Disclaimer-Not mine yo.
Chapter 4: Training
Katie Bell shot into the sky as fast as he unmarked broom would carry her, Marcus Belby was hot on her tail, but Marcus didn't know how to fly like Katie did, and he didn't know what kind of insane stunts she used to do with Alicia and Angelina. As soon as Katie began to feel the broom vibrate she knew it was about to stall out. Pulling her wand out of her training uniform, she spread her arms like a bird and flipped of the broom. Angling herself into a dive she pointed her wand at a very shocked looking Marcus Belby, and fired stunners in rapid succession until one clipped him in the shoulder. Spinning herself in the air she summoned the broom that was falling not to far from her, grabbing it and remounting it. She landed on the ground of the ministry training field shortly before Blue, who had Marcus strung over his shoulder.
"Bell! That was both incredibly amazing and incredibly stupid of you! What in the hell were you thinking?" Shouted Blue from across the field.
Katie flew closer to him so that she could speak at a regular volume and said "That's nothing new for me sir. My friends and I used to do it for adrenaline kicks. Americans used to do it in aerial combat with their planes."
"Well then scratch the stupid part. I thought you just pulled that out of your ass."
"I'm not bit on shit maneuvers sir."
"Right well, get to the common area, we've finished with the solo training and we're going to move on to training all of you like a team. Tiberius has the lists that we've put together."
"Yes sir!"
(Scene break)
"So let me get this right," said Neville, currently lying on the bench press with Morag spotting him, "your great grandfather was a giant?"
"Yeah, wasn't much of a family man apparently" Morag laughed.
"So was he like…a small giant? I just don't understand how your great grandmother could handle a cock that big…"
"Well I've never really asked questions about it… though from what I hear the actual birth of my grandfather went really well, heard he popped right out."
"Shit man, he probably fell out."
Before Morag could reply Tiberius entered the room and everyone stopped what they were doing to stand at attention.
"Alright everyone, for the past two weeks we've trained you for fifteen hours a day, nonstop. All of you have improved in leaps and bounds. And I'm very glad to see some of you still continue even when unsupervised" here he looked to Neville, Morag, and the others studying or improving their physique, "I'm sure our potion stock has helped you greatly." At this he laughed, before sobering up and continuing, "Now we are going to place you into three teams of six. This is not to segregate you, and we will be mixing groups as well."
Hannah Abbot raised her hand, and at Tiberius' nod she spoke "Sir, why place us in definitive groups if you are going to mix them?"
"Excellent question Miss Abbot, now let me ask you a rhetorical one. Do you really believe that if and when a random battle occurs, that you will be with all of the members of the team you were assigned? By mixing teams we assure that you all know each others strengths and weaknesses. Not only that but you will be prepared to work with all of them. Now instead of naming all of you, I am going to post the team. Next to your name you will find your school house and graduating year. This is not so that you may judge others; this is so that you will know how to find each other. I expect all of you to have this list memorized by tomorrow." With that Tiberius stuck the list to the bulletin board and left the room.
As soon as he was out the door, everyone rushed to the board to see who they had been paired up with. The list read:
This list is final and no complaints about it will be heard. Each team was carefully thought out by both Red and Blue.
Team 1: Commander- Blaise Zambini (Slytherin 6th year)
Members- Justin Finch-Fletchley (Hufflepuff 6th year)
Morag MacDougal (Slytherin 6th year)
Lunista Moon (Slytherin 6th year)
Padma Patil (Ravenclaw 6th year)
Lisa Turpin (Ravenclaw 6th year)
Team 2: Commander- Ron Weasley (Gryffindor 6th year)
Members- Susan Bones (Hufflepuff 6th year)
Terry Boot (Ravenclaw 6th year)
Eddie Carmichael (Ravenclaw 7th year)
Daphne Greengrass (Slytherin 6th year)
Neville Longbottom (Gryffindor 6th year)
Team 3: Commander- Marcus Belby (Slytherin 7th year)
Members- Hannah Abbot (Hufflepuff 6th year)
Katie Bell (Gryffindor 7th year)
Hermione Granger (Gryffindor 6th year)
Ernie Macmillan (Hufflepuff 6th year)
Tracy Davis (Slytherin 6th year)
The team leaders immediately came together, along with Eddie Carmichael, to discuss the their teams having long ago (day four) come to terms with each other in the truest battle of wits (the chess board) and were now a tight knit group of friends.
(Scene break)
Harry was a bit nervous. The few times he had gone through the village to help Woznic bring back water from the well, and he seemed to always receive nothing but dark looks and hushed tones. This time was no different; Woznic and Remus were at his side though and they were good enough for now.
