the end Damian didn't even think about the free fall dive and did it making him get out first and Hermione who paused second. Then he sent Ron and Mikeal through; which wasn't as smooth as the first two as they argued in the second stage and ended up doing themselves with Mikeal coming out first and Ron second.
"Alright get out of our sight, that's all for today see you back on Monday." Marcus told them as the room changed.
Damian though sees that Hadrian and Marcus weren't leaving but getting ready for something. He stayed to see what it was, and he was fascinated by what they were doing. Sword fighting muggle sword fighting. The two brought out silver sharpened swords with jewels at the handle after they bowed to each other a duel began. Metal clashed with Metal going back and forth on a raised platform Damian never saw anything like this.
Finally, they come to a draw, ending the dueling session as Hadrian turned he stopped in his tracks at seeing Damian still at the door with bright surprised looks.
Damian then started bouncing in place with a huge smile on his face. "I want to learn!"
Marcus chuckled, nodding his head to something Hadrian said through their link and conjured a wooden sword. The next hour Marcus and Hadrian went over the basics with Damian with a promise of another session Monday.
Once Hadrian and Marcus were alone in their room Marcus turned towards Hadrian, "where do you keep going at night?"
Hadrian smirks walking over to the fireplace, "how many towers are there in this castle?"
Marcus laughed, "whats with the silly question?"
"Just answer the question," Hadrian sighed, crossing his arms.
"Fine," Marcus thinks, then giving "34 towers including the West Tower."
Hadrian smirks, "you are wrong. Try 40 towers total."
Marcus just stared at Hadrian trying to count them again by memory. Then Hissing was heard and together both Hadrian and Marcus watched as the fireplace opened revealing a set of stairs.
"Each founder had two towers or rooms; one was for the students and one for themselves with Slytherin having two towers for himself." Hadrian spoke as he started walking up the winding staircase forcing Marcus to follow. The rest of the night Hadrian showed Marcus all that he found, showing him the extra towers only the heir or anyone up in a tower can see. Together they then made a plan to find each one before stage two starts.