Summary: When Harry begins his search for the Horcruxes, a mysterious man appears. Is he friend, or foe? Can Harry finish his task and beat the Dark Lord, or will he be Swallowed by Shadow? HP? HGRW RLNT
Date: 28 May 06
Chapter 8 Blade, Fist and Wand
"Why do I have to learn to use a sword?" Harry whined. It had been a week since they had destroyed the Horcrux, and Remus had started warming up to Regulus.
At first, Remus ignored Regulus, maybe hoping he'd go away. The two could be alone in a room for hours without talking, or so much as making eye contact. The rest of the house members found it unbearable to be in the same room with them, and so the two began to be isolated from the rest of the house.
Harry knew Tonks had grown tired of it, and he suspected that she and Remus had had a very long chat. His suspicion was born entirely on the fact that after a long stay of Remus and Regulus in a room with her and Harry, trying to eat, she had slammed her silverware down, growling in a low voice, "Remus, outside."
Harry had watched, amused, as the two made their way to their bedroom, and he had the strong suspicion that a silencing charm had been placed around the room, as not a noise was heard until an hour later when the two returned, Remus looking extremely put out.
But whatever she'd done had worked. Since then, the two had spoken multiple words to each other, none of which were too pleasant, but neither too hateful to start a fight. Harry hoped that the two would gradually realize that they both were trying to fight the same war, and both were trying to protect Harry more than anything else. Maybe they would become friends, in time, or just comrades. Either way, it would be better than what they had now.
"Harry?" Regulus asked, waving his hand in front of his eyes. "Did you get hit by the Confundus curse?"
"What?" Harry asked, pulled from his thoughts. "Oh, right."
Regulus looked at him suspiciously for a minute, then said, "I was saying that you needed to be able to use a sword incase you couldn't use your wand, or incase you face certain Dark Creatures that can be killed no other way."
"Alright," Harry said, sighing. Today was the first day of training, and Regulus was giving him a rundown on what they'd cover. "So basically, I have to learn Complexio Incantado, every charm I've missed from Hogwarts, get in shape, learn martial arts and weapons," Harry summarized.
"Yes," Regulus said. "Starting now."
"Wha--" Harry stuttered.
"I said, you begin now," Regulus said. "Start running laps, then we'll do some dummy duels."
Harry looked at him, completely stunned. How could he be so...evil? Running? Who needed to run?
"I said, start NOW!" Regulus yelled, drawing his wand and firing curses at Harry's feet.
Without a second thought Harry turned and began running laps around the room, Regulus keeping his eyes on him as he turned in the center of the room.
After about fifteen minutes of running as fast as he could around the room, Regulus called the panting boy to a stop.
"Alright, now for your wand," he said. "Step on the 'X'. Dodging, in a normal battle, is a viable option, but not here. You can't move from the time you step on it."
Harry looked at him curiously, but did as he was told, stepping onto the X in front of the three wand dummies.
Before he could so much as say "ready" the dummies began.
Three simultaneous Stunner shot at him.
"Protego!" he cried, raising a shield quickly. The spells bounced away from him, hitting the walls and disappearing.
Harry stood stock still for a moment, unsure what to do.
"You have to fight back, Harry!" Regulus said. "Curse them before they curse you. That's how it's always been."
"Diffindo!" Harry called, slashing at the front most of the dummies. The spell cut its arm deeply, but the dummy sent back Relashio, which Harry quickly shielded against.
"Stupefy!" he tried, targeting the one on the right while the one on the left shot a curse at him.
He cast Protego again, trying to block the spell. But it didn't work. The curse hit him straight on, and immediately he felt the unique pain of the Cruciatus rack his body. Crying out, he fell to his knees, only to be hit by a series of Stinging Hexes.
"Protego!" he cried again. The Stinging Hexes hitting him immediately dissipated, but the Cruciatus continued.
Blindly, he raised his wand and cried out through the pain, "Expelliarmus!" When nothing happened, he took aim again, and sent it again, and again, blindly hoping he was getting closer to the target.
"Expelliarmus!" he cried for the hundredth time, and the pain immediately stopped.
For a moment he remained on his knees, but as he heard a whoosh of air over his head, he jumped back up.
The dummy on his left had had his wand thrown away, and the one on the right was still stock still. But the center dummy was moving around rapidly, its wand a blur as it sent spell after spell at the boy who lived, who furiously tried to block them all.
"The best defense is a good offense," Regulus said quietly.
Harry shielded twice more before he took the advice to heart.
Raising his wand, he called rapidly, "Diffindo! Stuperfy! Expelliarmus, REDUCTO!"
The first three spells were blocked almost instantly, but the fourth hit it square in the chest. The dummy was blown to pieces instantly.
"Not bad, Harry," Regulus said. "But not good enough."
Harry turned to glare at the man. "You let it use the Cruciatus curse?" he demanded.
"Yes," Regulus said simply. "Now you're going again."
Before Harry had a chance to protest, the man waved his wand and the three dummies were fully restored. Immediately they began moving, and Harry set in his stance.
Ten minutes later, Harry, sprouting a new cut across his chest, sweat covering his brow and his entire body heaving as he panted, lowered his wand after stunning the last of the dummies.
"Better," Regulus said. "But not fast enough. You take ten minutes in a real fight and it will be the end of you."