Woznic walked him directly to a Military style tent on the opposite side of the village. The tent was huge, Army surplus green, and had a large American Flag pinned to the side by the entrance. The three men entered the tent only to find three more men sitting inside at a poker table in the middle of a game of Texas hold-um. In the far back corner Harry could see several bunk beds and on the opposite side of the tent was what seemed to be an improvised kitchen with cast iron pans and Bunsen burners. On a nearby wall was a dart board, and near the card table was a pool table.
"I know its not much, but we have a grill out back too." Said a tall man, he was 6' 2" to be exact, with crystal blue eyes, short blonde hair, and a warm smile. "The name is Steve Rogers, I also answer to Captain, and I'll be one of your new instructors."
The man made Harry feel welcome. Everything about him seemed to scream old-fashioned hero. "Harry Potter, pleased to meet you sir."
The next man to stand was incredibly short, 5'3", though Harry would not be the one to mention it to him. He was well built and looked like he could do more than simply handle himself in a fight; his every step seemed to be calculated, blue eyes immediately assessing Harry. He was a predator.
"The names James Howlett." He said in a gravelly tone.
Last to stand up was a man with a similar build to Harry's. He was 5'10" with Brown hair and hazel eyes. "They call me Ben Reilly, and apparently I'll be teaching you, if that somehow translates to 'I'll be kicking your ass through the woods and back'" He laughed.
Oddly this didn't annoy Harry, it was obvious to him that the man's humor was ingrained into his personality. They were definitely three very different people, and according to Woznic, they were the rest of his teachers for the remainder of his stay in North America.
(Scene break)
These 'simulations' seemed to get more and more realistic the more they went through them. Luckily for Ron he had his entire team with him. He worked well outside of it, but everything definitely went smoother when it was the six of them together. They were all crouched along the wall of a ruined building of some sort. Whatever it was, the front window was huge, and he didn't like it.
"Daphne, you've got our ass on this one, watch the rear, we don't know if there's a back entrance to this place. Neville, to the front door, Terry and Susan, I want both of you to enchant that window. I don't want anyone besides us to know we're here. Eddie, begin reinforcing the front walls, when Terry and Susan finish with the window they'll work on the side walls. Daphne, if you haven't already noticed there are a lot of boards and cinderblocks in here, some solid but easily jumpable barriers behind us would be nice." Ron finished talking quickly and everyone quickly got to work.
Pulling out the message board, a small black board, about the size of his hand and it fit in a holster on his hip. It was an interesting invention, co-created by Lunista, Hermione, Daphne and Tracey; originally made for only the commanders to allow them to communicate in code to one another, though they were now carried by everyone (Red and Blue sent them into a simulation, leaving one team without a commander) just in case.
"Hook me up." Muttered Ron, activating the message board; focusing his magic into the tip of his finger he coded the message "Commander 2, full team, safety level 5, in building with large window. Across street from burning red building."
The students had been doing these simulations for days, for the first one they were told that they were on leave to go to Diagon Alley where they all slit off into smaller groups to visit shops and the like. As soon as they had separated the Alley was attacked by a large group of Death Eaters and several trolls. After a long and drawn out loss they discovered that letting your guard down was never an option. They woke up in oddly shaped chairs in a back room of the Department of Mysteries and had returned every day since.
Ron was broken out of his reverie by a familiar tingle in the back of his head, and he looked down to see the responses. Everyone was with their entire team and had set up in unknown area's. Though Marcus thought he might be able to see a burning red building from his height, as he was in an abandoned third floor flat. Blaise believed that he may be nearby either hostiles or whatever they left in their wake because he could hear very distinct screaming. By now people had taken various defensive positions around the room, Terry joining Daphne in watching the rear and Eddie was back at his side.
"What's the word boss?" he asked.
Ron looked to him for a moment then quickly relayed the information to him and Eddie nodded in thought. "I think we're going to have to wait on more information for this one, this could be a test of our patience."
Eddie nodded and said "I'll spread the word" before quickly and silently moving around the room to enlighten the rest of the team.
That was when the screaming began, but it wasn't from them, it came from outside, terrible screams of pain and horror. Daphne continued to watch their rear as Terry quietly told her what was happening outside the front window, which is where everyone else was looking.
Dozens of werewolves were charging through the streets breaking into buildings and pulling out entire families, ripping them to pieces. Ron quickly scrawled out a WEREWOLVES before holstering the message board and launching his wand out of his wrist holster and into his hand, then he drew his dagger from the horizontal sheath that ran across that back of his waist. He'd be damned if he ever lost a team member again.
"Break the window. Kill them all. I want fire in front of the door and window. Terry, switch positions with Daphne. NOW!"
Everyone jumped into action, Susan blasted out the window and Daphne redirected all of the glass shards into the closest werewolf. Eddie covered the ground in front of the building with fire and Neville shot bolts of lightening from the tip of his wand.
