Chapter 23: Capture the Flag
Harry was pleased, as Master Silverwood pointed his wand at the wall in their conference room, and said "Show me All Teams." On the large wall, fifteen small boxes popped up, showing the teams arriving at their locations with their trophies.
Harry watched as several individuals suddenly struggled with their bags, as their weightless and bottomless charms were reversed by the forest's wards. Turning away from the wall for a moment, he asked, "How does that spell work?"
Silverwood smiled. "Certain wards function much like security cameras in the muggle world. Because the entire forest is warded, we are able to cue in where and when we would like. Who wants to bet on which team wins?"
Harry was watching the screen. "When are we sending the volunteers in to serve as combatants?"
"Tomorrow morning. We want to see how the teams fare against one another, first."
They were all watching the teams. In Team Two, Harry was certain he was watching an argument brewing, as he could see Ron speaking furiously and his face reddening. He was speaking to Maser Gabriel, while most of the team watched; Apprentice Tier seemed to be mildly amused by the exchange, though the others appeared to be unsure when to intervene.
At the same time, in Team Five, Hermione appeared to be issuing directives, though Master Abrams glared at her. Harry was sure that pair was going to explode at any moment. Harry shifted his gaze, seeing nothing of note happening in most of the teams, though Ginny was glaring at Hannah Abbott, presumably from her tardiness yet.
On the third screen, Harry was watching as Terran appeared to be exchanging ideas with Masters Smythe and Robin, the other students and apprentices listening with rapt attention. "Can we listen to Team Three's audio?" Harry asked.
"Show me Team Three," Silverwood commanded, and the wall zoomed into the conversation. "You know, Smythe was my last apprentice before Terran. I tried to get him to pick a specialty right away, but he was adamant that he owed time to the Guard."
Harry looked up surprised. "He must be nearing the end of his term?"
Silverwood nodded as they all turned back to the screen.
"Terran, you have a better sense of the students," Master Smythe was saying. "Are there any that we should particularly watch out for?"
Terran looked thoughtful. "They are all not to be underestimated. Be wary for Fred and George Weasley- they are likely to have some underhanded tricks that they've brought along with, though I shudder to think what they may leave in the forest.
"As you all know, Pandora is fierce and will do anything to prove herself, though she's one of the youngest here. Luna Lovegood, though she plays an airhead is almost always ahead of the curve, if you pay attention, though again, her age puts her at a disadvantage. Hermione, like Master Abrams, is incredible intelligent, but lacks practical experience and ability, at times, so I am less worried about Team Five.
"Ron is a strategic genius, and he is on Apprentice Tier's team, but what Ron has in bravery and sheer courage, he lacks in stealth," Terran said quickly. After a moment of further thought, he said, "I think, depending how it plays out, Cedric Diggory could be a real fighter, though I haven't worked closely with him yet. Neville is an amazing healer, as is Strider, but I'm not sure we have to worry about force from them, right now."
Smythe, Robin, and Terran all looked at one another in thought. Despite the power differential, it was clear that both masters found Terran's honestly and forthrightness helpful. Robin sighed. "Thank Merlin they didn't include any of the Hogwarts masters, we'd be dead in a heartbeat."
Terran nodded easily. "Let's talk strategy for a moment. We'll want to do some reconnaissance, as we discussed last night. But I do think we have an opportunity to determine which teams we might want to strike right away, lest they become dangerous later on."
"Agreed," Robin nodded. "I think our best course of action might be to lie low and allow them to decimate one another, then we strike at night. Failing that, we might also be able to play off the power differential in some of the teams. After all, we know that not all of the masters are going to be willing to play nicely."
Terran nodded. "We have an advantage, because you've been working with me for a year, the others lack that common history and are focused on standing. I think Master Gabriel and Ron will have problems," he said thoughtfully.
Smythe smirked. "I think they might have crossed paths at the castle, with poor results, actually. Hermione and Abrams will continue to be a problem, also. As for threats: we've both seen Pandora and Charles argue, but they are both insanely competitive, and I think will call a truce in order to win."
Harry smiled as he turned to the conference table, where he sat with the Hogwarts masters of Snape, Silverwood, and Saldor. As this was a training exercise, Isaac and Fletcher were both watching keenly to find the strengths and weaknesses. Atwater, present as he would step in with any severe needs for healing, was watching beside Sterling. Master Varneck, in his role as a survival expert, sat at the table. Harry thought he was still stewing that his apprentice had been tardy.
"I'd say that Team Three was the luckiest drawn, as I think their strengths will play to one another. I don't know Winston or Montague well, but even the students will be beneficial: all three are great team players. And even Lavender, despite her obsession with fashion, is willing to work hard."
"They're right about Pandora and Charles though," Silverwood announced. "I know both off them are furious with the Abbott girl, but whether or not either have the patience to extract their revenge until later, I am not sure."
It was agreed that likely, either Team One or Team Three would come out victorious, though they would need to watch Team Six, as the Weasley twins were sure to have some surprises. While there were other strong teams, they weren't sure they had quite the right team make-up for success.
After about an hour of watching, Harry looked at the others. "While I realize we need to observe, I do need to get today's run in before breakfast. I know we talked about shifts for watching, does anybody mind if I go?"
"I'll join you," Master Saldor volunteered. "We'll stop at the kitchens on our way back to have breakfast sent up," he told the group.
As with his own master, Harry found his interactions with Master Saldor to have become easier and almost comfortable as the two had come to share a mutual respect. Saldor was always a serious man with clear boundaries, which Harry always respected. As they ran, for the most part, they talked about the war effort.
