Chapter 22: Departing

"You can't take them off of school property!" McGonagall was staring angrily at the men in front of her. "This is far too dangerous! Do you even have permission slips from their parents?"

Harry sighed and glanced at Silverwood. He liked Professor McGonagall, he truly appreciated how deeply she cared for her students. She was strict and harsh, but nobody could claim that she was anything but an angry bear defending her cubs. Unfortunately, her cubs did not, at this moment, need protecting. They needed the opportunity to learn and grow beyond the school walls.

Silverwood was a patient man. "Minerva, we have been through this," his voice sounded tired, and Harry knew he was right: at every bend, it was McGonagall objecting to the students' involvement in the war efforts. "It is the fifth year and up who are attending this training exercise. The fifth years have blanket permission slips to participate in any Guard training exercises. The sixth and seventh years are not required to have permission slips, but sign their own waivers of liability."

"Nobody told the parents that they would be abandoned in some forest hours from Hogwarts!" she argued. "This is not a military academy, as much as you and Sterling seem to believe it! Dumbledore is still Headmaster here!" she looked victorious. "Neither he nor I like the students' involvement in your foolhardy, dangerous activities!"

The staffroom door opened, and Snape walked in. He scoffed. "Minerva, you are beginning to sound like a hypocrite," he ignored her glare and forged on. "You are the very person who allowed a child, this child, in fact, to participate in dangerous, foolhardy activities because they were brave. You rewarded his actions with the Stone, in the Chamber, and with Black, simply by not punishing him. You cannot both reward and condemn bravery from your students when they choose to pursue noble causes."

McGonagall paused, but her face remained steely. "Harry is different, Severus, and you know it!"

Snape's face darkened. "How do you know? Harry may be noble and brave, but what do you say of your other students if you don't even give them the chance to be brave? That Gryffindor bravery is only deserved by the famous? That they do not have the potential for anything beyond mediocrity?"

McGonagall was stuck, and she knew it, judging by her face. She glared at Severus and stalked toward the door. "I will not let you do this! I will be having words with Albus, you have my word!" With that, she yanked the door open and stormed out.

Harry turned to the other two. "Well, that could have gone better."

"Not really," Silverwood said quietly. "She's been building a passionate fire against training any students to fight, at times even you, for several months now. She's a fierce woman, and I would hate to fight her. But this is an important battle. What do you think of Albus' reaction, Sev?"

Snape shook his head. "The Headmaster and Minerva feel very similarly about this. Dumbledore sees a bit more reason, but he is deeply unhappy with the course we are taking. He and Sterling's meetings have grown quite tense, despite their attempts to show a unified front."

"I'll bear this in mind. We don't want the students to catch wind," he paused and shook his head, as if clearing the thoughts. "Aeter and I were just planning the teams and goal, do you want to participate?"

Harry, Snape, and Silverwood had, in fact, adjourned to the conference room where the Guard was staying to continue their plans, joined in their walk through the corridors by Master Saldor, when the fireplace's flames turned green. Sterling stepped through, looking no less in-control than ever before. But his face wore the expression of a man who was irritated.

The group exchanged greetings, and Snape, never one to beat around the bush asked, "Minerva or the Headmaster?"

Sterling scowled. "Both, actually. They are very unhappy with the training plans."

As the three master's exchanged stories and began discussing strategies for convincing Dumbledore, Harry sat back with a frown on his face. If they didn't convince Dumbledore, the Mastery would go ahead and do what it wanted, but that could cause fracturing from within.

"You know he won't cave," Silverwood was shaking his head. "He feels like he's losing his school. And as kind as Dumbledore likes to believe he is, Dumbledore doesn't like losing his power."

Sterling was agreeing, "You're right, of course, but he's a strong ally that we cannot afford to fight. But he will never agree willingly."

"Hang on," Harry paused, thinking. "A case came up before the Wizengamot several centuries ago, didn't it?" he asked slowly. "Isn't there precedence for non-Masters and their responsibilities in the Guard?" The three masters stared at him, but he went on. "Don't look at me that way. Hermione made me read Hogwarts: A History, but also found every book on the Mastery last year and the same author has The Mastery: A History. Some parts were actually interesting.

