Ascension: The Promise of Prometheus

by Define Anachronistic

(AU) It's Harry Potter's Third Year at Hogwarts, and he and his closest friends have resolved to enlist in the Auror Corps in order to gain the necessary authority to combat their enemies head on. However, brutal training, a harsh Squad Captain and a plot that could destabilise both the Muggle and the Wizarding Worlds need to be dealt with first. Who said war was meant to be easy?

6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER THREE

One Hundred Days of Hell

Harry trudged alone across the icy plateau; his world only spared from darkness by the emerald glow that came from above.

Despite the mythic beauty of the Aurora Australis, he kept his head bowed, hood low and goggles strapped securely around his head, though all this did very little to keep the biting wind from stabbing into the little bits of skin he had left exposed to open air.

He had enchanted every piece of clothing he wore to keep him warm when he had first crafted them, from the poncho and bracers, all the way to the way to his balaclava and boots, and he had completed the entire process by himself. This included capturing, killing and skinning the Puffskeins for their fur, transfiguring the raw materials into clothes and then inscribing them with a variety of repeated Runic Complexes to keep him forever toasty.

Or it was supposed to anyway.

Antarctica's long winter night was enough to overwhelm even his well-made Artifice, but with temperatures that were well below negative twenty degrees Celsius, Harry knew that he would have dropped dead miles ago from the sheer cold without the magically enhanced clothes. Still, it was enough to demoralise him.

Knowing well enough by now that losing morale only made things worse, Harry stopped walking and tried the Tracking Charm again, hoping his quarry had finally returned to its den. Appare Vestigium!

Harry lifted his goggles in time to see a swirl of golden powder fall gently onto the snow around him, ignoring the strong winds as it did so, and he was relieved when he saw the nearly invisible tracks of his prey were headed towards the protruding glacier on the western horizon.

Harry snapped his googles back into place and continued his trek, pointing his wand at the ground as he went. Steret! Without his lips moving even a millimetre, his footsteps vanished from the snow behind him.

Even though the Southern Lights washed the lands beneath it in an eerie emerald glow, Harry was forced to rely on his Supersensory goggles in order to safely cross the frozen terrain. He refrained from conjuring a brighter light source for himself as it might attract the attention of a Dark Beast that he wasn't hunting, and for that same reason he had also obscured himself with the Disillusion Charm.

He didn't dare use his Invisibility Cloak, as Captain Solace might be watching him even now.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Harry finally arrived within throwing distance of the glacier and collapsed onto the snow. He knew it was a bad idea to take a break without protection from both predators and the elements, but it had been an especially long day, even by recent standards.

After a few minutes, when the bite of the freezing wind became more painful than the burning in his muscles, Harry climbed back onto his feet and approached an opening in the glacier with an appropriate level of wariness. He repeated the Tracking Charm once more, as he didn't want to entire the frozen cave unless he absolutely had to and was almost disappointed by the positive result.

Gathering his nerve, Harry trained his wand in front of him and entered the cave after the Yeti.

It was hard to tell with the goggles on, but Harry got the sense that the cave was pitch black, and the only movement he could see within was the minuscule trickling of running water. The glacier's innards were melting despite the freezing temperatures outside; another sign that this was the Yeti's den, as it only thrived in the cold due to the massive body heat it generated.

Harry worked his way down into the cave, carefully watching his step as a single mistake could lead to him becoming the prey instead. However, what he hadn't expected was the Yeti to be aware of his tracking all along.

As he turned the next corner, the wall to his left seemed to come alive and he realised much too slowly that it wasn't a wall at all.

The Yeti took a swipe at him, but Harry instinctually turned on the spot and Disapparated.

When he reappeared a moment later back around the corner he just come from, Harry evaluated the situation. His initial guess that the Yeti was able to sense his presence by the heat his body generated (as he had already obscured himself from sight, hearing, and smell) was immediately proven right when it's fifteen feet tall and two tonne body came tearing around the corner right towards him.

More than that though, the fact that he had missed it with his Supersensory Goggles meant that the Yeti could control its own temperature and was intelligent enough to lure Harry into its den with it before lowering it to the point where it was invisible to him against the icy walls.

Harry gritted his teeth as the Yeti pounced at him, as he knew he was going to have to ask Captain Solace to help him learn that trick himself later. Before the Beast could touch him, he Disapparated once more. He appeared directly behind it this time and directed his wand at the ice beneath his feet. Aeris!

The Yeti tried to catch him with a back hand of its enormous fist, but Harry was no longer there. The compressed bullet of air had launched him upwards by twenty feet, and in a move that he had been ordered to drill a thousand times, he twisted his body in mid-air so that he was upside down by the time he hit the cave's ceiling in a crouch.

Epoximise, he cast before gravity could do its work, and his boots were immediately fused with the glacier's ice.

The Yeti let out an enormous roar as its eyes traced its prey to the ceiling above its head. Before it could figure out that it could merely reach up and grab him, Harry trained his wand at its undefended eyes. Confundo!

The Yeti froze and shuddered like all confounded victims but, much to Harry's surprise, it fought viscously against his control. He had to bring all his focus and desire down onto the Beast's will, like a hammer on a nut, smashing it into pieces before he was done. It was only when the Yeti was as docile as could be, did he follow up with the finisher.

Perfuro!

His Piercing Curse was pinpoint accurate and as narrow as could be. It hit the Yeti between the eyes, burrowing a clear hole the size of a bronze Knut into its head until it was expelled from the back of its skull, taking a hefty chunk of grey matter and bone along with it.

The Yeti dropped to the ground in a slump, but Harry remained fused to the ceiling. He had been tricked once today, and he had no desire to repeat the experience. Lumos Duo! Aura Incantatem! Harry lifted his googles in order to examine his previous pitch-black surroundings.

The floating ball of light reflected off the ice walls which magnified the area of illumination, more than enough for Harry to see that no other Yetis were lying in wait, but he only relaxed when the white sparks only lingered on himself and the body of the Yeti he had just killed.

It was unlikely that there even would have been another one in the same glacier as Yetis were notorious for how territorial they were, but Harry wasn't about to take the chance after he had been caught off guard once. Besides, Antarctica was crawling with them, as the first wizard settlers on the continent had brought them here from Tibet and they had bred like rabbits.

Harry removed the Fusion Spell from his boots and dropped from the ceiling, flipping again as he cast a Softening Charm on the ice he landed upon, bouncing only once before landing in another crouch. Straightening up, he made his way over to his kill, removing a miniaturised box from his belt as he did so. Engorgio. Mobilicorpus. Reduico.

With the Yeti secured in the again miniaturised box and stored in his utility belt, Harry Disapparated from the cave and back to base.

Their base was an igloo that he and his squadmates had built only hours earlier. They had used magic to collect and compress snow into tightly packed bricks and Harry, the only one who had an eye for architecture apparently, had managed the others while they put the bricks in place to fashion shelter that would be adequate for their one night spent in the Antarctic winter. While the others worked on setting up protections for their igloo, Harry went off on his own to go fetch dinner.

The small archway entrance was so small that he was forced to crawl through it, and he used his wand to push the heavy block of snow that worked as their door. Dully admiring how the inside of the igloo was lit a pretty shade of cobalt by the floating balls of bluebell flames, Harry tossed the box onto the table before collapsing into one of the armchairs, saying, "Bon Appétit."

Anthony, who had been doing his homework at the table, asked, "What's that?" He poked the box with his wand.

"Morgan le Fay's lost grimoire." Harry said dryly, his eyes closed. "What do you think I meant when I told you lot I was getting dinner?"

"All right, calm down." Anthony said defensively. "Engorgio! There's no need to be so- What the Bedlam is that?!" He yelped, backing away from the now open crate.

Harry lifted his head to see if he had accidently brought something else back to base, before dropping it back down when he only saw the Yeti's white fur. "Dinner."

"I'm not eating that!" Anthony said resolutely.

"You can and you will." Harry snapped back, unable to believe that he could still be so picky with his food after all this time. Just as he was about to get to his feet, Terry spoke up.

"It's a delicacy in some places." He said quietly from where he was curled up on his own armchair. Both Harry and Anthony fell silent, as Terry rarely spoke unless he had to these days. "I'll get to work on cooking it, alright?"

"If you're sure." Anthony said uncertainly. When Terry took the Yeti from him and began fashioning a cooking fire, he gave Harry a concerned look but all he got in return was a helpless shrug.

Michael spoke then from his bed, where he was hidden underneath the pile of blankets that he had transfigured for himself. "I don't care what it is as long as I can have lots of it." He groaned, rolling over so his face was visible through a tiny gap in his covers. "We'll need our strength for tomorrow."

Harry nodded. "Which reminds me, make sure you save the Yeti's fur and skin, Number One. It might come in useful." Terry nodded but didn't deign to reply. Deciding to spare his friends the reminder of a night watch schedule until their bellies were full of Yeti meat (as it would be just like Captain Solace to try and ambush them in their sleep), Harry curled up in his chair and had one of the flames draw closer to him while Anthony returned to his homework and Michael to his pre-dinner nap.

