"Not so worried about elf rights now, eh?" Ron asked as Hermione took a large bite of French toast, chewing it rapidly. Brad watched as she scowled at him, finishing her bite before answering.
"Of course, I am, Ronald," she sighed and the operators all smiled at the use of Ron's full name. It was something Hermione only did when he was irritating her. "But I've decided that starving myself won't help them."
"Sure," Ron said with a note of disinterest. He scooped another small pile of bacon over to his plate, opting to ignore her. Brad noticed that Mike was scarfing his food down just as rapidly as Hermione.
"You two have a hot date after breakfast or something?" Brad asked, fixing Mike with a curious smirk. He rolled his eyes and swallowed a partially chewed bite to answer, but Hermione still managed to beat him to the punch.
"We're going to the library before class," she said simply and continued eating her food. When Brad looked to Mike for some elaboration, the operator simply shrugged, as if to say it was out of his control. Within a few moments, they had both finished a healthy portion of food and were on their way.
"She's mental, that one," Ron shook his head as they left. The group took their time finishing breakfast, most of the conversation being centered on the upcoming tournament.
One of the wildest rumors so far was that the champions would have to fight each other to the death at the end of the tournament. It was absurd and Brad had a suspicion that the Weasley twins were to blame for the rumor, but it spread like wildfire.
By the time everyone was headed to their first class there was even an unofficial motto for the tournament, 'There Can Only Be One.' Brad saw the trio off to their class and then his team took a Humvee to FOB Phoenix for a briefing with Colonel Sumner about upcoming security arraignments for the arrival of the school delegations.
There was no road to FOB Phoenix, being that it was in the wooded hills to the northwest of Hogsmeade, but it looked like the engineer unit that was brought along to set up the base had been working on that problem. Since the previous night there was now a clearly marked path to take up to the FOB, though there were several checkpoints.
It was a winding path between trees and it was obvious that the engineers were planning to smooth things out as best they could. There were several pieces of heavy machinery along the path to the FOB. Brad was impressed by how quickly the base had been set up.
The majority of the prefab structures were in place when he'd first arrived and they were able to hold meetings in the command center. It looked like the engineers pulled a night duty because the base was coming together nicely.
The path leading to the FOB ended in a gated checkpoint with guard towers on either side. The perimeter of the base was enclosed with a ten-foot-tall prefab wall that connected to guard towers and armored fighting positions. Inside the base the communications towers were almost completely set up and operational, and the helicopter landing pads in the northeast corner of the base were being paved.
Brad could see a section of the base to the southeast where the M777 artillery guns were set up. The gun emplacements were dug into the ground a short distance away and the ammunition supply was near the fighting position. It was a sweet little set up and provided them with tremendous firepower should the situation call for it. Brad wasn't sure what situation that would be, but it was always a good feeling to have artillery on stand-by, just in case.
They parked the Humvee in the base's motor pool and walked to the command center. Inside, they found technicians scrambling every which way, setting up UAV monitoring and control platforms, radio banks, and other computerized networks that were necessary in today's battlefield.
Inside the conference room they found Colonel Sumner, Major Price, and the rest of the officers assigned to the Triwizard Security Force. Brad took a seat next to Lieutenant Knight, the leader of Phantom team. They were another Operator team, like Reaper.
"What's up, brother?" Knight asked, greeting the fellow operators, and holding his hand out for a fist bump. Brad smiled at the Lieutenant and gave him the fist bump.
"Living the dream, man," Brad said. It was a familiar greeting that they'd developed during their operator training. They greeted each other that way every time they saw one another. Brad was glad to have Knight and his team here at the FOB, it was always good to have some fellow operators like Phantom around.
All of the Spartans had trained together since they were youths, but the ones selected for the Operator Selection Course were, for several years, a separate and more closely knit group during their training. It was brutal and it never got easier, but it turned each of them into some of the most effective fighters in the Army.