"I wanted to tell you," Saldor began as they rounded the Quidditch pitch, "I received a letter from Ferraldin's brother yesterday morning, John. His brother's death struck him hard, and he apologized for not attending the memorial service. He's asked me to thank you for being with him. Ferraldin wrote him a lot. His stories about you and the training you shared inspired John to join the Army. He knows he can't help with the magical war, but," Saldor seemed to shrug, "I just wanted you to know that you've inspired bravery in the non-magical world, too."
Harry was quiet for a moment. "Thank you, Master Saldor. I am glad you told me. I still miss him, you know? It just seems… I sometimes think about what he would tell me to do, or how he and Ron might be telling me to play Quidditch instead of working. But I also think the truest way to honor his memory is by getting justice for his death."
The older man nodded. He understood all too well. He had thrown himself into his work, just as Harry had, in the hopes that it would make a difference.
Unknown to one another, both had silent renewed their resolve that they would ensure, one way or another, that this war would end with as little further loss as possible.
Harry and Saldor stopped at the kitchens, asking the elves to send breakfast up. Upon returning to the conference room, the others informed them that the last hour and a half had continued to be boring.
Harry looked at the screen. He groaned. "Ron is still fighting with Master Gabriel?"
Snape shook his head. "Today is a very poor showing for him. The others tried to intervene, to no avail. We listened in, for a bit. Gabriel thinks poorly of the Weasley boy, and so, Ron is even refusing to consider his point of view."
Harry sighed. Ron was a brilliant strategist, but bad at teamwork, apparently. He'd have to address the matter with his friend. "We'd not suggested punishments based on things like this, but I think, if he doesn't figure things out, I'll have to consider it."
By noon, when lunch arrived, Harry watched keenly as each of Terran's team moved quietly. They had cast disillusionment spells and cast silencing spells on their shoes before Terran, Robin, Winston, Katie, and Lavender set out, leaving Smythe, Montag, and Wayne with the trophy.
Harry watched with intrigue as Smythe attempted to cast a shrinking and invisibility spell on the trophy, but found it impossible to change the trophy in any way. Harry smirked. They had decided the game would be impossible if all of the trophies were invisible, and they didn't want anybody summoning the trophies.
He shrugged and gestured to the other two to follow him. He found a good sized tree and began climbing. Harry nodded, this would be a useful strategy to avoid detection.
As the day wore on, they all rotated in and out of the conference room, as needed for their own responsibilities. Around lunch time, it seemed several of the teams decided to attempt to make a move.
Terran's team, though, appeared to be the only one to take seriously the threats the other teams offered by taking precautions to not only guard their trophy, but also to hide it. A handful of other teams had disillusioned themselves, though the number was small. Some teams, like Ron and Cho's, it had become obvious were not interested in working as a team at all, and had struck out in factions.
After Robin and Smythe had returned, they joined the others in a wide, hidden tree branch, where Winston, a talented apprentice in Charms, cast cushioning charms for them all.
Carefully opening a bag at his hip, Robin pulled out two vials of potions. Silverwood, intrigued, cued up the audio. "-Polyjuice," Robin was saying. "It's technically illegal to borrow somebody's identity to complete legal or official documents or appear in the public sphere. As this is not a public event, but a training exercise, the law is not relevant here."
Saldor snorted. "Has he expressed interest in any specialized tracks after his time with the Guard, Sterling?"
The man shook his head. "Severus, I may have found your next specialist, if he brewed that himself. Of course, it's also possible that he would choose Law, knowing loopholes like that."
They turned their attention back to the team. "Right," Winston was beginning uncertainly, "so how does this help us?"
The others looked at him in surprise. Finally Robin answered. "My intention was we use it to send someone in covertly and bring a team's trophy to us. As I only have enough for three of us, we need to select those teams very wisely."
Silverwood muted the sound again and glanced back at the others. "Right, so we'll have to watch them closely."
Meanwhile, Team One, it seemed, had decided it was time to find some other teams. Leaving behind two team members, they spread out in pairs, though keeping Ginny and Charles far from one another.
The pairs crept quietly across the forest floor. Ginny came up behind an apprentice from Cho's team, who had gone out on his own. She whispered stupefy, landing him on the ground.
The forest was hardly two square kilometers, so Ginny was sure they'd come across the other teams relatively quickly.
For the other teams, tensions were rising quickly, as in some corners of the forest, outright fighting had arisen. In the trees, Team Three cautiously waited, as though aware jumping into the fray this early could be costly.
By four that afternoon, approximately half of the students and apprentices had been taken out of the game already, with only about ten of the masters being taken out of the game.
Still, nobody had found team three, though they had taken to quietly stupefying anybody who passed by them alone, picking them off slowly.
As night fell, most of the camps quieted down, leaving a pair to watch. Team three, though, had already slept. They climbed quietly down from their tree, leaving two team members to guard their own trophy, at all times.
Terran, Robin, and Smythe each had a vial of the potion as they moved toward where they knew Team One to be camped out. Montag and Winston, with Katie crept cautiously, casting a spell on their faces to deliberately obscure them.
The first team they came across, Team nine's watch, both students, were stupefied before they saw the team coming. As were the remaining members of their team. Terran quietly collected the trophy for Team Nine and returned it to their home base.
"Well," Harry muttered to Snape and Silverwood as they watched team three carry trophy after trophy back to their stronghold that night, "this is extremely disappointing. The Dream Team is essentially ending this game already."
In fact, by sunrise the next morning, they had silently eviserated all of the other teams, simply by being stealthy. As stunned and injured parties had been returned to Hogwarts, there was nobody left to fight them.
However, as they had arranged for various masters to play roles of enemy combatants, Silverwood and Isaac had determined that the team would not be removed from the forest until the end of three days.