Life had been like this for almost five weeks now, starting from the day they had first met Captain Solace.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

On that first day, they had followed Captain Solace to the Citadel gates and once they were off the protected grounds, she presented them with her Auror badge. The boys had hesitated, glancing uncertainly at each other before she gave her badge an annoyed shake, silently urging them to hurry up.

The Portkey only activated once all five had at least a finger on the badge, and they were pulled into the newly created space that the Artifice tore open. They landed somewhere that was much cooler than the warm summer air in London and, looking around, Harry could see that they were in a mountainous valley with rocky terrain. The grass beneath his feet felt spongy and the trees were dripping with moisture, both of which indicated recent rain.

Harry wished he had decided to wear something more substantial than a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

There were two buildings in the valley, and both were simple identical huts. Solace ordered them inside the one that was directly in front of them, and the interior was just as miserable as its exterior. They stepped into a large room with four cots, each with their own rigid pillow, thin blanket and a number engraved on the wall above the non-existent headrest.

"Stand to attention at the end of the bunk with your number on it." Solace ordered.

Again, the boys hesitated, and Harry tentatively asked, "What number?"

Solace zeroed in on him. "Are you blind?" She barked, poking his chest. "Your number." Harry glanced down to see that the number four had somehow been stitched onto his t-shirt just over his heart in black thread without his knowing. Glancing at his friends, he saw that Terry had been given Number One, Michael Number Two, and Anthony Number Three.

Intimidated, the boys hurried to their designated bunks. Once they were all standing at attention, Captain Solace approached Harry's cot and got uncomfortably close to his face. "When you speak to me, it will not be out of turn, and you will address me by my rank. Is that clear, Number Four?" Harry didn't like a single word in that sentence, but he knew better than to kick up a fuss so early on.

"Yes, Captain."

Solace twirled her wand, and a stack of An Auror's Enchiridion appeared right in front of him. Harry's arms shot out and caught the stack before it could be dropped onto his foot. "Hold that with both arms fully extended until I tell you stop." Harry gave no response, and Solace gave a satisfied little nod before making her way back to the door and addressed the group as a whole.

"Welcome to Basic Training. The numbers you wear are your rankings, designated by me on how likely you are to pass." Harry gave no outward reaction, but his heart dropped right into his stomach when he heard that. "It goes without saying that Number One is the best and Four is the worst." He kept his eyes straight ahead, focusing on the stack of books that already had his arms burning with the strain of carrying them, so he might have merely imagined the cold look Solace shot him when she said that. "I will refer to each of you by your numbers. You will refer to each other by your numbers. You will even refer to yourselves by your numbers." She looked at them each in turn as she said this. "You have no identity here outside of what I deign to give you. Is that clear?"

The boys spoke then, in various levels of muted shock and outrage, but they still responded promptly and as one. "Yes, Captain."

She barrelled on, completely unconcerned with the effect her words were having on them. "Every day you will be awoken at 06:00 where you will prepare breakfast for yourselves. Physical training will begin at 06:30 which will be followed by lessons at 08:00 until 16:30 with a thirty-minute break at 12:00 for you to prepare lunch if I am feeling generous." Harry could see Terry's nerves growing with every word that came out of her mouth, and it only grew worse with what followed. "This will be followed by Personal Training until 20:30 when you will return here for dinner, homework at 21:00 and lights out at 22:00."

She paused, as though expecting one of them to voice a protest, but when none came, she continued. "This will be your lives for the next one hundred days. There are no weekends, no breaks, no holidays. This is not mandatory, so if at any point you feel as though you can't take it, you can simply leave." While the meaning of the words was generous, the way she phrased it left it clear that she would deem them weaklings if they gave up midway. "However, you should know that you would then be unable to enlist again until you are of age and have secured at least five Outstanding N.E. ."

"Any questions?" Solace asked lightly, seemingly cheered by their visible distress. "No? Good, then we can begin with our first day." She flicked her wand and three of the books Harry was carrying floated over to the others while the fourth remained with him. "These will be your guides for as long as you are Aurors. Memorise them." She instructed. "I am not joking. I will be quizzing you at random times throughout your training and you will be punished if you cannot answer correctly."

"Now then," she waved her wand once more and a small pile of dark exercise gear appeared at the foot of each cot, and they were identical to the clothes Nicolas had him wear while training at home. "You have one minute to put these on and meet me outside. We're a little behind schedule, so we'll be skipping breakfast today." With that, she turned on her heel and left the hut.

"I'm not the only one who thinks she's nuts, right?" Terry asked, his voice muffled as he struggled to fit his head in the stretchy t-shirt's opening. When no one responded, he asked, "Anthony? A little help?" Anthony sighed and went over to help his brother.

Harry didn't think much of it at the time, as he had been busy flicking through the Auror's Enchiridion that he had been issued, trying to quickly identify the differences between it and the older edition he already owned, but he would regret it. Captain Solace had been serious about referring to each other by number only, as she woke them up the next day by blasting cold water from her wand with more pressure than a fire hose.

But he didn't know that then, so he simply tucked his new book underneath his pillow and hurried out of the hut at Michael's urging.

Physical training was extremely similar to what Nicolas already had Harry doing every day for over a year now, with the exercises focusing on building up dexterity and flexibility, to speed and reflexes. However, instead of building a playground like his master had, Solace had placed the training equipment in a specific order but a hundred meters apart from each other.

It was only when she made a comment about timing them during their warmup stretches, did he realise it was an obstacle course.

They were all meant to run it at the same time, which Harry believed was meant to be demoralising, as even though it wasn't explicitly stated, it did put them in direct competition with one another.

"When you reach the end, run around the course and get back here as quickly as you can. Oh, and no magic allowed." Solace added, before yelling, "START!"

Harry pulled away from the others in the first sprint to the river, diving into the chilly, fast-moving water without hesitation and swimming across the width to the other bank, managing to climb out before Michael could even reach the halfway point. He ran out across the open ground towards the next obstacle, and his waterlogged clothes weren't just weighing him down but felt freezing in the brisk morning air. Hoping to warm himself up, he increased his pace to a dead sprint towards the second obstacle at the tree line.

Next was a series of metal bars that were floating in mid-air, making a rope-free ladder and leading up and into the trees and out of sight. Harry didn't even pause, as he immediately began scrambling up the ladder and working his way through the leaves and branches before reaching the first of a network of balancing beams that worked their way right through the trees up ahead.

Already knowing what to expect from Nicolas' own home-made gym, (although the height threw him for a loop) Harry stepped out onto beam, treating it like a thin bridge that just so happened to lack any barriers on either side. When the hidden Automatons began firing balls of paint at him from their toy wands, he began to turn, duck and contort his body into strange positions in order to avoid getting hit.

Managing to make it through all five beams without getting hit even once, Harry climbed down the ladder at the end and began running for the next obstacle.

The rock wall was over a hundred feet high, just like the one at Brightstone House, but unlike the Bowtruckles that lurked within, ready to nibble at his fingers at any opportunity, this wall housed Fire Salamanders within its crevices. Harry could spot them as he was running up, as their bright orange bodies shone in the foggy gloom.

He didn't let that stop him though, as he began climbing the rock face the moment he reached it, not even pausing to catch his breath. In the moment, he told himself that he was trying so hard as he wanted to get something out of the training, but in reality, it was due to the insult of being designated number four, as it had even been stitched onto his training gear. Harry loved his friends, but he knew his chances of becoming an Auror were greater than theirs.

He climbed the rock wall as rapidly as he could, drawing his hands and feet away before the Salamanders could even think to take a bite out of him. He knew that a bite from their sharp, scorching little teeth would hurt a lot more than a toothless gnaw from the Bowtruckles back home.

When he reached the top without a scratch on him, he began carefully working his way down the other side. Back home he would have carelessly dropped a hundred feet to the ground, trusting that the permanently softened ground that Nicolas had enchanted would break his fall, but he had no similar trust in Solace. Even though it would take a bite of his overall time, he did the sensible thing and climbed his way down the proper way.

Harry ran back to the starting position the moment he had both feet on the ground, going around the trees as he did so and using a felled tree and a series of protruding, but very slippery, rocks to cross the river. As such, he didn't have any idea where the others were by the time he made it back. "Fifteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds." Captain Solace informed him as he doubled over to catch his breath. Her cool tone didn't give away whether she thought this was a good time or not. "Run it again."

Harry's head snapped up to look at her, wanting to ask if she was joking, but her face was deadly serious. Gritting his teeth, he turned and began to run the course a second time.

His second attempt was nowhere near as good as the first, and not just because of how tired he was from the first go around, but how indignant he was that he had to run it twice at all. While he didn't see Anthony and Michael, he did end up lapping Terry when they were both on the rock wall. He wasn't surprised by this, as Anthony had been dedicating himself to training since the Azkaban breakout and Michael had always been naturally athletic. However, even with a month of training under his belt courtesy of his mother, Terry struggled to keep up as he had always been on the scrawny side.

Harry considered helping the smaller boy when he hissed at bitten for a third time, but he just knew that Solace would use it as an excuse to punish them both.

When he returned to the starting position, both Anthony and Michael had managed to catch their breath, and they looked at him strangely as he doubled over next to them, no doubt wondering how he finished after them. "Twenty-four minutes, fifty-five seconds." He hated how pleased Solace sounded with this time, but he refrained from voicing this displeasure out loud, not wanting to run the course a third time.