"Anyway, in the Middle Ages? Egbert the Egregious? While this is the first time that students are officially a part of the Guard and the training is taking place on school grounds, it is not the first time that non-members are allowed to participate in the training. When organized action had to be taken against Egbert, a citizens' unit of the guard was formed. They were adults. But a small portion of the men had been tried under the Guard's martial law. They appealed to the Wizengamot, as they were not Masters, but it was declared that as they volunteered to join the Guard unit, they were not exempt from Guard policies, including martial law."

Sterling was beaming, though Snape, Saldor, and Silverwood looked as they were still unsure. "Aeter, you deserve a medal. And I must thank your Miss Granger for forcing you to read more. While many of them were adults, the Wizengamot ruled that, as they had signed the Declaration of Compliance and Participation before they could be permitted to serve."

Silverwood's eyes lit up. "We had the students sign the Declaration, also. We also requested their parents and Headmaster Dumbledore to sign the document for each student's participation, if they were still underage."

Sterling smiled. Harry could almost see him gloating to Dumbledore, already.

While Harry very much felt that it was important he be with his people, he and Silverwood had both debated about participating in the exercise with the masters, apprentices, and students. Ultimately, it had been determined that their participation on any of the teams might be seen as favoritism, and would inhibit their ability to truly evaluate participants' performances.

Truthfully, his skill level had advanced far beyond even the masters of the Guard, as far as dueling was concerned.

However, they had not given advance warning to any of their teams, and were interested to see how each of the teams performed. They had elected to mix the teams: fifteen teams each consisting of eight participants, and had at least two students, masters, and apprentices each. This was to be a character test, just as well as it was a test of skills and talents: how well could the teams work cooperatively with another to come to common solutions despite very different skills and backgrounds?

As the Hogwarts instructors were extremely unhappy with the turn of events that were removing the students from their classes for a full week, Harry had enlisted Masters Atwater, Isaac, and Varneck to be present for the full week in observation. Intrigued by the training exercise, several additional masters had volunteered to participate as attackers in the forest, as their schedules allowed.

On Saturday afternoon, as Harry and Silverwood waited for their forces to arrive for their training, they continued to speak with the others. Fletcher, the only Hogwarts staff member who fully stood behind this endeavor, was zealously suggesting some obstacles that they still had time to place in the forest. When all had finally arrived outside, Silverwood gestured Harry to speak, defining the parameters of the training exercise.

"Hullo all. Over the next week, fifth years and up will be participating in a training exercise that will take you off of the Hogwarts grounds. Fourth years are only eligible if your parent has signed your off-campus waiver. Your team's objectives are to: 1) survive the entire week; 2) neutralize any threats that may harm your teams; and 3) secure as many of the other teams' trophies as possible. You will, of course, want to defend your own trophy from other teams.

"The team with the most trophies at the end of the week will be considered the victor, and any ties will go to the team with the fewest casualties.

"There will be additional senior masters in the forest, who will serve as unfriendlies, and you would do well to keep an eye out for them. Team assignments will be handed out momentarily. You have tonight to strategize with your team and decide what to bring. You will be carrying the full weight: all weightless and bottomless spells will be broken once you cross the threshold of the forest.

"Anybody not waiting outside the front entrance at four thirty tomorrow morning will find that their team will face grievous consequences."

The group was silent for a moment before exploding into a pandemonium of noise. There were murmurs of surprise and excitement alongside protests. After waiting for silence, Harry finally shot a flashbang spell into the air. "Teams will be assigned randomly, by way of lots. When you hear Master Isaac call your name, you will join your team. Tonight's goal is to come up with a basic strategy, mainly, I recommend you coordinate who is bringing what. We will ration out food packs for each team, enough to last a whole team seven days."

Pulling out the list of student names, Silverwood cast a spell, causing the team names to rearrange into 15 teams of 8. As Isaac began reading out the names, Harry carefully watched for reactions to the names, hoping to help get a feel for what teams might work well together, and who would work very poorly. In time, they would need to solidify the squads on a more-permanent basis.

As teams were assigned, the crowd steadily lessened, as they each left the area to find some privacy, Sterling turned to the small group still present. Silverwood stepped toward him and nodded, and both turned to face Master Isaac, who looked confused.

"Master Isaac," Sterling began, "I've had the opportunity to witness your work and your skills over the last year. You have shown tremendous ability and character, and a finesse for physical combat and training. It is therefore my great honor to award your well-earned Specialization in Physical Combat. You are, therefore, now a Senior Master with all of the rights and privileges granted therein. This will, of course, be announced and recognized at the next gathering in London."