Ron, watching the werewolves climbing along the walls on other buildings quickly realized a flaw in the set up. "Susan! Fall back a bit. Kill anything that tries to come in the top of the window! I don't want anything getting inside this fucking room!"
Susan quickly followed orders, but he wasn't sure if they would be enough. Ron had gotten angry and made a rash and thoughtless decision, the werewolves just kept coming. He could end up losing his whole team on this one. Suddenly spells came down like rain, scattering the werewolves and he realized that Marcus was much closer than he originally thought. He got lucky. And he wouldn't make the mistake of jumping straight into action like that again.
Now having more room to maneuver and get creative, Eddie began blasting oil onto the wolves, which Neville lit aflame with his lightening. Scare tactics. The werewolves quickly changed their minds about fighting this one out and retreated. Ron pulled out the message board and sent a thank you to Marcus before asking Blaise how close he believed himself to be to the fight. Before he could finish typing however he felt the familiar sensation of being pulled out. It was very much like a port key, only instead of tugging at his navel, the tug was from somewhere in his brain; much less pleasant. He woke up in the odd looking chair and looked up into the hood of Blue.
"You got very lucky that time Commander Weasley. Commander Belby had originally stationed himself on the opposite side of the building he was in. he heard your little skirmish and moved his team to the other side, effectively saving your team's ass."
Ron's head fell in shame. "I had figured it was something like that, otherwise they would've been assisting us from the beginning…."
"Don't feel too bad about it. Live and learn. This is why we have you all practicing like this" finished Blue.
Ron nodded and stood up, then moved to join the rest of the group.
(Scene break)
"MOVE rookie! This ain't no dress rehearsal." Shouted James.
Sweat poured off of Harry's body in torrents. Crazy super old magic or not, this man never quit, and Harry's body was ready to. "I don't know how much more I've got in me Mr. Howlett"
"My body's running off of the same juice yours is rookie. The same magic that heals your wounds can get rid of the lactic acid build-up, and you're no shimp. Now move your ass!
James had him running mobile combat drills 'both for strategic retreat, and when your target's a pansy with to many friends'. They had been doing these drills non-stop for the past six hours, with Ben and Steve reloading and moving the training dummies/launchers. Most of them fired stakes or darts, but there was the occasional troll sized dummy that swung a tree trunk or launched a boulder. Harry hated what magic could do a little bit more every time he ran into one of those, or when the dummies attacked him with the speed and durability of an above average human.
"We're going to continue to do this until you think of a way to end it yourself. Think outside the box. Woznic told me you were smart now prove it!"
As Harry processed these words he came around the corner to find two of the moving troll dummies.
"Fuck!" He swore, launching himself off of a nearby tree and doing a handspring off of the flying boulder. He flew through the air towards his first opponent, and threw his hand back, drawing energy into it. It came forward as a massive claw, which he used to slash open the throat of the troll. He then extended his opposite hand towards the second troll and launched a second clawed hand, this one extending off of his arm, into the rapidly approaching behemoth. The claw gripped the dummies head until it collapsed, which didn't take long, and Harry jumped off of the now quickly falling first troll dummy.
Rolling across the grass Harry thought over everything he had learned in the weeks that he had been there, as well as his current predicament. Before he had even finished his roll the answer had come to him. There was no real reason for him to be following James, James was merely showing him the path towards more opponents, not only that, but it had become obvious to Harry after the second hour that he was doing it by sniffing out where Ben and Steve had been previously. Now Harry would do the same thing with an entirely different purpose. Channeling his magic into his nose, he took a huge whiff and was assaulted with dozens of scents. Everything from the magic residue on the dummies to James' arm pits came at him at once. After a few moments of sorting through the smells, his brain quickly locked onto the two he was looking for, and he took off into the trees to his left. James said nothing and followed him so silently that Harry had to periodically check to see if he was still there.
As the scents grew more and more powerful Harry slowed his pace, trying to move as ghostlike as his companion. He channeled the magic into his ears as well until he could hear both Ben and Steve debating on where to place the horde of dummies that were apparently nearby. As they were still quite a distance from him, he approached at a comfortable pace, slowing down more and more the closer they got.
"Ok well last time they were set up over here and you can tell from the marks in the ground that they were nowhere near challenging for him." Said Ben.
"Well then place two there and make it look like they're trying to hide, then set the other ones up so that they can surprise attack him when he moves to take down the Decoys." Said Steve.
Once they both had they're backs turned to Harry, he launched stunning spells from each of his hands at them.