When Terry finally made it back, Solace led them through a series of cooldown exercises before guiding them to the second hut where their lessons would be conducted.

There were eight subjects in total, four taught in one day with two hours per lesson, followed by the other four subjects the next day before the schedule repeated. These lessons were dense, and their topics were wide ranging, but it was immediately evident how important it all was for an Auror to know.

Stealth and Tracking was their first class. The stealth portion focused on hiding oneself from view, but Harry had long since mastered most obscuring spells, so he was tasked with mastering various forms of tracking magic, from simple charms to more obscure methods like scrying.

Most of the classes paired well with the one that followed directly after, and for Stealth and Tracking that perfect partner was Concealment and Disguise. They were taught to hide objects, secret messages and even buildings from view. Captain Solace went as far as to teach them the theory of even more powerful concealment spells, such as the Fidelius and the Imperturbable Charms.

The disguise half of the lesson typically focused on Human Transfiguration and potions use in order to disguise your form. Harry and Terry exchanged identical smirks when Polyjuice Potion was brought up. Solace also taught them signs to look out for when it came to magical disguises, such as clumsiness and strange skin tones, all of which she had used to capture fleeing criminals in the past according to the many anecdotes that she told during lessons.

Terry made up for his lacklustre performance in the physical side of their training when it came to Potions and Antidotes. Captain Solace taught them all how to identify and neutralize poisons in this classroom, but they were repeatedly told that the best way to counteract poisons was to keep the most common antidotes on hand in their standard issued utility belts.

This class was immediately followed by Emergency Healing, which Harry had conflicting feelings about, not because of the subject matter, but how it was taught. On the one hand they were taught how to prevent blood loss and fix ruptured organs in just a matter of weeks, but on the other, Solace had deemed the use of animals to be cruel, so she ordered them to heal each other after she was done attacking them.

The worst part was that she informed them of this only after she started attacking.

During that first lesson, Harry had been thrown to the ground by a curse he didn't recognise, and even though there was no visible wound, he could feel a terrible burning sensation within his chest.

He must have screamed out, as his friends immediately came to his defence. Terry had knelt by his side and tried to identify the cause of his pain while Anthony kept his wand trained on Solace and Michael got right in her face. "What did you do?!"

"I've broken six of his ribs." Solace said matter-of-factly. "In order to fix this, you must first place him in a body-bind, before casting the Bone-Repairing Charm: Brackium Emendo." Even with her coaching, it took almost the entirety of the two-hour lesson for Terry to get the hang of it, and Harry was forced to lie there on the cold, muddy ground in silent agony all the while.

"Good, but your charm was overpowered," Solace said as she checked over Terry's work with a Diagnostic Charm. "You regenerated more bone instead of repairing all of it, leaving splinters here, here and here." She carefully pointed out the glowing images of bone that was hovering within the holographical representation of Harry's torso. "If you leave it there, it'll eventually move towards the nearest organs, the lungs and heart, and pierce them." She paused before adding, "and it'll cause him a great deal of pain even before then," as though it were a secondary thought.

When Terry did a good enough job that Harry was able to stand with minimal pain shooting through his torso, he immediately did so and cast the charm on himself, vanishing the fragments of bone. "You already know how to cast it?" Solace asked interestedly. She had the same look on her face when he had shown his knowledge of stealth spells earlier.

Harry grit his teeth, hating the fact that he had to be polite to someone who had just attacked him. "Yes, Captain." He said, his jaw clenched.

This didn't escape her notice. "You free to leave at any time, Number Four." She reminded him.

Despite all his goals and dreams for the future, Harry seriously considered it. It would be so easy, as he would just have to find the nearest road through the Point Me Spell before flagging down the Knight Bus. It wasn't even the harshness of the training that was getting to him, but the continued blows to his pride as she kept singling him out and embarrassing him in front of his friends.

But the moment passed, and he fell back in line with the others.

It was only much later that he would realise that she hadn't taken the opportunity to punish his friends for their earlier impertinence when they came to his defence.

After they were blasted out of bed the next morning with freezing water, they prepared breakfast for themselves. Harry would have been more than happy to teach his coddled friends how to whip up some scrambled eggs or something equally as quick, but they were all disappointed when all that was waiting in the pantry for them was oatmeal mix. As there was no milk, Harry promised to teach them the Water-Making Spell at their earliest convenience.

They had hoped that last night's white rice and unseasoned chicken breast dinner was a fluke, but now those hopes were crushed. They were all brought low by this, but Michael was utterly devastated.

Laws and Conduct was by far the most boring lesson, and they had it bright and early their second morning after Physical Training. An Auror's Enchiridion was their textbook for this class, and they were ordered to learn it backwards and forwards before Basic Training was over.

The first thing they learned was their jurisdiction, which typically centred around Dark Magic, both for sorcerers who used them illegally and the Artifices created by them. It was their duty to protect both worlds from the Dark Beasts that roamed them, as was the enforcement of the Statute of Secrecy against sorcerers who broke it and the Muggles who could see through the Veil.

While Custodians typically dealt with wizard-on-wizard crime that didn't involve either Dark Magic, creatures or Muggles, Aurors were authorised to step in during live situations where there were no Custodians present, as Solace took the time to emphasise. "Remember, should anything illegal occur before you, it is your duty as an officer of the law to not let it pass."

That made things a little awkward considering half of all Marauder activity was technically illegal. Harry just knew that they were going to have to talk to some of their older friends about it, as they must have faced the same dilemma.

Laws and Conduct went well with the lesson that followed, Containment and Restraining. Solace showed them Binding Spells that were used on individuals, buildings and even entire areas. She made many call backs to Laws and Conduct when she was teaching them how to safely restrain a suspect in various situations, emphasising the need to avoid excessive force.

That was interesting and everything, but Harry was more intrigued by the part where she taught them about bindings themselves, both conjurations and elemental. He thought it was a fascinating bit of magic and a more elegant way to end a duel.

After lunch on their second day (a watery broth that was so bland it made Michael sob), Solace put them through their paces with Hand-to-Hand training. "If you ever lose your wand, your first instinct should always be to get it right back." Their captain explained as she paced in front of the four boys who were lined up in front of her. "If that is not possible, flee. There's no shame in it, as you can't help anyone else if you yourself are dead."

She stopped pacing right in front of Harry. He almost rolled his eyes at how predictable she now was, because the moment she had announced what she would be teaching, he just knew he was going to be her testing dummy. "However, you might find that you have no choice but to fight. If so, there are some things you can do that can make the odds a little more favourable."

She then proceeded to use Harry as an example of how to do joint locks, especially around the wrist that would make an opponent drop their wand, flips and throws that used an enemy's own strength and momentum against them and, worst of all for Harry, blows to soft vulnerable areas that could incapacitate an attacker.

"As you can clearly see, all of this only works if you are in close quarters with your enemy, and that very rarely happens when they could instead hit you with a spell from thirty feet away." She glanced down at Harry, who was still in the dirt and struggling to heal himself after the choke hold she had only just released. "Line up, Number Four," she snapped, completely ignoring how hard it was for him to cast a healing spell without being able to voice the incantation through hacking coughs.

When he had finally managed it, Solace continued. "It goes without saying that all of this is a last resort." Solace warned them all. "If you ever lose your wand, you're most likely about to die." She paused, letting that sink in before she added, "Which is why I'm going to teach you how to avoid getting into that position in the first place."

The final lesson was duelling. Solace would take them on either one at a time or in groups depending on her mood. Day by day, the terrain she wanted to work with them on changed from the forest, the surrounding mountains or just out in the open. The group duels were the hardest as they had to keep each other into account while she would either flee or attack them head on.

Either way she always won.

Rankings shifted around during lessons, but it was normally just Terry and Michael exchanging the top spot, going back and forth a lot. Anthony made it to Number Two a couple of times, but Harry was the only one who remained fixed on the rank he had first started with, even though he knew that his overall performance was by far the best. He had no idea what Solace's problem with him was, but he was determined to not let it get to him.

After lessons, but before dinner, they had Personal Training scheduled every day. When their last lesson let out, she sent them all to their designated areas in the training grounds. Harry's designated area was the wide-open space where the edge of the forest met the foot of the westward mountain, and Solace always arrived to deal with him last.

On the first day, she had asked to see what he knew and Harry, now knowing not to expect much from her, showed her his entire spell arsenal without much fanfare. She watched him work in silence, and as the water from his Surging Spell crashed down the rocky slope towards the forest, Solace finally spoke to him. "Apparition and nonverbal casting. You'll master these before the first test." He noticed how she avoided the word "try" or the expression "work on", as though anything other than absolute mastery was unimaginable.

She didn't give him a chance to ask when this test would be, but he thought that might be the point. He would be guaranteed to work to his fullest if the test could come at any time.

"Apparition is all about being aware of multiple things, all at the same time." Her instruction began with startling abruptness. "You must be aware of your own body, the clothes and items you carry with you, as well as your destination, your familiarity of it, and the space you are crossing to get there. Then you simply hold your wand like so and turn-" she spun on the spot and disappeared before reappearing five feet to the left of where she had been standing, "-like so." She finished.

