Hello my readers! I have returned from my little break, with another chapter! First, disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. Onot the story!
"Alright, I have realized that I have yet to train you guys properly, so welcome to the Room of Requirement, where your personal hell created by me is now beginning." Harry grinned dangerously, and they all paled as Daphne snickered from behind him. "Daph, why don't you start us off with warm up?" he asked innocently, and Daphne smirked with a nod. (please remember that Daphne had joined Harry in his training sessions with Hogwarts)
"Of course. We will all be starting off with five laps around this track. Harry and I will be running with you, but we will be doing fifteen, and pace ourselves to finish at the same time you do." Daphne smiled as a massive track appeared. Harry transfigured everyone's clothes into exercise clothing, and after a few groans from Ron and Draco, they started to run.
"This is madness Potter!" Draco snarled tiredly as he ended his second lap, sweat pouring down his face. Susan just laughed at him huffing and puffing as she jogged past, barely sweating.
"How are you doing that?" Tracey exclaimed, gobsmacked. Her only reply was the sound of Susan's laughter. Once warm up was over, everyone collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath as Harry laughed at them, barely winded. Daphne just sighed, as if she expected more.
"Alright, now that we've warmed up our muscles, let's start actual training. Welcome to dodge training. Daphne and I will fire stinging hexes at you, and you are only allowed to dodge! This exercise will continue for about ten minutes, so do your best."
Neville, Terry, and Ron looked at him in horror, and Harry just cackled evilly as they muttered "sadist" under their breath. "Alright, who's first?" Daphne asked cheerfully. Luna raised her hand quickly, bouncing about.
"Ooooh! Me! Me! Meee!" Luna said, and Harry chuckled as he pointed at her, and she cheered. Luna got into the ring that the Room had conjured, with Harry in one corner. He raised his wand slowly, green eyes slowly focusing on his new target. A white beam suddenly fired from his wand, and Luna twirled out of the way gracefully, giggling all the while. Harry flicked his wand slightly, and multiple hexes left his wand, speeding across the ring towards Luna, who's blue eyes focused on each beam as she neatly hopped out of each ones' path.
This continued for five more minutes, Luna only getting hit a few times until Harry brought Daphne in. The force of the two combined earned Luna a multitude of hits at first, where she grew slightly more serious and started to do more complicated and strategic dodges. Harry suddenly slashed his wand, a red beam leaving it as he muttered, "Stupefy!" Luna's eyes widened in surprise as she was hit. Ron quickly cast a cushioning charm below her, before Luna hit the floor.
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Draco stared at Terry, both holding their wands out. Without warning, both started to fire spells at each other. Terry's brown eyes narrowed in on his target as he neatly sidestepped a stunning spell. "Expelliarmus!" he muttered, slashing his wand as he quickly fired a body bind after it. Draco smirked, dodging each spell with the grace one would expect of him.
"Avis, incarcerous!" Draco whispered, the conjured birds hiding his second spell. Terry quickly transfigured the birds into a single stone wall that unintentionally blocked the second spell. He waved his wand again and the wall started closing in on Draco, who broke through the wall onto the quickly dodge a stunner. "Aguamenti. Expelliarmus." he said calmly, and disarmed Terry as he was wiping the water from his eyes. Everyone clapped as Draco handed Terry back his wand.
"Good job on becoming more creative with your dueling, but one thing guys..." Harry said, "you have to keep moving! Never stop moving!"
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Ron jokingly barked, making everyone jump.
"Exactly." Harry laughed.
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AZKABAN BREAKOUT!
Neville inhaled sharply as he continued to read past the Prophet's newest headline. Anger filled his expression and he quickly stood from his seat to storm out of the Great Hall, magic swirling around him dangerously. Harry looked over at the article, describing how multiple dangerous Death Eaters had been broken out of Azkaban, including Bellatrix Lestrange. The biggest flashing line was how Voldemort himself was seen there, and that the Ministry was doing everything it could to stop him. Harry's hands curled into hard fists upon reading the blatant Ministry propaganda, and he snarled under his breath as he stood to follow Neville when Daphne laid a hand on his arm.
"Harry, leave him be for a while. He needs to think this over by himself. Besides, now is a good time to help comfort the students. Remember, don't show any bias towards any of the students here. That won't help us, or them." Daphne murmured as Harry exhaled slowly, closing his eyes before nodding.
"Students! I'm sure you've seen the headline," Harry paused before continuing, "Hogwarts is very safe for you, do not worry about the Death Eaters coming here. I will say this however, send owls to your families, should you think them to be in danger. I want you to do this so we can have the least deaths possible. I know you don't want to hear this right now, but those Death Eaters won't just be sitting around nothing. They were broken out for a reason, with part of that reason to go after your families. Hogwarts will provide protection for anyone, no matter who it is. Classes will be delayed today so you all have time to send off your letters. Classes will resume after lunch."
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Harry and Daphne continued to train the Council throughout the next few months, going so far as to include the students in some of their little sessions. One such session including the students was a school wide event.
"Alright students, today we will be working with the fifth years and up, meanwhile the fourth years and below will be tomorrow. This exercise will be a drill for the real world, as in real situations, there is no such thing as dueling. There is only cunning, wit, and survival." Harry said, slightly solemn as he glanced at Neville. "This is not only for your education, but a way to help you survive should you find yourselves under attack. Those Death Eaters are serious, do not take them as a joke. Students, form teams of four as fourth year and below please head to your regular classes."
The younger years grumbled a bit as they left the Great Hall. The older students chatter excitedly as they grouped up, looking excited for what was about to happen. "Alright, this drill is simple. Do not get knocked unconscious. You can lose your wand, as long as you regain one within ten minutes of you losing it. Otherwise, you're out. Don't try to cheat, because we will know. Now, this is a free for all. Your team against every single other team. The entire school is your battleground, except for classrooms that are in use. Use anything in your arsenal to take out other teams. The winner will be getting a special prize, as will the other two top teams." Harry explained, grinning as the students exploded into loud exclamations over what this prize will be.
"Strategize accordingly, now, you have five minutes until a school wide bell will ring, signaling the start of the battle. This will only end when there's a winner. The Council will join in once we get down to fifteen teams. Your five minutes begin...NOW!" Harry roared, the students sprinting out the doors into the hallways.
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Harry looked at the Council as they ignored the deafening silence in the empty Great Hall. One team had stayed behind to levitate themselves up to the ceiling where they could trap those below. Harry flicked his wrist to glance at his watch. "Alright, we are now down to thirty teams. Why don't we start to team up?" Harry asked, turning to his friends. "I think I want Daphne, Neville, and Luna on my team." he said, getting a few agreeing nods from the people listed.
"I'll take Tracy, Ron, and Draco." Susan said, looking mildly upset at not being able to have Luna on her team. Terry glanced at Justin as he said,
"I guess we'll stay to be referees, then." Harry grinned happily as he prepared to march out to join to fray until Daphne held him back.
"We still have twenty teams left Harry, we have to wait a bit longer." she said as five rings echoed in the Great Hall, signaling five more teams getting eliminated.
"Not anymore! Let's go!" Harry cheered, and ran out the door with his team, wand slipping into his hand.