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Chapter Eight

The Training

Updated 5/17/2015

-o=o-

The Room of Requirement—

Harry and Hal were overseeing the training of the Hogwarts Green Lantern Corps, as they had decided to call their team, in preparation for defending the school, and indeed the entire Earth, from Sinestro's expected arrival.

"This is really one amazing place," Hal was saying as he watched the new Lanterns being put through their paces. Harry had to agree. The Room of Requirement had created a magnificent training area for them—it seemed even bigger than the stadium where they had watched the Quidditch World Cup last summer, and that had been big enough to fit ten cathedrals inside it!

The newly-minted Lanterns were flying round the room, creating objects of green energy to combat the various spells that Sirius was casting to attack them. Sirius had been a Hit Wizard before joining the Order of the Phoenix during the first Wizarding War; he knew quite a bit about both dueling and what might be called "dirty" wizard fighting. Floating swords, battleaxes and spears flew, swung and crunched against green shields and other defense implements as Sirius sent out spell after spell toward Hermione, Illyana, and Dobby.

But not everyone was training. Ron was staring resentfully at Hermione and the others as they flew around the Room, his own finger barren of a green ring. Harry's ring had refused to create one for him. Ron stood behind Harry and Hal, his eyes boring into the back of Harry's head. Harry could feel Ron's anger and disappointment, but the ring had made it clear—you had to have the right stuff to wield a Green Lantern power ring, and Ron didn't have it. Harry had been tempted to override the ring's decision, but Hal had advised against it.

Still, it bothered Harry that his best mate had not been up to snuff when it came to—well, whatever it was that made him, Hermione, Illyana, Dobby and Sirius worthy of the ring. Harry had made a duplicate ring for Hal as well, because they were going to need numbers to defeat Sinestro once he returned to kill Hal. He was still mightily tempted to give one to Ron as well…

"Take a break!" Sirius called, and everyone flew down to join Harry, Hal and Sirius. Harry suppressed a smile as he viewed the other Lanterns standing before him. Hal had suggested they adopt body suits like his own in order to identify themselves as Lanterns; the two girls had spent some time tweaking the appearance of their costumes. Hermione's suit was similar to Harry and Hal's suits—standard green and black, with white boots and gloves.

Illyana had updated the colors of her original costume to black and green, and had added the Green Lantern symbol to her right shoulder—he left shoulder still bore a stylized X-symbol that she hadn't yet explained.

Dobby-well, Dobby was now wearing a green pillowcase, with green socks on his feet and several pairs of socks on his ears as well, also green. His pillowcase now bore the Green Lantern symbol as well.

"Good practice, everyone," Hal was saying. "You're all getting the hang of creating things with the green energy. Remember: what you can create is limited only by your imagination—the rings have more than enough energy to create whatever you come up with. Any questions?"

Hermione raised her hand. "Yes?" Hal smiled at her.

"How can the ring have such unlimited power yet it can only hold energy for one day?" she asked. "That doesn't make sense."

"That's a good question," Hal agreed. Silently, Harry agreed; he'd wondered why there was such an arbitrary time limit to the rings, along with their limited usefulness against the color yellow. Hal had said it was because of an impurity in the ring, but Harry had no idea what that meant, and when he'd asked the ring directly it didn't seem to hear him.

"It's not really limited in the sense you think," Hal explained. "The ring is charged for one home planetary rotation. If you're from Earth, that's 24 hours. Other worlds have different period of rotation, so a Green Lantern from, for example, Korugar would recharge their rings every Korugarian day, which is about 27 hours long."

"So what's the point?" Illyana asked. "I mean, suppose I said my 'home planet' was Otherplace—would that mean my ring's power could last for years, because a day on Otherplace can be decades long compared to time on Earth!"

"Hmm, that's an interesting point," Hal said. "Well, it's possible the ring uses your body's natural rhythms to determine the length of your 'day.' I think the point of having to recharge the ring is to remind you that you're not really omnipotent—that the ring is to be used wisely, and that you are part of a greater good."

"Right," Ron mumbled behind them. "But not everyone is part of that 'greater good.'" He said the last words mockingly.

"Ron," Harry said, turning to him. "Sorry—you know I wanted you to have a ring every bit as much as everyone here, mate—"

"Save it," Ron cut him off. "I guess I just don't have what it takes. Maybe you should see if Fred or George can have rings—I'll bet they're good enough!"