Harry had always been wary of Apparition, and he liked it even less than Portkeys whenever someone took him along for a ride. He had expected it to be difficult to learn, as he never seemed to click properly with branches of magic that disinterested him, but Apparition proved to be different.

Solace had left him to it hours ago, telling him to send a distress signal if he splinched himself, (not considering that he might have splinched both his arms off, he realised later) and Harry had no luck at first, no matter how many times he sharply turned on the spot and almost fell face first on the rocky ground.

However, it was the thought about Portkeys that gave him his breakthrough.

Whenever he took a Portkey, it was like the Artifice tore open a path that had never been there to begin with, creating a direct line to whatever the destination was, and he guessed that Apparition might be the same. Whenever he was Side-Along Apparated, he noticed the same images of light, colour and sound that flashed by whenever he took a Portkey.

Harry kept his gaze fixed on the bottom of the rocky slope, imagining a pathway opening up between his position and his destination. Then he turned on the spot and took a deliberate step back through the pathway he was picturing.

His body was being squeezed as he worked his way through the opening, and his breath was stolen from his lungs as the world became awash with bright flashing colours and the howling sound of the world being torn apart to make way for him, but only for a moment, as he reappeared at the bottom of the slope.

After the day he had, Harry had needed a solid win, and he threw his head back a whooped.

Solace was less impressed when he showed her the next day. "Now you have to do it with a destination that's too far away to see." Harry swallowed his groan.

While he was flying high with his triumph over Apparition, his failures with nonverbal casting were there to bring him crashing back down to Earth. "Nonverbal spellcasting requires a level of concentration and dedication that wouldn't have been demanded from you in your classes at school just yet." Solace informed him after he had proven himself "decent" at Apparition (her words). "Do you know the components for spellcasting?"

"Emotion, intent, imagination, wand movement, incantation and will power, Captain." Harry answered.

Solace nodded. "And what do you think will happen if you take just one of these away?"

"It makes spell casting much more difficult, but not impossible." Solace raised her eyebrow. "Captain." He quickly added.

"These are all handholds that most sorcerers need in order to cast even the most basic of spells, but the most learned of our kind can cast powerful spells with just intention and imagination." Harry nodded, as he had seen this for himself. "You will remove the need for wand movement and incantation by increasing the other components before the first test. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Captain." Solace nodded when she heard that before leaving him alone again.

It all made sense to him in theory, but in practice Harry was unable to even cast a Wand-Lighting Charm without the incantation. It was only after the fifth time Solace walked away disappointed when he reported no improvement, did he remember what Nicolas had been teaching him before Basic Training even began.

Harry spent the evening casting the Wand-Lighting Charm dozens of times, following the output of Mana from the well he pictured it as, to the arm that was holding his blackthorn wand. It was all just different parts of the same machine, his well of Mana, body, even his wand were all just gears in the system. They didn't need incantations or wand movements in order to do what they were built to do.

Harry drew the minimal amount of Mana that was required for this particular spell from his well of power and directed from his chest, down his arm and into his wand.

Lumos!

His wand tip flared to life.

Captain Solace must have caught sight of the light from the corner of her eye as she reached the bottom of the slope and, it might have been Harry's imagination, he could have sworn he saw her smile.

Later, Harry found out his friends were working on raising the number of spells they had in their arsenals. Solace had them each focusing on a different element to start with, fire for Anthony, earth for Michael and air for Terry, but she was primarily concerned with both their Martial Spells, both offensive and defensive.

"She says that she'll get around to teaching us Apparition and nonverbal casting when we master the basics." Michael informed Harry over their bland dinner of boiled potatoes and asparagus.

"I'll help where I can." Harry promised.

"When?" Terry asked sourly. "In the non-existent time we have to ourselves?" Harry had a feeling that he would have moodily pushed around the food on his plate if he weren't so hungry.

"It's okay, we don't have to learn everything in the hundred days we got." Anthony said gently. "We can figure it out when we get back to school."

Terry sighed and nodded. Harry couldn't even blame him for his attitude towards the whole thing. Even though Solace hadn't singled Terry out, he was finding it difficult to keep up with the physical side of training and seeing the others do better at it than him must have been disheartening as everything had always come so easily to him. Every day he waited for Terry to announce his departure, and he felt guilty for ever doubting him when he continued to stick it out with the rest of them.

What they were all learning in Personal Training was really paying dividends in their duels against their captain. Together, the four boys managed to come up with some off the wall ideas and when Solace disapproved, she ordered them to never attempt such a thing again, like when Terry launched an unsuspecting Michael at her like a human cannon ball with a Banishing Charm, or she helped them perfect it, like when she taught Harry how move his body correctly when he launched himself upwards with the Compressed Air Spell and ended up slamming into a tree.

"This whole thing is crazy." Anthony quietly seethed as they were quickly going over their jurisprudence homework, trying to get through it so they could squeeze in showers before lights out. "Most Initiates are coddled by their captains because the enlisting numbers are so low, and the entry requirements are so high anyway." He huffed. "It's like she doesn't even want us to join."

Harry froze over his reading of the legal standing of Squibs. Now there's an idea. For the first time, Solace's attitude began to make sense, but even if it were true, he was no longer as angry about it, as her training methods had worked wonders with him.

A few days ago, he had finally managed to go through his entire spell arsenal nonverbally, and even though the mental strain was enough to give him a headache, he didn't care. He had improved leaps and bounds over the last month and he couldn't wait to go back to school and challenge the higher ranked Sentinels.

They had grown used to the routine over the last five weeks, so of course that was when the first test was sprung on them.

Solace woke them up the next morning with the usual Caterwauling Charm, but what she said next wasn't so usual. "No obstacle course today. Instead, I've released a hundred Puffskeins in the forest. You had better find them and make some nice warm clothes from their fur, because we're going on a holiday." She left the room with a vicious smile on her face.

The boys scrambled out of bed, changing as quickly as they could before running out the door. They weren't exactly keen on the idea of killing the cute creatures, but they knew not to underestimate Solace's harsh training. If she said they needed warm clothes, then that meant they would freeze to death without them.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was hard to tell what time it was without their Ouroboros' (as they were bundled under several layers of enchanted fur), because it was the time of year when the sun simply refused to rise over Antarctica's horizon. But they were all too anxious to sleep properly anyway, as they had no idea what the first test would have in store for them.

They rose earlier than was strictly necessary and walked the four and a half miles to their destination, the struggle to avoid sinking in the deep snow leaving a strain on their calves and thighs as they made the trek. It might have been easier for Harry to simply Side-Along his friends, but while he had risked it with the already dead Yeti, he had never tried to do so before with another person and this seemed like a poor environment for a first attempt.

The world outside was much the same as it had been the previous evening when he had been hunting their dinner, and while it had lost its lustre in Harry's eyes, his friends were overtaken by the beauty of their surroundings. Terry especially kept looking up at the Aurora Australis as he walked, which wouldn't be a problem if he just stopped tripping over the deep snow.

Finally, Harry spotted Captain Solace in the distance through his Supersensory goggles, and her clothes were clearly professionally enchanted as the air around her was much warmer than what theirs could generate. She stood at the shore and the piercing wind and ocean spray coming off the crashing waves didn't appear to bother her in the slightest.

"There is a Sea Serpent nesting here that's been terrorising an encampment of Muggle researchers." Solace explained, shouting to make herself heard over the sound of the roaring sea. "They were saved by the Auror Guard of the First Citadel at the Magister's command, but someone must deal with the Beast. I have volunteered your services." She then turned and walked away.

The four boys watched her go with open mouths.

"There's so much wrong with this I don't even know where to begin!" Michael yelled.

"I know!" Anthony agreed. "Sea Serpents usually don't bother humans unless their territory has been invaded!"

"That's not what I meant!" Harry couldn't hear it, but judging from the way his shoulders moved, Michael had sighed.

"Aura Incantatem!" Harry gritted his teeth when he saw the white dust, completely unimpeded by the wind, fly out over the sea and out of sight. There was something powerful lurking beneath the waters alright. He turned to his friends. "Look, there's no point in all of us going down there!" He shouted. "I'll sail out, swim down and attract its attention. Number One, you'll pull me back with some rope and you two will deal with the Sea Serpent." He was the best swimmer of the group, so it was the only idea that made sense to him. The annoying thing was that Solace knew it too, which meant she had always meant for him to go down there.

Into the dark, freezing open water, a dark voice seemed to whisper in his mind. Harry repressed a shudder.

Michael shook his head. "Deal with it? I don't know if we can manage that."

"It'll be easy." Harry assured. "Their skin isn't even all that resistant against powerful spells, but if you have any trouble, just aim for its eyes or mouth. As soon as I'm recovered from the water, I'll confound it."

Michael still appeared unconvinced, but he didn't protest when Anthony put a firm hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we've got this," he assured Harry.

"Number Four, you make some kind of boat for yourself, and we'll work on making proper insulation for you out of transfigured Yeti skin." Terry said. "If you try to swim down wearing Puffskein fur, the water will work its way into the gaps in your clothing and freeze you in seconds."

Harry nodded. "Good thinking." He turned to go built some kind of raft for himself out of the only material they had at hand, snow, before pausing. "Oh, try and avoid the Serpent's spray, alright?"