"I think that's everyone," Colonel Sumner said. "Thanks for being here." There were a few knowing chuckles, being that the meeting was definitely not optional. "First order of business is the situation with FOB Phoenix. It's coming together nicely; the engineers have done a hell of a job. Permanent communications networks will be operational by the end of the day and by early tomorrow we should have the network in place to operate our drones."
They had a variety of UAVs at their disposal that would make watching the perimeter of Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, and the FOB much simpler. The operators, through use of their SOLDA wrist computers, would have access to drones as well.
"The artillery emplacements are set and later today the Fire Direction Control teams will be going out to survey the hills, Hogsmeade, and Hogwarts to streamline any future fire missions that might be needed. We'll have everything mapped out." Sumner turned the page of his briefing statement, moving on to the next subject.
"Once the radio system is online, operations command will be under the callsign Kingpin." It was the same callsign that had been used the previous year. There was no reason to fix something that wasn't broken. "We are going with biweekly platoon rotations between the school, Hogsmeade, and here at Phoenix. The only exception is Reaper. Captain Gordon, you're going to maintain your current assignment for the duration of the year. Phantom is assigned to the FOB and will be assigned roles as needed."
"Copy that," both of the operator team leaders said in unison.
"The foreign school delegations will be arriving at approximately 1600 hours on October 30th. 4th Platoon will be reassigned to that event for the day from its reserve status. For that event, Reaper, you will escort the group from the aircraft. Phantom is going to be on the watercraft. QRF will be 1st squad, 2nd platoon, and they'll be in the air for the duration of the landing."
The next hour was spent going over the details of how everything was expected to go. They were apparently traveling in enchanted vehicles, a flying carriage, and a submersible ship. Exact paths were plotted and units assigned to patrols or stand-by presence. By the end of the meeting everyone knew their individual assignments.
It was lunch time when Reaper team found its way back to the school. They were headed into the courtyard to try and find their charges when they heard a shouting match.
"You'd better steer clear of talk about my mother!" Malfoy's voice echoed through the hall. Brad and Mike exchanged glances before darting around the corner.
In the court yard stood Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. The two sidekicks of Malfoy had been steering clear of the soldiers since the arrest of their fathers in connection with the riot during the Quidditch Cup. Opposite them stood Ron, flanked by Harry and Hermione. The six students were squared off as though ready to fight.
"Steer clear!?" Ron exclaimed, "I wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot pole!" He turned on his heels to leave, his ears bright red. It happened so fast it took Brad's mind a second to catch up. A green streak of light skipped past Ron's head, barely missing Hermione as well, and Malfoy was standing with his wand pointed at the trio. Fuck! He started to lift his rifle but was beaten to the punch.
"OH, NO YOU DON'T!" a grizzled old voice bellowed, pushing past Brad. He recognized the telltale limp immediately as Professor Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Brad glanced at the professor, first thinking that the man was admonishing him for trying to raise his rifle. It was clear after a moment, however, that Moody was talking to Malfoy.
He had his own wand outstretched and when Brad looked back to Malfoy, he was gone. In his place, between the two confused looking goons Malfoy called friends, there was instead a white ferret.
"I'll-teach-you-to-draw-," each word was punctuated by the Professor drawing his wand up, taking the ferret up into the air, then dropping it and catching it just before it hit the ground, repeating over and over, "-your-wand-when-your-opponent's-back's-turned-"
"Professor, what are you doing?" Professor McGonagall had appeared beside Brad, who was watching with a mixture of amusement and dumbfoundedness. He'd never seen something like it before, and judging by the small crowd of students watching, neither had they.
"Teaching," he replied simply, never taking his focus off of the task. McGonagall nodded her head in understanding, perhaps out of habit, because immediately after she shot the Professor a deeply concerned look.
"That's not-" she cut herself off, as though the question had been too absurd to ask. She asked anyway. "That's not a student is it?"
"It's a coward is what it is!" Moody swung the ferret higher into the sky to punctuate the sentence. McGonagall looked horrified. Her wand was out in a flash and, up in the sky, the ferret turned back into Malfoy. He was lowered roughly to the ground by the Professor who then whirled on Moody.