"That's enough," Sirius snapped. "You're still a wizard, Ron Weasley, and don't you forget it! Tell you what—you can train with me. I'll show you some Hit Wizard moves you can use in a fight."

"You will?" Ron's face brightened. "Thanks, Sirius!"

Harry nodded, happy that Ron seemed mollified by Sirius's offer. But there were still other concerns… "Hal," he asked the older Green Lantern, "why do you think Sinestro hasn't already attacked?"

"I wondered about that, too," Illyana said. "It's been over a day since we picked Hal up off that mountain. Sinestro couldn't have been that far behind him."

"I've wondered that, too," Hal agreed grimly. "It's possible Sinestro has already reached Earth and is assessing the current situation. What I wonder is, why he chose not to attack when I was most vulnerable?"

"Maybe he couldn't get through Hogwarts's defenses," Hermione suggested.

"That could be it," Harry agreed. "When Voldemort tried to use the Killing Curse on me in the graveyard, the Ring was able to block the spell. The Killing Curse is supposed to be unblockable."

"Unblockable by magic," Hermione corrected. "It's possible to block it with solid objects, however." She looked at her ring. "The green energy in these rings can be used to create objects of 'solid light,' which can block spells.

Dobby was looking at his ring as well. "But, Hermione Granger," he said to her. "What if a yellow spell is cast? Hal Jordans says the rings doesn't work against yellow."

"It's not quite that simple, Dobby," Hal answered. "You can match your green energy against Sinestro's yellow energy—they cancel each other out. What the ring has a harder time with are objects that are inherently yellow, like Earth's sunlight, for example. Sinestro focused the sun's radiation on me, destroying my legs and hand. He also managed to hit me in one eye with a yellow meteor before I could find a way to deflect it. It has to do with a necessary impurity in the ring."

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked. "What kind of impurity could be necessary?"

Hal gave her a wry smile. "I wish I knew, Hermione," he said honestly. "It's never really been adequately explained by the Guardians. And the rings themselves don't seem to know either."

"Yeah," Illyana muttered. "I've asked my ring several times what the deal is, but it won't say a word about it."

There was a sudden loud creak, and all of the Lanterns turned to see a door opening in the wall behind them, a door that hadn't been there moments earlier. Through the door stepped Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, followed closely by Minister Fudge.

"What in Merlin's name—?" Fudge blurted, seeing the immense room they had walked into, and the gaudily-clad Lanterns before them. "What's going on in here?!"

"Harry," Dumbledore spoke calmly but intently. "What have you been doing?"

Harry turned to face Dumbledore. "How did you get in here, Professor?"

Even though he looked quite serious, Dumbledore's eyes still twinkled with amusement. "After all, I am the Headmaster, Harry. While the Room has indulged your needs, it recognized mine as well, and we needed urgently to speak with you."

"I—I can hardly believe this," McGonagall was saying to herself. "This room looks as large as the entire school."

Dumbledore looked around as well. "Indeed. Harry, may I presume you have been learning to use the green ring—" he looked again and corrected himself "—or rather, rings, since I see now everyone is wearing one, with the exception of Mr. Weasley."

"Five rings," Fudge whispered, imagining Aurors wielding both these rings and wands. "Dumbledore, tell him," he urged.

"Before you say anything, sir," Harry spoke up before Dumbledore could speak. "We are not giving up the rings. We intend to use them to protect Hogwarts, and the Earth itself, from attack."

"What are you talking about?" Fudge demanded. "You-Know-Who and all of his followers from the graveyard have been stripped of their wands and sent to Azkaban!"

Dumbledore faced the Minister. "Have you forgotten, Cornelius? Harry spoke of another being, an alien called Sinestro, who could be coming to attack Earth. That is why I and the other professors fortified the protections on the castle."

Fudge hadn't forgotten, but he was still trying to find a way to get those rings! "I understand that, Dumbledore!" he snapped. "But we still need those rings for security reasons!"

But Dumbledore shook his head. "I no longer believe that to be the case, Cornelius," he replied. "It is obvious you have your own agenda for these rings, and we do not need to replace Voldemort's tyranny with your own."

"What?!" Fudge sputtered. "How dare you, Dumbledore! If anyone's been planning to take over the Ministry, it's been you!"

"How can you say that?!" McGonagall demanded. "Albus has been working tirelessly to protect Britain, not take it over!"