Michael stiffened. "Spray?"

"It shoots out boiling water, like a dragon does fire!" Harry hurried away, allowing Michael's yells of fear and outrage to be carried away by the wind.

It had taken them about twenty minutes to get ready, the majority of which was spent transfiguring and enchanting a slapped together wetsuit which Harry had to Apparate back to their igloo in order to change into. He sat now on the only cushioned seat of his boat, wearing the wetsuit underneath his Puffskein furs. The boat was transfigured from snow into ice, and the best he could do for insulation was transfigure a fur lining out of the Yeti's remains to protect his arse from the freezing surface.

Appare Vestigium! The golden swirl of dust had been directing him forward for so long that he could no longer see his friends on the shore. It was only the length of rope around his waist that kept him from panicking about drowning at sea.

It was probably a good idea to focus on anything but his old childhood fear.

Finally, Harry brought the Locomotion Charm that had been driving the boat forward to a stop as the remains of his last Tracking Charm lingered on the water, allowing the waves to move underneath it. That was all he needed to see to know that the Sea Serpent was lurking beneath him.

Harry began to remove his clothes, revealing the wetsuit that he wore underneath. When he had been putting it on in the igloo, he had been more concerned with how silly it looked as it covered his hands, feet and head, leaving only his eyes and mouth exposed. But now he was just glad that it was doing a good job of keeping the cold at bay.

Bublet! A bubble of fresh air fixed itself around his nose and mouth, shielding the only exposed part of his body from the elements. Knowing that there was nothing more to do and lingering any longer would only give him more reasons to chicken out, Harry checked the rope one last time before diving into the freezing waters.

While his enchanted wetsuit kept the cold at bay, his Supersensory Goggles allowed him to see the temperature of the world around him, and Harry immediately knew that he had minutes at the most to find the Sea Serpent before the Artifice failed him. As he swam deeper, he noted that the underwater world was somehow more barren of life than the inhospitable land he had just sailed out from, but he had a feeling that was more due to his quarry than anything else.

As his Ouroboros began to buzz, signalling that a minute had passed, Harry pushed himself to swim even deeper wishing that he could use the Ebubilo Jinx, but he knew that it would never even sink underwater to begin with.

Just as his Ouroboros buzzed a second time and he was about to give up and return to his friends to come up with a new plan, Harry saw the reverberations of movement through his goggles. Swimming ever deeper, he noticed that there was a crevice in the seabed and, as he focused, he could feel the reverberations of a massive creature's slumbering.

Suppressing his good sense in order to do this, Harry pointed his wand upwards and then down. Periculum! Confringo! While the first shot a red firework to the surface as intended, the second let out an enormous torrent of boiling water, directed right for the crevice. He paused for a moment, wondering if he should try something else, but the sudden rumbling from underneath let him know that the job was done.

The Sea Serpent began to unfurl itself, and as it raised its enormous head out from the crack in the very earth, Harry wondered if his signal had failed him.

He needn't have worried, as just a moment later the rope around his middle tugged him upwards at such an intense speed that the breath left his lungs. He only remembered flashes of the next minute, like emerging from the water into the freezing air, flying so high he thought he could touch the green lines that lit up the night sky before hurtling back to earth.

Or more precisely, the icy shore his friends were standing upon.

Harry was jerked awake by the sounds of mayhem as Anthony and Michael battled the Sea Serpent on the shore while Terry knelt at his side. "Sorry, I summoned your rope too quickly and you got hurt when you landed but I healed you and you need to help them!" Terry said this all very quickly in a single breath.

Harry was shaking intensely from the cold as the enchantments on his wetsuit began to fail him, but Terry helped him hold his wand arm steady as he pointed it as the gigantic, boiling water-spewing serpent. "Confundo!" His Occlumency helped him then, as he was able to separate his mind from his body's current dilemma, otherwise he would have been easily overwhelmed by the Serpent's intense rage.

Harry shouted at it in Parseltongue. "Go find a new home where humans can never bother you!"

Harry's vision began to darken as the Sea Serpent paused before swimming away to find a part of the landmass that wasn't inhabited by Muggle or wizard. The last thing he saw before he fell unconscious was Michael summoning the boat that still had his furs back to shore while Anthony and Terry cast repeated Warming Charms on him while they tried to keep him awake.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"The worst part of the whole thing is that I'm the only one here who knows how to cast the Drought Charm." Harry sighed as he rolled over in his cot. "I could have gotten the water off me in second."

"Yeah, yeah. We're useless." Michael rolled his eyes as he changed for bed.

"If only I knew how to heal a big head." Terry sighed as he pulled his blanket over himself.

"Good night." Anthony said firmly, wanting to end the discussion there before it cost them anymore precious sleep.

They were back in Britain now, as while his friends had done all they could for him, Captain Solace had been forced to step in and save him after he had gone into shock. She had him on his feet in a matter of minutes and had shown an ounce of mercy in declaring that they passed and had earned the rest of the day of.

She had brought them back to the training grounds, but the boys didn't know what to do with themselves as they knew they weren't allowed to leave until the hundred days were up. So, they did the rational thing and decided to catch up on their sleep.

Summer was distant memory and autumn had long since settled even before their Antarctic endeavour, but it was still bright outside when they went to sleep as they were all looking forward to not being perpetually tired tomorrow morning.

They woke up feeling refreshed and well rested the next day, but it wasn't a feeling that would last.

"I hope your all healed up from yesterday, Number Four." Solace told Harry right before a gruelling hand-to-hand session. "Because even if you're not, we'll be diving right in." That was all the warning he got before she threw a fist in his face.

Their final lesson of the day was duelling, and Harry was determined to put their Squad Captain on her arse just once, and judging by how hard his squadmates were working, he could tell he wasn't the only one.

"Sectilis Procella!" Terry launched blades of air, visible only through the minute dirt they scattered along the way, right at Solace's face. She didn't even flinch as she conjured an enormous shield emblazoned with the Auror crest and took the blow without moving a single step back.

Both Harry and Anthony attempted to use her brief moment of distraction to their advantage by launching simultaneous Stunning Spells from their positions, but she merely weaved her way around them both before whipping her wand around her head.

A firestorm made of flames so hot they burned blue billowed outward in every direction, and they all knew from experience that being hit by it would only bring excruciating agony. Harry turned on the spot, Disapparating to Anthony's position on the other side of the field and grabbing his arm before Apparating again to Michael's location, who Terry was already sheltering behind.

"Pavimovere!" Michael bellowed, and a thick wall of earth, ten feet in both length and width, shot out from the ground beneath them just in time to block the blue firestorm as it reached them. The boys threw themselves behind it in order to prevent being scorched by the roaring flames as they were forced around the sides. "Any ideas?" Michael asked loudly.

Harry shook his head. While Solace hadn't given them any chance to plan ahead, claiming that there would be no such luxury in the real world as Aurors were most often responding to threats, she could have ended the duel minutes ago if she had really wanted to. Even now, by not taking advantage of their (frankly pathetic) retreat, she was giving them an opportunity to counterattack.

Harry decided to take this offered chance with both hands.

He grabbed Anthony's arm again. "Don't struggle so much this time," he told him, as he Disapparated him away again. In the next ten seconds, he Apparated a couple more times in order to safely bring his friends to the tree line without having to run through the still rampaging flames. "You guys really need to learn how to Apparate for yourselves." Harry panted, trying to get his breath back.

"No, you really need to learn how to properly Side-Along multiple people." Anthony criticised. "That took forever."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure I didn't splinch you? Because you seem to be missing your manners." He snapped. "Most people say thank you after their arses get saved."

"I didn't need you to save-!"

"We really don't have time for this," Michael cut in sharply from where he was crouched behind a tree.

Harry sighed. "You're right. We need to pair up. You and Number Three play the distraction while Number One and I attack her from where she can't see us coming."

"We will?" Terry asked, baffled. "How?"

Harry thought back to the fight he had with the Yeti. "I think I've got a new move I want to try on her."

As though she was somehow listening to their words, Captain Solace chose that moment to drop her Firestorm Curse, exposing her position at the centre of the scorched field, having not moved a single inch from that position since the duel began.

Anthony and Michael made their moves at consecutively, as the former shot a torrent of his own flames at her from where he was still hiding behind the tree line, and on the other side of the field the latter erected another earthen wall directly behind Solace, boxing her in.

She dealt with the attacks rather easily, of course. It turned out that the wall wasn't even necessary as Solace held her ground and shot a bullet of water at the centre of Anthony's orange flames. The field was immediately blanketed by steam and that was when Harry and Terry made their move.

"Depulso!" Terry whispered and Harry, who had fused his boots to a small floating disc made of packed earth, was blasted forward with such speed that his cheeks rippled, and his vision blurred. Solace had vanished the steam just when Harry was close enough to see the expression on her face.

For the first time ever, they had actually managed to surprise her.

However, her surprise only lasted for a split second, as she immediately trained her wand on the incoming human projectile, but that was exactly what Harry wanted. Throughout his high-speed journey to the centre of the field, he had kept his wand trained at his feet.

Reverte! Aeris!