As soon as the spells left his hands Ben shouted "INCOMING!" and dived to the side. Steve picked up one of the dummies he was handling and spun, using it as a shield for the oncoming spell. He then through the lifeless dummy straight at Harry and Harry jumped and flipped to avoid it, only to be smashed in the temple midair by Ben's fist. Harry awoke a few moments later to three grinning faces.
"Always be mindful to what's going on around you. It's more than likely that you will normally have more than one opponent. Even if someone else is fighting them they could easily throw a few attacks your way." Said Ben, giving him a hand up.
"When it comes to Dark Lords, they'll probably have plenty of minions with the attack level of the dummies you've been fighting for the past six hours, but they're also sure to have stronger ones. For the rest of your stay here you will train until you are strong enough to fight the three of us at once. If you manage to defeat us we'll have Woznic join us." Said Steve.
"What happens if I beat all four of you?" asked Harry.
"Don't plan on it Bub. There's not much of a chance for you to even beat the three of us. Four on one odds ain't to bad either, but the four of us on you is like four tigers on a house cat." Said James, laughing to himself.
"We'll see." Said Harry.
The three veterans burst out laughing. "Well at least he's got spirit!" Laughed Steve.
(Scene Break)
"Tracey did you see this?" said Daphne, who was bent over her bed frame, looking at a large and fancy carving in the wood work.
"Daphne, please tell me, how in the world would I have seen something that's on your bed frame?" Laughed Tracey as she walked over.
"Shut up Trace. Just look at it, it's carved in really deep…"
"VII? What like the Roman numeral seven?" asked Tracey as she slid her fingers across the wood.
"I'm guessing so…"
"Seven huh?" Asked Ron who Had apparently been curious as to what was so interesting. "I like it, what if from now on instead of Daphne we called you Seven? Like the lucky number… lord knows that if it wasn't for you our asses would've been fried on…what are we up to now, eleven missions in a row?"
"Seven? Are you kidding me? You want to call me Seven?" said Daphne, completely disgusted at the name.
"What?" Said Ron, "They call Tracey Trace, why? Because she's good at tracing things. We'll call you Seven because you're lucky, like the number." Ron smiled, believing himself to have won.
Before Daphne could reply Tracy cut in, "What about Vii? Like the Roman numeral seven?"
Daphne stopped arguing and look to Tracey, seeming to mull it over. "Then it's decided!" exclaimed Ron, overjoyed. "I'll let everyone know!"
Daphne looked to Tracey "I blame you for this just so you know. He would have never come up with and acceptable nick-name. We go back to school in like a week and a half and now the whole school will be calling me Vii."
"Well that will be better than 'Prude'" Tracey laughed.
Daphne flushed a deep red. "Just because I don't tell everyone about how 'great Blaise is in the sack' does NOT mean that I'm prude!"
"Wait how would you know how great my man is!?" Tracey turned to look towards Blaise who was exercising with some of the others and chatting with Neville. "OY! Blaise! What the hell are you doing sleeping with my best friend? You're not a forest fire to be goin' out and makin' every dry tree hot and bothered. You are all mine! Like a tiny little camp fire!"
Blaise' mouth went slack for a moment before he recovered and said "Honey a Blaise is ablaze, and let me tell you, a mini-campfire is not ablaze or a Blaise."
Some of the others listening in on the conversation groaned at the joke that they had heard a thousand different versions of.
"If that's how its going to be I might have to hose down your little fire!" Tracey shouted back.
"But Trace…I thought you were the one that was supposed to be all wet?" Laughed Blaise.
Tracey laughed and turned back to Daphne who now seemed to be permanently red. "I cannot believe you just did that to me" she muttered.
"Well Vii…hmmm I do like that… you shouldn't talk about knowing how good my man is in bed." Said Tracey.
(Chapter End)
(A/N) Ok, I have to tell you, I cut that one a little short, but I'm just about done with the whole training thing. I'll also admit that im going through things a bit Quickly, jumping from scene to scene, but its subconscious, it really is. I'm skipping a lot of the training because 1)It's honestly a bit boring to write. And 2) I really wanna start getting to some more plot points. Oh and keep in mind when your reading about the Teams in special training that by September 1st they will have spent 35 days together, constantly in eachothers company. Relying on eachother for help and support. So when you're like "What the fuck….Blaise is a slytherin and him and Ron are like bestfriends…that makes no sense… they've all taken the time to get to know and love each other. Also if you're wondering where I got some of the names in the team list above, each and every one of them is a cannon name. Some of the first names I created because Rowling only gave the last names in the books, but they're all real (haha).
Anyway, Thanks to those of you that reviewed or sent me messages, I love you all. The rest of you are anonymous so I can't love you. Still looking for a Beta Reader. So every mistake you see where your like WTF!!!!! Blame yourself because you could have Beta'd it out.
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