Chapter 25: The Obstacle Course
True to their planning, Harry and Isaac took delight in waking their charges at both midnight and three in the morning with minor charms, such as streams of water. Only Strider had the good sense to ward his bed, surprising Harry. He made a note to ask the boy about his forsight later. These nighttime interruptions continued until Wednesday morning, when Strider was finally approached by one of his own bunkmates to learn his charms.
By Thursday, the other teams had all caught on, and it was a much more rested group that arrived on the lawn for roll call on Thursday morning.
It was also on Thursday morning that Katie Bell, Apprentice Winston, and Master Robin would be taken from the forest, brought down when the three were surrounded by a team of four masters. The battle had been relatively quick, as the three were clearly beginning to show signs of exhaustion.
With only Terran and Smythe remaining in the forest, Saldor and Snape had spent more time at the barracks, while Silverwood remained exclusively at Hogwarts, tracking the successes of the two remaining.
In fact, Smythe and Terran had clearly worked out a healthy respect for one another. Smythe had no problem deferring to Terran when he proposed a strategy to avoid detection or escape when they knew enemy forces were nearby. Smythe knew that Terran was apprenticed to Master Silverwood himself, and had learned some techniques that only came from experience. And Terran was content to allow Smythe to make commands when they were attacked by masters, his own battle experience coming in handy.
Harry was slightly pleased at the attitude changes he saw in the teams. While there was still a bit of animosity, particularly among the masters who felt forced to work with those less trained, and thus less worthy, than them, the strict regimen left little time for squirmishes.
Harry, sitting in the office at the barracks late Thursday morning, when a knock on the door surprised him. He looked up to find Snape accompanied by Master Sterling and Dumbledore. "Milords, Headmaster," he bowed in greeting as the three men sat down.
"Sit down, Aeter," Sterling commanded. "We have sent a team of five masters to retrieve Smythe and Terran. We expect a fight, as they won't realize we're calling an end to the exercise. But they'll be better served training here with their peers now."
"Yes, Sir. I will inform Master Isaacs."
"No need. He's been alerted."
"Yes, Sir."
Nobody said anything for a moment, before Snape, glowering, finally announced, "What my two elderly superiors have come to offer, though I can't imagine how they intend to do so with silence, is their assistance in your training."
"My training?"
Snape nodded. "I am a fantastic master, and an expert in Potions and Defense. I am a great generalist in weapons and all of the things apprentices need to learn to pass their tests and excel. But I am no match for Voldemort."
"But Sir-" Harry began, intending to defend his master.
Sterling shook his head. "Master Shadowman is one of the most powerful and terrifying men I have ever known. But he is not familiar in the Magics that we still think you may need to know.
"To this end, the Headmaster and myself worked with your Master and the Guard's leadership on a revised schedule to train you in our respective areas."
Harry stared. "I have several questions…" he trailed off, trying to decide what order to ask them in.
Snape smirked. "I believe they are: 1) What are the magics? 2) Where will we fit this in the schedule? 3) Who all will be included? And finally, 4) How do I keep the respect of my teams if I am not with them?"
Harry stared at the man. "I mean, yes… How did you know?"
Snape pursed his lips. "I've been listening to your inane questions for years now.
"Elemental magic will be included. But also, we think you might have the aptitude for soul magic."
"Soul magic?"
"Aeter," Sterling breathed deeply. "Very few people get to see their dead parents. Even fewer can pull another person—"
"It was real!"
"Nobody is saying it wasn't real, Aeter," Dumbledore said calmly. "It was as real as we are right here. But while your mother thinks your connection to Ginny is the cause, your magic would have had to still perform that feat."
"And you two can help?"
The three exchanged glances. "I have performed very small pieces of soul magic," Sterling admitted. "But we are both capable elementals, and we think the technique is similar. Once you've had practice in the elements, we may be able to help guide you."
Harry breathed deeply. "And if I can't control any of the elements?"
Sterling laughed at this. "Aeter, I am certain you have an affinity for air, at the very least. When you fly, you're clearly at home.
Having finished his sword lesson with Snape, Harry wiped the sweat from his brow, as they left the training hall, each casting an impenetrable spell around them as they stepped into the pouring rain. "You have the scabbard here?" Snape asked. Harry nodded. "Good. It's time you begin wearing that, as well as concealing your knives, should your wand get taken. I need not warn you the consequences if drawn inappropriately."
"Yes, Sir," Harry agreed.