The Fusion Spell was undone, freeing him from the grip of the still hurtling earthen disc which carried on without him, and his second spell launched a compressed bullet of air at the ground which sent him hurtling upwards, but also still carried forward by the disc's momentum.

All of this resulted in the disc being banished into Solace's midriff while Harry flipped over her head a split second later.

To her credit, she took the blow better than he could have expected, skidding back by a couple of feet but managing to stay upright. But that was only the first of the attacks Harry had planned. As he flipped over her head, he launched two successive Stunning Spells at her from on high, hoping to catch her off guard.

But of course, he didn't.

Captain Solace turned before the spells could reach her and Apparated away. Still hurtling upside down through the air, Harry expanded his senses in the way Nicolas had described, clumsily throwing heavy amounts of Mana in every direction, searching for where she would reappear, for just the right spot-

There!

For the first time, Harry's forcibly opened his Mage Sight and saw the world as it truly was. But instead of being distracted by the intricate wonder and mysteries of this new world, his mind was fixated only one idea: victory.

Twisting in mid-air, Harry Disapparated from the centre of the field and Apparated in the exact same position that Captain Solace had at the edge of the field, only a split second later and still six feet over her head in the same upside-down position.

Got you.

Stupefy! Harry fired the silent Stunning Spell at the crown of her head, not wanting a verbal incantation to ruin his team's final winning stroke. But then, much to his dismay, Solace threw herself to one side in a roll and came up on one knee before firing back with a Stunning Spell of her own.

Protego!

Harry, already being carried forward by the momentum of the initial Banishing Charm that the mid-air Apparition had failed to stop, was blasted backwards as his silent Shield Charm was shattered by the Stunning Spell. It was strong enough to block the stunning effects of the spell, but not the concussive force.

Spongify!

Harry rotated himself ninety degrees and extended his legs as he hurtled toward the now softened tree trunk, hoping to use it as a springboard in order to launch himself back into the fray.

But he had forgotten who had taught him that move.

Before his feet could even make contact with the trunk, thick ropes had been fired at his back and carried him forward even faster into the tree. The softened wood absorbed the impact of his momentum, but it still hurt when he slammed his face into it with enough force to knock himself out.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Honestly, that wasn't bad, Number Four." Solace told him as they stood on the rocky slope for his Personal Training session. "But just because you know a high-level technique, don't assume your enemy doesn't know it too."

Harry nodded, feeling a little silly now that he had minute to think about it. Anthony and Terry had only good things to say when it came to Captain Alexandra Solace, most of which came from Commander Boot himself who wasn't easily impressed, so he should have assumed that she had long since opened her own Mage Sight.

Still, even if he got the chance to redo it, he wouldn't. It had been the coolest manoeuvre he had pulled off to date, and his friends had been bounding up and down when he regained consciousness. Terry in particular had been practically beside himself, he was so excited.

It was nice, having a moment of camaraderie like that. They had been few and far between these last couple of months.

Solace continued speaking, jogging Harry out from his ruminations. "Originally, I had planned to have you work on mastering all five elements and moving onto more advanced Transfiguration techniques for the second half of training, but I think we can squeeze in one more thing." She walked away from him to the side, not up or down the slope, before turning to face him again. "Fire a spell at me."

By now Harry knew better than to question an order from her, but he still held back by firing a simple Disarming Charm instead of something more offensive. He was very glad that he did, as Solace caught the spell on the tip of her wand, drew her wrist back and then snapped it back, flinging his own charm right back at him.

Harry was a surprised, but not immensely so as he had seen it been done before. He stepped out of the way and brought his wand up just in case this was another lesson about never letting his guard down. It wasn't, as Solace had lowered her wand, but he could see a flicker of approval cross her face at his guarded reflex.

"What I am about to teach you is less of a spell and more of a technique, as the spell is next to useless by itself." Solace began to instruct. "The incantation is Propulso. You must be able to not only sense and identify the incoming spell, but also use an equal amount of Mana to catch it and fling it back at the enemy." Harry tried to hide his frown, but she must have seen it, as she prompted, "Any questions, Number Four?"

"Yes, Captain. If I'm going to use the same amount of Mana to catch and send back the spell, why not just cast it myself?"

"You should know by now what even a fraction of a second could mean in a duel, and this works well for a quick and unexpected takedown." Solace informed. "However, when facing groups of more powerful opponents, you should always rely on your other defences first."

Harry shifted on his feet, not sure if he was happy with wasting his limited training hours on such an unreliable technique.

Solace seemed to sense his unhappiness, as she continued with an even deeper frown than his own. "I wouldn't have bothered teaching you this if you weren't more advanced than I thought. It's up to you to put it to good use." He blinked. This wasn't the first time she had given him a backhanded compliment, and he became increasingly unsure if she disliked him as much as he had originally thought.

Confused, Harry just nodded and when she gave him permission to speak, he asked, "How can I practice this? Automatons can't cast real-" Harry was cut off when she fired a Pus-Filled-Boil Curse into his face.

Okay, she definitely didn't like him.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The first day back from their Antarctic trial had proved to be a good omen, as the good mood and camaraderie continued throughout the second half of their training. As morning frost and dense fog became more common on the training grounds, and their chilly swims did little to ruin their mood, Harry realised that they had become used to this new way of life.

It was just like when he got acclimated to life at Hogwarts, but this time his rational side knew that he shouldn't get used to the bland meals, strain filled exercises, dense classes and (especially) the pain they all went through in Emergency Healing. Despite this, he did become used to it, they all did, as with each passing day their spirits hardened just a little bit more, until they became as durable as old leather boots.

He was starting to wonder if that was the entire point.

The first duel after their return had motivated the boys to the point where they made sure to carve out at least an hour or two out of Personal Training to meet up and practice together. Harry was more than happy to teach them everything he knew about Martial Spells and Apparition in exchange for aid with fire and earth spells, as the more advanced of them were still giving him trouble.

He was only allowed to practice lightning spells in Solace's presence, as despite Nicolas' claim that Harry would struggle most with earth spells, Harry found lightning to be infinitely harder to cast. Solace had claimed that it was too dangerous to leave him to practice lightning on his own, but she needn't have worried; the only lightning spell he had managed by the end of their one hundred days was the Taser Charm, and even that was more of a strong static shock.

Only ever summon it if you are certain that you are in complete control over your mind, come to an enlightenment or seek absolute destruction. One cannot think about the safety of others when summoning lightning.

Harry recalled Nicolas' words now, as he and his friends finished the last of their assignments in their hut. He wasn't concerned with Solace's safety, as he knew she could take care of herself, but while he didn't feel ignorant, he was certain that he hadn't come to any kind of enlightenment.

Harry had experienced several changes in perspective that had helped him master his blackthorn wand and come to terms with the role he played in Quirrell's death, but that hadn't led to any significant changes in his life. These paradigm shifts had only brought him what he had already desired.

Had he even changed at all, or was he still the same boy from the cupboard?

Terry's sudden whoop snapped him out of his thoughts. "Only one more day to go!" He cheered as he scratched another mark into the dozens that were already beside his bed. "I can't believe we all actually made it!" Harry smiled at how happy he sounded, as he had come to miss having a worry-free Terry around.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Anthony reminded him. "We might still fail tomorrow."

Terry's shoulders slumped, and Michael sighed from where he had a stack of parchment in front of him, having left his homework to the last minute this week in favour of getting more sleep. "You really know how to bring the mood down, Number Three."

Anthony rolled his eyes at them as he organised his final Containment and Restraining essay in the correct folder. "I'm just saying, we all need to be on guard tomorrow. We don't want to fall at the last hurdle, do we?"

They all sobered up as they realised how right he was and began to double down on their work in order to turn in early. As they all lay in their cots in the dark, silent room, Harry whispered, "If we stay alert and follow our training, we'll be home this time tomorrow with our very own Auror badges."

"I can't wait to finally wear the full uniform." Anthony sighed.

"I can't wait until I can sleep in my own bed." Terry groaned.

Michael audibly licked his lips. "Breakfast. Real breakfast."

This went on for a while, until Captain Solace was forced to come in and order them to go to sleep.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was a shock seeing so many people again.

Solace had Apparated them to Trafalgar Square, the heart of London, and the boys were momentarily transfixed by the sight of so many people. For the last ninety-nine days they had been utterly isolated from the rest of the world, and even when they left the training grounds for the Antarctic, Solace had taken care to have a special Portkey authorised that wouldn't take them to an Auror checkpoint.

They had all taken care to mark down the days, and had made note of the change in seasons, but it was still a surprise to see Christmas decorations up on streetlamps and shop windows even though they knew it was late November. The days had blended in together at their training ground and August had seemed a lot more recent than it really was.

"The final test goes against everything you've been working on for the last fifty days." Captain Solace said, louder than was strictly necessary in order to get their attention. "You will each be tasked with separate missions and assessed individually."

Harry could see that his own shock was shared by his friends who each looked betrayed by this. They had spent the second half of training learning to magnify each other's strengths and cover each other's weaknesses, but that turned out to be the problem. "An Auror needs to work within a squad, yes, but there are times when they will be forced to work alone. It's best you learn that now rather than later."