"Sir, I had not yet applied for my Specialization," Isaac objected. "There must be a mistake."

Sterling stared hard at the man. "Is this not the area that you were to apply in?"

"It is," he admitted quietly. Sterling continued gazing at the younger man, cowing him into acceptance. "Thank you, Sir, I am most honored."

Silverwood smiled. "And I am grateful for that. As our resident expert, I am hereby granting you the position of Senior Master for Guard Training Tactics. You will report directly to me on this role, and participate in the weekly Training meetings with Aeter, Fletcher, and myself. You will also be expected to participate in the twice weekly Leadership meetings that take place here and in London respectively."

Isaac looked stunned for a moment, before grinning. "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir," Isaac enthused. Harry was reminded, in the man's enthusiasm, that he was only a few years older than Harry himself.

"Congratulations, Master Isaac," Harry bowed briefly.

Isaac grinned even wider. "Don't expect me to go easy on you, Aeternus. I haven't forgotten our last duel!"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

The next morning, Harry waited quietly outside of the castle beside Silverwood and Isaac as the Guard members, apprentices, and students filed out of the building, most still in sleepy trances. At exactly four thirty, Isaac ordered the teams to stand together.

Noticeably, as the roll was being called, three students were still missing: Ron, Stephen Cornfoot, and Hannah Abbott. Likewise, Apprentice Alexander was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until the roll had finished, close to 4:45, that first Hannah, then Alexander and Stephen, and finally Ron came huffing to the group, each offering their apologies.

Ron avoided looking at Harry as he rambled his long apology about oversleeping. In fact, Harry thought this was probably good, because the glare he sent his friend was withering.

It was Master Silverwood, however, who addressed the four: "Ah, you four, front and center, please." With trepidation, each of the four stepped to the front of the group and waited. "I believe, Mister Weasley, this is not the first time that you have been late. Do not respond, an observation. Apprentice Alexander, of course, Master Varneck, will, of course, be informed." Both boys' faces paled significantly as they stuttered apologies again.

"You four," he gestured to the four of them again, "squatting position. Down, and hold," he announced, staring at them, "Lower, Abbott, you too, Weasley." Apparently satisfied, he turned to the rest of the teams that were waiting, "Now, it is my pleasure to announce to you that Master Isaac has been granted Senior Master status and is hereby Senior Master of Guard Training Tactics. He will be working closely with Aeternus, Fletcher, and myself, to determine an appropriate training regime that serves your variety of talents and needs."

Silverwood glanced again toward the four late-comers as the group applauded Master Isaac. Stephen Cornfoot, apparently the least conditioned of the four, and Hannah Abbott, who struggled in conditioning herself, were beginning to shake. Harry could see Hannah's face was red, though he couldn't determine if it was embarrassment or the extended squat. Harry glanced at his watch, and after 45 seconds of additional silence, the General allowed the four to rise.

"Weasley, Alexander, Abbott, Cornfoot, I believe your teams will be most displeased with you. As there were four of you late by 15 minutes each, teams one, two, four, and five will join you for 30 push-ups before we set off."

There were a few moments of objection from one or two of the students on each team, but a quick glare silenced them, and they began. "While you complete those," Silverwood began, "Master Isaac will walk through this morning's plans."

"Thank you, Master Silverwood," Isaac began. "In about ten minutes, each team will receive a portkey to their designated area of the forest. The forest is a little larger than 1,000 acres, and there are wards preventing you from leaving the boundaries of the forest. Red sparks are to be sent in the air if you are in dire need of assistance. By dire, I mean extreme emergency, as anybody being removed from the forest in this manner will cause their team to be disqualified.

"With your Portkeys will be distributed your rations of food and water for the week, enough for your entire team to eat and drink. Plan wisely, though hunting and gathering is perfectly acceptable. But be wary of wildlife that you are not familiar with. All other items, you should have coordinated with your team.

"Master Abrams," Isaac suddenly interrupted himself to stare at the man in question, "if you do not do proper push-ups, you will find that your time with me in the future is considerably less fun, because I will make you do push-ups for an hour straight, until you get them right."

Harry was impressed with how well Isaac had adjusted to his new position announcement- and how he had immediately enforced his authority over the troops. He dreaded the next time he had a session with the man, as his style was clearly physically demanding.

Harry briefly wondered if Isaac would be assigned his own apprentice the following August, and took a moment to feel pity for the poor sap.