"A likely story!" Fudge sneered. He pointed accusingly at the Headmaster. "He's been plotting a takeover for years! Why else would he stay in a position like the Headmaster of the best wizarding school in the world, if not to recruit young people in order to take over the Ministry! This 'Order of the Phoenix' business was just a front to place his people in key positions in our government, people like Shacklebolt and that Tonks girl, who's graduating from Auror Training this summer! Oh, yes, Dumbledore, we've suspected they were your men for some time now! There's no use denying it!"

"I suspect there isn't," Dumbledore said, a note of sadness in his tone. "But you are quite wrong, Cornelius. I have never had designs on your power, such as it is. While you have played your games in the Ministry and the Wizengamot, I have tried to keep us safe from Voldemort's ever-subtle encroachment on our freedoms. While it is gratifying now that he and most of his Death Eaters are in Azkaban, we are not truly safe while any of them remain at large. They may seek to free their master from prison."

"Preposterous!" Fudge snorted derisively. "The Dementors will stop them! And I won't hesitate to have any or all of them Kissed if there's the least possibility of them getting out!"

"So much death," Dumbledore sighed.

"They won't hesitate to kill us, if the tables were turned!" Fudge pointed out.

"Which does not justify us," the Headmaster replied. "We are supposed to be better than that."

-o=o-

And at Azkaban Prison—

In the command center of the prison Sinestro regarded the ragtag collection of humans he had gathered to himself to help clear the way for his domination of this planet. "You have learned well," he said to them. "We are ready to attack."

He was lying, of course. None of these humans would last 30 seconds in a ring battle with him. But they had learned enough to blast their way through most defenses, and if some of them perished during the assault on the school where Jordan was being protected, so be it. None of them would survive past his takeover of Earth, anyway—especially not their leader, who even now was plotting treachery against him.

"What is your plan, Sinestro?" Voldemort demanded. "How will we breach Hogwarts's defenses if you could not get past them?"

"We have numbers now," Sinestro answered. "There will be over three dozen of us instead of one. We will attack along several different lines simultaneously, overloading their defenses."

"That is a reasonable plan," Voldemort agreed, stepping away from his men. "There is strength in superior numbers, something you should have realized." Over three dozen yellow rings were suddenly pointed at the tall, red alien. Voldemort offered him a malevolent smile.

Sinestro looked around the room. His expression did not change. Voldemort could almost admire him for his courage. "I do wish to thank you for the gift of these rings," the Dark Lord continued. "They will come in quite handy during our conquest of this world. However, you will no longer be a part of that conquest."

"Go ahead, then," Sinestro declared. "Kill me and be done! I accept my fate as the price of my lack of foresight."

"Kill him," Voldemort said simply. Three dozen beams of yellow power lanced out, converging on the Korugarian and enclosing him in a cocoon of destructive force. The power of only one ring was capable of destroying all life on Earth—the force of three dozen such beams was nigh-incalculable.

Yet, when the beams ceased their blinding assault on the renegade Green Lantern, Sinestro stood—unharmed!

"Did you idiots really think I would give you unrestricted access to my energy?" Sinestro laughed. "Your rings are under my ultimate control. Observe." Sinestro struck out at a random Death Eater, obliterating him in less than a second. The other humans shrank back from him in fear, though Voldemort himself did not move. Sinestro locked eyes with the human. "Am I clearly understood?"

There were quick nods of assent from the Death Eaters, though Voldemort remained silent. Finally, the Dark Lord nodded his head. "Understood."

"Understood, what?" Sinestro demanded.

"Understood, Master," Voldemort said, lowering his eyes.

"Very good," the Korugarian gloated. "Now, we will begin."

Sinestro strode to the center of the command room. "Behold my power!" he shouted, raising his ring in the air above his head. It flashed yellow and the entire building trembled.

"What are you doing?" Voldemort demanded.

"I want them to see us coming," Sinestro said. "And what better way to herald our arrival than in a powerful structure such as this?"

The Death Eaters were looking at one another in confusion. What did the alien mean, in a structure such as this? Their questions were answered a moment later as Azkaban began to lift into the air, the entire seven-story structure, moving faster and faster upward until it was free of the island. It began moving to the southwest, toward Scotland.

Inwardly, Voldemort was seething with impotent fury. His attempt to wrest control from the alien had failed—he should have made certain he and his men held the upper hand before trying to usurp Sinestro's power! But perhaps in the confusion of the attack on Hogwarts he could find a way to surprise the Yellow Lantern using magic rather than the ring power…