Solace then separated them by order of their number rankings, meaning Harry was last, so he had to watch as she drew his friends away one by one in order to give out both the instructions and the exam parameters, before they Apparated away. Finally, she returned from giving Anthony his mission in order to present Harry with his own.

The Initiates had been presented with full Auror uniforms this morning (except for badges, which would hopefully come later) including cloaks, stocked utility belts and special bracers that had all been tailored to fit their exact size even though they had all grown over the last few months. Now, Solace reached for Harry's left wrist, tapping the badge that doubled as a clasp on her own cloak with her wand before bringing it down to tap his Ouroboros.

A holographic map of the city sprang to life from his bronze bracer and, judging by the fact that he had seen her do the same to his friends but sans the map, he guessed it was for his eyes only. "An Ogre has been targeting children in this part of the city, snatching them away from school trips whenever they come to visit the art museum." She jerked her head back at the National Gallery. "You need to locate the Beast and execute it. Any questions?"

Harry stared at her. "Captain, shouldn't someone with more experience be dealing with this?" He couldn't believe that a creature that had likely killed an eaten more than one child would be left to him as a test rather than being killed immediately.

Solace gave him a bemused look. "We already know where it is, Number Four. We can kill it whenever we like, but I arranged for you to deal with this matter." Harry felt slightly conflicted, as fighting an Ogre seemed right up his alley, but he felt bad that more kids were being put at risk in order to give him this opportunity. "You have until lights out. Any more questions?" Harry shook his head. "Then move out."

Harry Disapparated immediately.

He followed the map to the various estimated locations of the kidnappings, as even though the trail would have long gone cold and the elements would have contaminated any evidence that did remain, the actual Aurors had collected and catalogued the relevant evidence for his convenience. Harry had access to all of it through the archives his Ouroboros now had access to, and he found it quite intuitive and easy to use as he moved his wand this way and that over the holographic screen in order to find all the available information about this particular case.

Harry spent about an hour poking his nose around the last known locations of the victims, which included arcades and fast-food joints that they probably used to unwind after a long day of staring at boring paintings, but he couldn't see anything that could be of use to him. Shadowy places didn't really exist in this part of London, even in the early winter nights, as there was just too much foot traffic at the time of day that they had gone missing.

Harry had decided to take a break as he ruminated on what he knew so far. He had used an Illusion Spell that Captain Solace had taught them in order to make their uniforms appear ordinary to the eye of the beholder in order to purchase a burger. He had to stop himself from moaning out loud as he chowed down on the first tasty thing to hit his tongue in over three months as he sat on the edge of the restaurant's roof and went over the evidence.

There were nine disappearances in total over the last three weeks, five boys and four girls and all were between the ages of eleven and thirteen. The fact that all the victims were so young was another sign that it was an Ogre, as older kids had made visits to the museum in recent weeks, but Ogres preferred their prey young and pre-pubescent as the meat was softer and they put up less of a fight.

But why not go for an even younger victim then? Harry wondered, but the answer presented itself immediately to him. Kids as young as seven had been present over the last few weeks on school trips and family visits, yes, but they would never be allowed to wonder the city on their own. He remembered his own days at St. Greggs when annoying parents would tag along on school trips and made sure none of the kids had any fun.

However, secondary school was different. It was normal for kids to travel to and from school by themselves and the ones that had their parents drop them off were teased for it. Harry quickly went over the victims' profiles, and he found that he was right; all the victims lived within the city. Their parents had trusted them to get home safely, and it never would have been by taxi, which was a ridiculous expense for a kid, but by public transport.

He had an inkling of what could have happened, but it was only when he checked the home addresses again on his Ouroboros and then measured the distance did he realise he was right. None of the missing kids lived close enough to take the bus, which would only leave one route home.

The London Underground.

The closest station was Charing Cross, which made him pause as he climbed back down the stairs. He didn't know London all that well, as he had grown up in Surrey, but he knew that it was big enough that an Ogre could have chosen another spot that wasn't right on top of the British Wizarding Shopping District.

None of this was right. Ogres were crafty creatures who preferred small towns and villages to prey upon, even suburbs if they had to, as they weren't the best at camouflaging themselves among humans. If things went wrong for it, there was nowhere it wouldn't be found by Aurors, or even the Muggles who could see through the Veil.

Harry kept this in mind as he approached Charing Cross Station on foot. It had been growing dark as soon as they had arrived, as Captain Solace had kept them for the day's lessons and training, only giving them the six hours that they usually spent in Personal Training, doing homework and eating dinner to complete the test. Unfortunately, Harry had wasted two of them poking around cold crime scenes and eating delicious fast food on rooftops, so he needed to get a move on.

Despite knowing that he was invisible to most Muggles, Harry still lowered the hood of his cloak as he stepped into the station. Only one in a thousand Muggles could see through the Veil, but London was densely populated, and he didn't want to alarm the few Muggles that would be able to see him.

The station was packed with commuters who had probably put in an hour or two of overtime in order to pay for Christmas presents and such, as the station was more filled than it should have been around now. Deciding that he could afford to wait to examine the station, he instead approached one of the security guards.

Confundo. Forma Interius. Offero.

The first spell was for the guard, and Harry took note of how good he had become with the Confundus Charm as the guard hardly blinked before falling under his spell. The second was for his clothes, casting an illusion over his Auror gear and making the world around him believe he was wearing the uniform from of the capital's many comprehensive schools. The third was highly illegal, as it turned off the obscuring effect of his Ouroboros, and only Aurors were allowed to use it.

As Harry was still an Initiate, he considered this a legal grey area. Or so he would argue if he was ever called out on it.

"Hey, it's been a while." Harry asked the guard cheerfully.

The guard smiled down at Harry as though he had known him all his life, which was true, at least in his mind. After all, he was the son of his two best friends, the ones who names were conveniently unimportant at the moment. "You're late, you little sod." He jerked his thumb towards his office. "You said you needed help with some homework?" When Harry nodded, he bellowed out across the station. "Steve! Cover for me, yeah?" When Steve shouted back something unintelligible, the guard led Harry into the office.

"What was it that you needed help with, again?" He asked, as they settled into the only two seats available in the tiny room.

"You have access to CCTV throughout the station, don't you? Both inside and outside?" Harry gestured to the tiny little televisions that were piled on top of one another. "I need to see what you've got for these dates and times." He wrote it down on a piece of paper, as the Ouroboros was still turned off, even if the guard could see it.

The guard paused when he checked the dates and times, and Harry could feel his concern begin to rise. He was still under the Confundus, he just knew that he shouldn't be showing a child something that the police had likely been through already. Harry made sure to swiftly squash it.

The dates are just a coincidence. Harry forced him to believe. The police have already been through this and found nothing.

The guard relaxed and pulled up the dates and times that Harry requested and played them simultaneously. He asked the guard to speed up the recordings as he didn't have the luxury of sitting through hours of footage, but he also didn't want to miss sight of any of the victims if they did show up, so he kept his eyes trained to the little screens.

It was only when he reached the ten-minute mark and his eyes were beginning to sting, did he ask the guard to stop the tape. "Do you see that?" He asked, pointing to a small figure on the screen standing at the platform. Brown hair. Four feet ten inches. Eleven years old. Logan Harrison, the most recent missing child.

Harry knew it was wrong to be elated in this situation, but when the guard gave him a baffled look and shook his head, he had to stop himself from whooping. If the guard couldn't see the boy on camera, it meant the Veil was busy messing with his perception, which could only mean one thing.

Something magical was about to happen.

The smile quickly fell from Harry's face as a pale, six-limbed figure came scurrying out of the dark tunnel, clambering onto the platform just in time to avoid being run over by a train. As the doors opened and people began moving in and out of the carriages, the figure lifted its head as though it were sniffing the air and slowly turned to face Logan.

Just as the boy put one foot inside the train, the creature skittered towards him like a giant, hairless spider on its many limbs and snatched him back by his rucksack. Harry could see that Logan was struggling, screaming most likely, but not a single person paused or turned in his direction. The creature didn't even bother keeping one of its hands over the boy's mouth, as it seemed to understand that none of the other Muggles would be able to see it.

For the first time, Harry understood just how vulnerable the Veil had left Muggles.

The train departed and once the tunnel was clear again, the creature took the still struggling boy down onto the tracks and disappeared into the dark labyrinth that was the London Underground.

Harry shot to his feet. This recording was of two days ago, and while it was very unlikely that Logan was still alive, Harry was in a position to kill the creature that had eaten him, and prevent another child being from becoming a victim when it grew hungry once more. It had eaten nine kids over the last three weeks, which meant that it was due for another kidnapping either today or tomorrow.

There was no way he was going to allow that Beast a tenth victim.

"Thanks, that's all I needed." Harry told the guard as he left the office in a rush.

"Tell your parents I said hey!" The guard shouted at his back.

Reverte! Harry hurried down the escalators, weaving his way around commuters, unconcerned if he bumped into anybody as he had already returned his clothes and Ouroboros to normal as soon as it was no longer useful. The last thing he needed was for some misguided Muggle to think that he was the kid who needed help.

When he reached the platform he thanked his good fortune, or the commuters' bad fortune, as the arrival board read that the next train was due in twelve minutes. "Invium Fulmen!" Harry took care to say the incantation out loud as he was still working on the mastering Insulation Charm.