Harry sighed, or tried to, but between the run and the hour spent battling dummies, he was too exhausted to manage it.
"Can I sleep now?" Harry asked quietly.
"Sleep?" Regulus demanded. "No, but you can start on your sit-ups and pushups."
Harry collapsed to the ground and rolled over, lifting himself on his hands. It was going to be a long, long summer.
That night Harry sat with Hermione and Ron in the kitchen, eating dinner fervently. He was tired, so tired he wanted nothing more than to collapse and sleep for a couple of years.
But Hermione insisted he eat first. He knew she was right; with the amount of training he was to undergo, he'd need all the strength he could.
After the sit-ups and push-ups, Harry had been allowed a brief twenty minutes to eat, and then went back to training.
Target practice went on for another hour, before they moved onto the beginnings of martial arts. Regulus said they would start with Tae Kwon Do, and move on to other styles as the summer progressed.
Finally, they had moved on to Complexio Incantados and weapons training. When it finally finished, Molly had cooked a quick meal for the Trouble Trio. Hermione and Ron had decided to stay there for the rest of the summer, and Harry strongly suspected, no matter how much they denied it, that it was so they could spend time with each other. They repeatedly told Harry that it was to be around him, but seeing as Harry would be busy training, he was almost certain that they wanted time together away from their parents.
"Harry?" Hermione asked, as Ron lightly hit his arm.
"What?" he asked, pulling out of his reverie. "Oh," he said, realizing he'd been trying to drink from his spoon and gather his potatoes with his straw.
"Have you even heard a word we've said, mate?" Ron asked.
Harry looked around, his eyes begging forgiveness as he shrugged.
Hermione rolled her eyes, but said, "I wanted to know what you and Regulus had done."
"Oh," Harry said, taking a bite from his potatoes with the right utensil. "Well, we did wand training and running and sit-ups..."
"Why running and sit-ups?" she asked.
"Regulus says that a strong body promotes a strong spirit, and strong magic," Harry said. "And that I might have to do some fighting without a wand."
"Oh," she said, clearly never having thought about the prospects of a good body.
"So, how long are you gonna do it for?" Ron asked, stuffing more food into his already overflowing mouth.
Harry shrugged, devouring the rest of his food as quickly as he could. "Going to bed," he said, standing and turning away. He was already in his room by the time Hermione had called, "Good night!"
Harry collapsed on the bed that night, unable to even undress. Sleep came quickly.
Harry walked through a large grove, a pumpkin plopping along next to him. Quietly, the two talked as they walked. The scenery changed around them, first covered with trees, then with big, hairy trolls who smiled at them as they danced in pink tutus.
Then the scenery changed again, this time, they were alone in a dark room. Looking around, Harry noticed his friend was gone as well.
A knock at the door, and Harry nearly hissed, "Enter."
A hooded figure walked in, bowing in front of Harry. "My lord," he said.
"What news have you brought, Bellatrix?" Harry demanded.
"My lord," she said, standing. "The Dementors have grown restless."
"You call upon me to tell me this?" Harry demanded, his voice low and dangerous.
"N--no, my lord," she stammered quickly. "They tried to Kiss Alecto."
"Ah," Harry said, stroking his chin with a bony, scaled hand. "Perhaps it is time to let them out."
"Where, my lord?" Bella asked.
"Hmm," Harry said. "A Muggle village. Perhaps--"
Harry never heard the end of Voldemort's sentence as he was rudely shaken awake.
"What?" he demanded of the house elf in front of him.
"Mr. Potter was screaming, sir," the small creature said. "Dobby didn't want to wake him, sir, but Dobby was afraid, sir."
Harry looked at the House Elf for a moment, before he sighed.
"It's alright, Dobby," he said. "Thank you. What are you doing here?"
Dobby looked down at the ground, clearly nervous.
"Dobby?" Harry asked. "What is it?"
Dobby scratched his head through his many hats, and stuttered, "Dobby has left Hogwarts, sir."
"What?" Harry demanded. "Why?"
"To serve Harry Potter, sir," he squeaked quickly.
Harry pulled back, stunned. Why would Dobby want to serve him?
"Why me, Dobby?" Harry asked.
"Because Harry Potter helped Dobby, and Dobby should help him," the house elf squeaked.
"Dobby, you didn't have to do that," he said.
"Does Harry Potter not want Dobby, sir?" he asked, tears shining in his eyes.
"Of course I want you, Dobby," Harry said quickly. "You're welcome here anytime, Dobby, but you don't have to work here."
"But Dobby wants to work for Harry Potter, sir," the house elf said.
Harry looked at the house-elf, who stared back with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
"Alright, Dobby," Harry said. "But can we talk about the terms tomorrow? I'm really tired." Glancing at the alarm clock, he noted it was only 3 in the morning. His scar burned, and his muscles ached. He couldn't remember anything about his dream, except...a pumpkin?
"Yes, Mr. Potter, sir!" Dobby squealed, jumping up and down happily, disappearing with a small pop.
Harry smiled at the short creature and fell back to sleep, thoughts of Voldemort and Dementors far out of mind.
A.N--And another chapter down. Eat well, my friends.
I'm feeling kinda down right now, but you know what would make me feel better? Reviews!