"Good," the two sat down beside Isaac in the Mess Hall after they grabbed their food.
"What's happening over there?" Harry asked Isaac immediately, motioning toward the nearest wall, noting two apprentices doing wall-sits. The one on the left was straining to stay in position, as he was tremoring with effort, staring at Isaac pleadingly.
Isaac rolled his eyes. "Perseus and Benedict," he spoke loudly to them, "you may rest. You have thirty seconds." He glared at them as they quickly shuffled to a standing position. Harry and Snape waited patiently waited for more information, until Isaac ordered the two to resume their wall-sit position. Isaac turned back to the men. "The third year apprentices were meant to be on the obstacle course. I found those two hiding inside one of the dorms. They will be doing wall-sits through lunch, and will be paying for their insolence after lunch."
Snape grinned. "If you have better things to do, Aeternus and I would be happy to take those two on for a few hours after lunch," the older man offered.
Isaac nodded, "Actually, yes. I would appreciate that. I am meant to be doing conditioning with the students, while Silverwood and Varneck are with the masters and second year apprentices."
Snape grinned at his own apprentice as Varneck and Silverwood joined them. "See, Aeternus, you are far too obedient lately. I haven't had the opportunity to beat you into submission in ages."
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "And what do you propose, Master Shadowman?"
"Ah, Masters Silverwood, Varneck," Snape greeted the two who were just arriving. "You wouldn't happen to mind if we borrowed the masters and apprentices from teams 1 and 5 after lunch, would you? May we borrow the students, Isaac?"
Both shook their heads. "I suspect it has something to do with those two?" Silverwood asked.
"Isaac found them shirking their responsibilities," Harry announced, turning an eye toward the two as Isaac granted them a rest. They flinched as they appeared to have noticed the eyes of all of the senior masters, and Harry, on them.
In fact, as the four went outside, Harry felt an odd sense of deja vu as Snape first ordered the two to begin push-ups, allowing the rest of their teams to simply stand and get wet. As they began, Harry asked, "What were you two meant to be doing when you were found hiding in your dorm?"
His eyes firmly on the ground, it was Benedict who responded. "We had study time, Sir."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "I am not certain that is correct, Apprentice Benedict. Apprentice Perseus, is your comrade correct?" The boy muttered a response. "Excuse me?"
"No, Sir," Perseus finally admitted, continuing his repetitions. "We were meant to be running the obstacle course. Though why that needs to be done in the rain-"
"That is enough. I did not ask your opinion on the activity, simply what the activity was. Master Shadowman, I do believe we ought to make our way toward the obstacle course for Perseus and Benedict to complete their activities."
Snape smiled. "As we have several masters here, I think it only fair to ask them, as well. Charles, Nestor, could either of you tell me what you think might be an appropriate punishment served by Perseus and Benedict for this infraction?"
Harry smirked, knowing entirely that his Master was relying on Charles' vindictive streak to kick in. It did not fail, as Charles jumped in before Nestor so much as opened his mouth. "Thank you for asking, Sir. It would be appropriate, I think, for each of them to run the obstacle twice: once as they should have done, and once as a consequence for their actions. Further, as has already been stressed very clearly, lying is dealt with most harshly, so I also propose three sets of 60 second planks, and three sets of 20 push-ups to reinforce that fact."
Snape stared at Charles. "Nestor?" The other man hesitantly agreed, glancing at the two apprentices who had just completed their push-ups. "And you all?" Snape turned a glance toward the teams, noting that Ginny, Hermione, and Abrams were all looking at Snape with disbelief, though were reluctant to argue. But the other team members whole-heartedly agreed, looking relieved that they would not be included in this punishment.
"Excellent," Harry's grin was truly sardonic. "You all heard Charles- 60 seconds of planks followed by 20 push-ups."
Charles stared in disbelief. "Sir, I meant-"
"I believe you may all do you sixty second planks, followed by 30 push-ups now," Harry announced. "If you argue again, it will be sets of 50. You will all begin."
Ginny and Hermione glared at their friend harder than the rest. He ignored them, particularly his girlfriend, and began to speak again. "I do believe we've made it clear from the beginning that what you earn, your team earns. This applies to both punishments and rewards. I am reminding you, again, that here it is muscle fatigue. When we move to battle, it could be your lives."
As they began to do the first set of push-ups, Snape picked up Harry's threat. "Now, this is not the first time your two teams have been placed on the line. I am placing both of your teams onto probation. If a single one of you deliberately steps out of line again, your entire team will face a punishment far worse than conditioning."