He didn't know enough about trains to know which of the tracks were dangerous or if even all of them were, but he would just have to take care not to touch anything metal and hope the Insulation Charm took care of the rest.

Jumping down off the platform and on the ground beside the tracks, Harry jogged into the dark tunnel he saw the Ogre take the boy in the recording. Aura Incantatem! The white sparks lit the tunnel around him, but only for a moment as they shot off into the distance, letting him know that there was something magical up head.

While that might mean he was on the right track, it could also mean that he was a lot closer to Diagon Alley than he would have thought. Appare Vestigium! The golden cloud of dust fell on the ground and illuminated enormous footsteps that went off deep into the tunnel and out of sight.

Hoping that he could locate its den before he was flattened by the eight o'clock train, Harry snapped his Supersensory Goggles into place and sprinted into the tunnel proper.

While he couldn't see the gold of the Tracking Spell through the goggles, he could see the dust itself amongst the gravel and rat droppings, and he followed it long enough for him to get nervous. The tunnel had divided into a crossroads a while back so, as far as he was aware, a train could come barrelling out of the darkness from either before him or behind him at any second.

Not nerve racking at all.

Don't worry, he told himself as he continued his steady pace, trains are never on time. There'll probably be a delay, and by the time those commuters finally board, I'll have the Ogre dead to-

Harry froze as his goggles picked up on the slightest of tremors beneath his feet. Slowly, he turned his head towards the tracks and, yes, they began to hum in the way all hollow metal did when it was struck.

Well, it's not like this is anyone's fault but my own, he thought to himself, as he began running for his life.

Harry ran as fast as he could for almost half a minute, but of course the train gained on him like it was nothing. It was close enough now for his goggles to pick up on the breathing and movements of the dozens that were sat within its hold, and the fact that the driver seemed more interested in the magazine on his lap than the inhabited tunnel up ahead.

The air in the subway was being pushed forward and to the side as his high-powered pursuer hurtled towards him and, because the Supersensory Goggles were perceiving the world for him through every minute detail available to his senses, the whipping air left him experiencing the most bizarre form of vertigo.

Still running faster now than he had ever before, Harry lifted his goggles onto his forehead before he toppled sideways onto the tracks which were now crackling with arcs of electricity.

He couldn't believe that after everything that he had ever learned, everything that he had experienced, battled and conquered, he would still end up chopped to bits underneath the wheels of a boring, mundane train, just as powerless as he had ever been. Still as helpless as the boy from the cupboard.

His only hope was to find the den before a simple train accomplished what none of his enemies could not, but much to his despair he couldn't see the golden dust up ahead, it had disappeared-

Wait.

Harry glanced down in time to see the last of the Ogre's footsteps turn left and he dived in that direction without even checking to see if there was any space there to jump into. He fell headfirst down a series of short steps, and just in the nick of time, as the train thundered past where he had been just a second ago.

He winced as he propped himself up against the wall. While the rest of his body was protected by the enchanted uniform he wore, his head wasn't, and he had banged it on several of the metal steps on his way down. Allowing himself a handful of moments to enjoy the fact that he was still alive and kicking, Harry climbed back onto his feet and wiped those last desperate thoughts from his mind.

I'm a long way from the cupboard, he reassured himself, and I have a job to do.

Snapping his googles back into place now that the train was gone and he was thrown back into darkness, Harry saw that the footsteps led to a service door just off the tunnel.

Silently praying that the noise of the train was enough to mask the sound of him banging down the metal stairs, Harry disillusioned himself instead of summoning his Cloak just in case Solace was somehow still keeping him under surveillance as he approached the door. His goggles couldn't pick up on anything living in the room beyond, but he should be careful anyway.

The Yeti had tricked him. There was no reason the Ogre couldn't do the same.

Harry opened the door, and immediately wished he hadn't. Scattered here and there throughout the long, thin room were the bones of many, many children. Mind nearly overwhelmed with disgust at the scent of rotting flesh, he vaguely acknowledged that it made sense, as there was no reason for the Ogre to simply stick to children who were making their way back from school trips. Those were just the victims that made enough of a pattern for the Auror Corps to pick up on from the distant London Citadel.

As he worked his way through the room, taking special care to avoid the scattered remains after he slipped on a chunk of body fat, Harry couldn't help but think of how horrible it must have been for these children to experience the last moments of their all too short lives in this dank little tunnel. They must have been just as confused as they were frightened.

He froze when his goggles picked up on movement from the next room. Movement from two figures.

He shot forward. "Arbeto!" The door flew open and the figures within froze. There, in the centre of what had to be its den, crouched on the pile of rags, debris and rubbish that was its nest, was the Ogre.

It was different to what most Muggles would expect, but they had mistaken Trolls for Ogres and had never been corrected. In reality, Ogres were identical to the one in front of Harry now: skinny-limbed, pot-belied humanoids with four appendages in the usual places but two more sticking out from the sides of its thick neck. As its entire head only had room for its enormous nostrils and cavernous, sharp toothed mouth, its eyes were on the palms of the hands that sprung from the neck, used to peek around corners or from underneath children's beds.

The Ogre's pale saggy skin was illuminated by the Supersensory Goggles, and it snapped its uppermost hands in the direction of the door in order to see the intruder, but Harry was more concerned with the other person in the room.

Logan was bleeding heavily, and there were massive chunks of flesh that had been bitten messily from his body, but he was alive, and Harry intended to keep it that way.

"Sectumsempra!" Harry sliced his wand like he would a sword, and the Ogre that had darted for him screeched and skittered back as its extendable neck limbs were sliced from its body. Blind and injured, it went for the only other exit in the room, and Harry was about to block it off when he caught sight of Logan's rapidly dropping body temperature.

He could either try and save the boy or prevent the Ogre from hurting anyone else. It should have been an easy choice, as the kid was clearly on the verge of death and Harry's chance to become an Auror went out the door with the Ogre, but he didn't hesitate to move towards Logan.

Offero! Supellex! Having made himself visible to the boy, he dropped to his knees beside him and the newly transfigured cot he was now laying upon. Vides Corpori! "You're going to be fine, Logan. I'm going to fix up and get you back home to your-" Harry stopped talking when the Diagnostic Charm failed to work. "No," he whispered, "no, no, no! Anapneo!" He cast as his shaking fingers pulled a vial of blood replenishing potion from his belt.

The Diagnostic Charm only ever failed to work if the patient was already dead.

The boy's airway was clear, but he didn't even cough. Because he's already dead, a dark voice whispered in his mind, but he wasn't ready to accept that just yet. Reigning in the overwhelming guilt he was feeling (if he had been faster figuring it all out, or if he hadn't stopped for a bite to eat, then the boy would have been safe and sound with his parents by now) Harry prepared himself to try and restart the Logan's heart with the Taser Charm. It was crazy, especially as he had only seen such things on television and the voltage probably wasn't even enough, but it was better than doing nothing-

A hand fell on his shoulder.

Harry threw it off and tried to raise his wand, but the person made him turn around before he could. Captain Solace had arrived, and for the first time since he had met her, she looked remorseful. "I'm sorry," she was saying, and he got the feeling that she had been speaking to him for a while now, "I am so sorry. I had to know, but I didn't think you would react like this-"

It was only when she said that did he realise the moisture on his face wasn't just sweat from his run through the tunnels, but from tears too.

All the guilt that he had carried after killing Quirrell and learning the truth about his parents had never vanished, he had only learned to live with it, but he hadn't known how close it lingered to the surface. He hadn't known the death of a child he had never even met before could bring it all rushing back.

It can when his death is on your head.

Solace was still talking. "-it was all just a test, you see. This whole thing. Only the Ogre was real-"

"What?" It was the first thing Harry had said since Solace had touched him.

Solace paused at the sound of his voice, and Harry realised he must have sounded even worse to another's ears. "Come here," she corralled him to the door he had come from and made him look out onto the Ogre's other victims, but they weren't there. The ground was clean of everything but rat droppings.

"What?" Harry gasped, he turned to face Logan's body, just in time to see Solace point her wand at him. Harry's arms shot out and he tried to wrestle her wand away, but she still managed to cast a counter-spell. He stopped struggling when he saw Logan's body shift into a plastic doll. A toy.

"It was just a test." Solace said quietly. "I knew you would find the Ogre and stop it, I've never once doubted your talent and intelligence, but I needed to know what kind of person you are." Harry stared at her, and he realised that shame and regret were the only expressions on her face. "I saw everything you've done in the papers, the Trolls, Dementors, Rogues and the Basilisk, and I thought you were just looking for trouble. When you said you wanted to be Magister, that all you wanted was glory, I thought that was even worse."

She averted her eyes from Harry's as she continued. "Everything, me singling you out from the others, giving you your ranking, it was all meant to provoke you. But you stuck with it anyway. This," she gestured around them, "was just the final test. I wanted to see if you would choose to save a life rather than get the glory."

She paused then, as though what she had just said made any sense at all, and Harry could only say one thing in response:

"What?"

Author's Notes:

The idea behind one hundred days of basic training came from the book series CHERUB. I thought that book's idea of putting their agents through hell in training so they would go into the field knowing they've been through worse applied really well here.