"We never use transfiguration as a punishment!" she hollered at him. He grumbled something in response, but whatever it was, Brad didn't catch it. He had just closed the gap between his team and the trio, who were looking on in stunned amusement.
"That was incredible," Ron said, mono-toned in wonder. Malfoy got up screeching something, in an octave higher than one might consider manly, about how his father would hear about the incident. Moody simply yelled back a retort that indicated he was quite familiar with the eldest Malfoy.
Brad led the trio away from the courtyard and to the cafeteria for lunch. The whole way Ron couldn't stop talking about the incident, savoring every moment of Malfoy's terror.
"He's amazing," Ron said about Professor Moody.
"You shouldn't have been egging Malfoy on, dude," Mike replied. It had been hilarious, but Ron had been very close to getting hit with some form of curse or spell. "He almost nailed you."
"Yeah, but he didn't." Ron seemed to think this was an adequate defense, and Mike just shook his head in wonder.
Mike and Hermione sped through their meal, again with plans to go to the library after the meal. They were teased relentlessly about what they were really up to, but they remained silent, if not a little pink in the cheeks.
The next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was one of Harry's best subjects and was now only more exciting after seeing how the Professor handled his archenemy. Due to the fact that there were no confirmed threats against Harry and his friends, school bullies notwithstanding, the operators were no longer attending classes.
They were to more or less stick by the trio, but no longer needed to be next to them at all times. So, while the three friends were in class, Brad and his team sat down at the end of the tower, waiting for the class to end.
"So, you and Hermione are getting a bit heavy, eh?" Jason asked, elbowing his friend in the ribs. Mike let his head go limp, hitting it with a dull smack against the wall.
"It's not like that, bro. We're in the library," he insisted. They'd been teasing him due to his reluctance to tell them what they were up to. Brad wasn't worried about anything serious and knew that he could trust Mike to come clean.
"Sure, sure," Jason teased. "Under normal circumstances, I'd agree, but..." he trailed off and Mike took the bait.
"But?" He looked over at Jason as though waiting for a punchline.
"But...it's Hermione we're talking about. If anyone was gonna want some lovin' around books-" Jason was cut off by an only semi-playful punch in the arm. Jason raised his hands in surrender.
"Just saying, bro, just saying!" he laughed.
"She's not that girl, dude." Mike said. They all knew it, and Mike knew they did. Didn't stop them from trying to get a rise out of him though.
"We know, Mike," Brad said, killing the subject. They sat there in silence for a moment before Jason tried again.
"But what are you guys doing in there?" he asked. Mike buried his face in his hands in mock defeat. Before the line of questioning could go any further, however, they heard the stampede of footsteps indicating that class had been released.
"Finally," Mike shot up first, spotting Hermione. The three of them stopped as the remaining operators got to their feet. "How was class?" Mike asked in a concerned tone. When Brad looked up, he saw the worried features of the students.
"It was-" Ron started, the only one of the three who didn't look concerned, but he was cut off by Hermione.
"He used the unforgivable curses," she said hotly. Ron rolled his eyes.
"On a spider," he said. "Yeah, it was a bit much, but you can tell he's been there."
"Did you not see Neville's face?" Hermione asked Ron, concerned with his cavalier attitude about it. They headed to the next class, talking about the strange and intense first day in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
In the days after, Brad pieced together that the unforgivable curses were three curses wizarding society as a whole had banned from use. One for controlling a mind, one for killing, and one for torture. He found out at the same time that Neville's parents had been driven insane after long-term torture.
After finding that out he'd gone to Major Price to inform him. It was above his pay grade to interfere in schooling and the Major had a similar opinion.
"I have been told explicitly by Headmaster Dumbledore that he trusts his staff. What they do or do not teach in the classroom is not our concern, you hear?" Price asked.
"Understood, sir." Brad left it at that.
He instead forced himself to focus on the upcoming arrival of international students, assisting in the preparation as much as he could.