After completing their three reps of planks and push-ups, the teams moved to the obstacle course.
As they ran throught he first time, Harry and Snape watched closely, noting that Ginny finished in the top half, Hermione right in the middle, with Hannah Abbott coming in several long moments after the others. Harry sighed. Hannah was great at getting spells down, but her dueling abilities were severely hampered by her lack of speed.
Harry ignored that for a moment. "That could have gone worse. Or better. This is a punishment, so you will all be running it again, and I expect you to be much faster. I'll run this thing faster than any of you did this last round. Master Shadowman, what do they win if even a single one of them beats me?"
Snape showed no emotion. They'd already planned this out with Isaac and Silverwood. "If a single person beats you, I have it on good word that the entire camp will be permitted to sleep in until 7 tomorrow morning."
Harry smirked. "And if I win?" He was confident, knowing he still was fifth on the all-time leaderboard for the assault course at Headquarters.
Snape sneered. "Dare we ask Charles?"
The man looked down. "I'd rather not, Sir." His teammates looked relieved.
"Anybody? If I win?"
Nobody said a word. "Cowards," Snape scowled at them. "If nobody succeeds, Aeter, this group will be doing suicides before dinner. If you manage to take first on this leaderboard, everybody will be doing suicides before dinner."
Harry grinned. "Excellent. I hope none of you have protests-"
"Permission to speak, Sir?" Harry glared at Hermione, but nodded at her. "I would like it known that I agree reluctantly to this proposal. See, your muscles are hardly tired, where ours have been worked endlessly for four days."
Snape looked livid. By the look in Hermione's eyes, she realized she'd overstepped, but Harry laughed. "Oh, you think so? I'll have you know that when I am not in your eyes, I am being trained just as hard as you. Before lunch, I had a grueling weapons session, which begins and ends with push-ups, and is two hours of pure cardio, as Master Shadowman is a harsh taskmaster." He paused. "To your point, I will do the requisite planks and push-ups. And, you, Miss Granger, will probably be spending some time with Master Shadowman this evening."
Having easily completed the very same amount of planks and push-ups as the others, Harry ran toward the course, and begin with his army crawl under the cargo nets. He wondered, briefly, if he would ever tell them that he and Snape had done an informal running of the course, and both had beat the standing record. Of course, this was formal now, so he already felt his adrenaline kick into high gear.
Completing the ladder-climb, he grabbed onto the first monkey bar, and propelled himself easily across the bars. Bending his knees to absorb the shock, he sprinted toward the rope climb, both ascending and descending properly, hand-over-hand, to avoid rope burn. Finally, sprinting toward the amassed group, he was unsurprised to find a smirking Snape and several people looking ready to spit nails.
"Excellent, Aeternus. Well, you've all had a bit of a breather, you have one last chance to beat him!"
As the two teams set off, Harry grinned at Snape. "How many seconds?"
Snape looked at the boy, pleased. "Eight over the record, fifteen over Hector's earlier time."
The two watched as several of the faster team members rushed in an attempt to beat Harry's time. Unfortunately, their rush also meant less care was paid in moving their bodies, and Harry watched a furious Ginny slip in the mud as she tried to sprint toward the ladder.
For a moment, he realized that she was likely furious at him. They hadn't spoken all week, as he felt it would be nepotism, and he probably went harder on her to avoid any outright claims of favoritism.
He turned to Snape, his eyes wide. "I'm a dead man, aren't I?"
Snape stared for a moment, and then caught sight of Ginny, whose foot had slipped on the ladder, caught Harry's drift. "Quite possibly, yes." Harry groaned, wondering how he would get out of this one at week's end. "If it's any consolation, she'll come around after a few weeks."
"It's the weeks before that which have me concerned," Harry said glumly, buckling his sword belt around his hips again.
That evening at dinner, in a moment of benevolence, Isaac described the bet, and extended it to all: if anybody could come within five seconds of Harry's new record, everybody would be permitted three days of sleeping in, even once they returned to Hogwarts. The only warning: a mile was the price paid by the attempter, should they fail.
Immediately after dinner, just under a dozen new attempts were made, including: Smythe, Terran, Fred, George, Ginny, Hector, and Neville were the first ones.
It wasn't until the next morning that both Smythe and Terran managed to come within that five second time limit, to the celebration of the entire camp.
