Chapter Three:
Training
Harry paced the office, thinking of what to do next. Ever since the incident in the Department of Mysteries, he had become a true leader. Even Dumbledore had listened to what he wanted to do in different things like battles. He also had his friends right beside him. Ron gave him different strategies, Hermione pointed out flaws, Ginny was in charge of recording and keeping track of all the information of their past battles, Neville took over the DA, and Luna pointed out hypothetical situations. They all fought together though, and made it through.
"Okay," He said, as he stopped walking, "Here's what we need to do. He's going to contact his counterpart, and they will attack together, probably in a few days. I need to know who will be at Hogwarts the whole time." All his friends, his parents, sister, Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore raised their hands. "Okay, Ginny?" Immediately, Ginny grabbed a piece of thin muggle paper and a muggle pen and wrote down the names. She handed the list to Harry, who looked it over. "That's it?"
"Well, Sirius has a daughter, and we have two more sons," James said, "But only our one son will be able to fight, the others aren't in Hogwarts yet." Harry jotted these people down as well.
"Okay, I need all of you who are staying, well, you don't have to Professor, but I want the rest of you in training. I'll warn you, it'll be tough, but we need to work hard to succeed. And we need to succeed to get rid of Voldemort, which is vital."
Those who were staying followed Harry to the Room of Requirement. James got Jim, Kyle, and Rose, on the way. He wanted Jim to train, as he would be vital, and since he didn't know what Harry was going to do, he thought the young ones could benefit from it too.
"Now, this training is 50 physical, and 50 mental. You have to have a positive outlook," Harry said. He saw Hermione, Lily, and Isabelle's faces all brighten at the fact that it wasn't all physical. "Okay, I'm going to give you a half hour preview of each, just in case Voldemort attacks. Also, if we have to leave, you'll have the gist of it all."
Everyone nodded, and Jim asked, "What are we going to do first Harry?" He was enthralled that he had his long lost older brother.
"Strength," Harry said, and snapped his fingers, making punching bags appear. "Now, I know you know the physical part of this, it's obvious." He lazily punched the bag. "But, here it is with the other half of my abilities." He punched the bag again, and hit it four times as hard. "What I do is channel all my hurt and anger to Voldemort into my punch to make it better. So, everyone pick a bag and start."
Everyone did and Harry watched, occasionally giving tips or praise. They continued for ten minutes, until Harry blew his whistle. He showed them kicks, which they practiced for ten minutes, then they did sequences with both punches and kicks.
After ten minutes of that, he blew his whistle and said, "Okay, good job everybody! We're going to work on endurance next. Let's head out to the Quidditch Pitch!"
"Are we going to be flying?" Kyle asked.
"Nope, we're running laps," Harry said, and grinned as he received groans. "Trust me, sometimes the thing that will save you is running away."
Everyone went out and ran laps, ten minutes forwards, ten backwards, and ten switching, as well as sideways.
"You never know if you will be going forwards, backwards, or sideways. You have to keep an eye on your opponent at all times," Harry lectured on their way back inside. He had barely broke a sweat, and kept a constant pace, while everyone else stunk and were practically walking at the end.
"Harry," Hermione gasped, "How often do you do this?"
"Everyday," Harry said proudly, "You guys should all go shower. You stink."
After their showers, everyone returned to the Room of Requirement. The room they entered was empty, with stone walls and a stone floor. Harry clapped his hands three times, receiving confused looks.
They were answered when fifteen Death Eaters appeared from thin air and let different coloured sparks fly from their wands. Everyone either screamed or looked stunned, except Harry, who rolled his eyes and clapped his hands again. "Harry James Potter! What was that about?" Lily and Ginny shrieked.
"How'd you control them?" A wide-eyed Neville asked.
"They're not real," Harry said. He clapped his hands and one Death Eater appeared. Harry shoved his hand through it. "It's a holograph." Everyone sighed in relief. "But, if they were real, all of you'd be dead. None of you followed the number one rule. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, I thought you'd know it. Moody ring a bell?"
"Constant Vilagence," They all chanted dully.
"Of course," Sirius said, "But who really takes that old coot seriously? I mean, all that stuff about losing one of your buttocks, because your wand's in your back pocket."
"I do. That's helped me millions of times. Plus, I trust him and his opinion. He passed my test," Harry said.
"Huh?" Isabelle and Jim said, at the same time Lily and James asked, "What test?"
"I devised it. It's kind of like Legilimency, but even a skilled Occlumens doesn't know I'm there. Plus, I can talk to you in your mind, like the Sorting Hat," Harry explained.
"Cool!" Sirius said.
"Anyway," Harry continued, "If you were using Constant Vilagence, you would have started fighting the Death Eaters instead of died. But, that's not what this exercise is about yet. Right now, I want you to dodge all the spells. I'll know if you get hit, and if you do, you're out, which, in a nutshell means you're dead."
He clapped his hands three times, and the Death Eaters reappeared. This time, the group dodged the spells very well; Harry was impressed. After fifteen minutes of dodging, Jim was the only one left. Harry made the Death Eaters disappear. "Good job, I'm very impressed. Now, we'll do another exercise." He snapped his fingers and a series of horizontal bars went between him and the rest of the group. "You have to get to me without touching any bars. You have to go one at a time, and you have to complete the whole thing in a minute. Here's the catch, the bars change after each person, so you can't figure out a path or use your logic. You have to let your body take control. No thinking, got it Hermione? Remus? Mom? Isabelle?"
"Yeah," They answered.
"Why?" Isabelle asked.
"Because the spells won't give you time. You have to learn how to improvise and go with it. Jim, you're good, you go first," Harry said.
Everyone went through five times each, until each person got through it successfully a few times.
"Good job," Harry said, truly proud, "You've all really done a great job. We'd better just have supper, then go to bed. You are all looking beat."
Harry woke them all up early the next morning, causing many complaints. In the Room of Requirement, he explained, "Our Voldemort and yours are together, and both are going to attack today, most likely at a time when the school is vulnerable." He began to pace. Hermione watched him, and noticed small bags under his eyes, and how his whole manner only seemed half-awake.
"Why do you look like you've been up all night, Harry?" She asked.
"I was. I had the vision at quarter to eleven. I've been training and researching ever since," He said, still pacing, "I have tow Voldemorts to defeat, so it's twice as much work. I had to make my plan. I can see why I have Ron now. It was hard! Anyway, we'll warm up with some running. Let's go down to the Quidditch Pitch." They trained until nine, had breakfast, then did two more hours of dueling. Harry then insisted that they all take a nap. He had convinced Dumbledore to let Isabelle and Jim miss their classes, as they were important in the battle. Dumbledore agreed right away, and also got a substitute teacher to cover Lily's classes.
