Hello you beautiful people, I'm back with the second chapter of my re-write, and I'm going to take a minute to discuss some things. Number 1: Why am I rewriting 'Military Man'? The main reason I am re writing the story is that there were a few things that I had meant to include but forgot, or didn't explain well enough. The second reason is that I left the story alone to long and I just forgot where I was in the process, if that makes sense. Number 2: What will be different? I messed up slightly in the original, in the fact that I didn't leave myself enough time to do everything I wanted to before Harry went to Hogwarts. So it'll be hopefully better in that respect. I also plan for longer chapters. The first few chapters being an exception to that rule. On the downside, I'm back at school and working part time so updates will be farther apart. Number 3: Why rewrite it now? Well thanks can be given to my new beta the awesome and fantastic Pixel and Stephanie Forever, for asking me what I planned to do with the series. I had already thought about it but that was the jolt I needed to get it going. Anyway on to the story.
Thetford, Norfolk
10, September 1987
Royal Junior Thetford Academy
Mess Hall
Harry had been at the academy for two weeks now and he was loving it. His day consisted of a light calisthenics in the morning followed by breakfast and his classes. He had English, History, and Mathematics in the morning, and after lunch had Science, Health, and then downtime. After dinner all of the students had access to the rec hall, which had a few pool tables, a small television, a couple of bookshelves that were fully loaded, and a smattering of couches. They had lights out at 20:30 hours, or around 8:30. He shared a dormitory with two other guys and three girls. The oldest was Cedric Diggory, who was their 'Captain', so to speak. He made sure they all got their homework done, and got up in time for calisthenics. The rest of the group were closer to Harrys age, Hannah Abbot who was eight, Walter O'Donnell age seven, Zoe King at age seven, and Ariel Clearwater who had just turned nine. They had all become good friends in the past week, swapping stories about their homes, and their parents.
Cedric had given them a good outline of the next few years, they'd spend time in the basics until their third year where they could then choose up to five new classes, with only English and Maths as the core group. Their choices ranged from first aid, to tactics and logistics, but they didn't have to worry about choosing anytime soon. Harry, Hannah, and Zoe were all first years while Ariel and Walter were Second. Cedric was a fifth year, and he only had a year or so before his choosing. The choosing was where cadets decided whether to go to a different school or stay at the academy. If cadets chose to stay at the academy they had to undergo another choosing at age seventeen, on whether or not to go to university, or to the military, or to civilian life.
At the moment Harry was just finishing his dinner, glancing about at his squad, as his dorm mates were called. He watched the Commanding Officer step up from the teachers table and the Art teacher called them to attention. "Now I have a few announcements to make, I know that the older students know this already and a fair portion of the newer students already know this. For starters, magic is real." Lieutenant Colonel Jameson paused while whispers rolled through the hall. "I know many of you are in disbelief so a demonstration perhaps" He said drawing a thin piece of wood from his coat and flicking it at the table Harry had been eating at. It was suddenly floating in the air, four feet above the ground. With that the whispers stopped. "Now all of you have something in common, you were all born with magic. Some of you for one reason or another have less, some have more. Now some of you here are what the magical community calls 'Squibs' lacking in enough magic to perform spells, but born to magical parents. The rest of you are half-bloods or muggle born, meaning you have magic but one or both of your parents do not." He paused, taking a breath. "You are all here for one reason or another, your parents or guardians dislike magic, or your guardians were unaware of magic. The point of the matter is that you are all here for better or worse and we're going to help you." He paused again gesturing to the other teachers. "We are going to help you harness your magic, or give you an opportunity for a life outside of the magical community, whatever you choose. I know that is a lot to take in, but your Captains can answer any questions you have. Dismissed" With that he sat back down, and in groups the students left the mess hall.
That had been one of the few days in the academy where they had been allowed to break curfew, most students staying up until the wee hours of the morning discussing everything from their accidental magic, to the magical world in general. Cedric had pulled Harry aside after dinner and handed him a medium sized, leather-bound book entitled 'The Rise and Fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'.
"This and a few dozen other books on magical history and theory will be added to the libraries over the next week, but this particular book has some sections on your family history, or at least the um… night your parents died." Cedric finished in a whisper. "I'm always available if you want to talk as is any of your teachers." He said before turning and heading up to the dorms. Harry sat down in a nearby chair and flipped to the index. He figured the chapter entitled 'The death of the Potters and the fall of the Dark Lord' was the one he was meant to read and flipped to it. Hannah found him lightly shaking in the hall twenty minutes later, his body racked by sobs of grief. She didn't offer words of comfort, or try to talk with him, she merely hugged him.
Later that night he confided the information in his squad, knowing that they would eventually uncover it anyway and there wasn't a reason to keep it quiet. They were all really comforting about it, Hannah kept hold of his hand which he thought was nice, despite the germs he believed girls had. He was asleep fast afterwards, with a smile on his face.
Thetford, Norfolk
11 September 1987
Junior Royal Thetford Academy
Administration
Harry stood at attention in the entrance hall of the CO's office, waiting for the officer to finish with his meeting. He didn't particularly care to eavesdrop, since it was a day in KP if he got caught snooping. However with the volume that the three men's voices had taken made it rather difficult not to. From what Harry could make out, Lieutenant Colonel Jameson was arguing about the placement of students. The two other nameless voices he could make out appeared to be railing Jameson about the number of students he had, protesting that it was too many people, and that they couldn't all possibly be magical. Jameson seemed to be holding his calm and explaining the situation to the two men. All too soon the three men exited the office, Jameson leading a pudgy man in a bowler hat and a man with long blonde hair. For some reason that Harry could not understand, he saluted him after he led the two men to the exit and brought them both into his office.
"Now Mr. Potter, I know you've had a chance to learn about your heritage, and what that entails for you. The reason I brought you here is to ask, did you know before last night?" Jameson asked him, leaning back in his seat and steeping his fingers together.
"No sir, my relatives never made me aware of, well any of that knowledge." Harry responded, sitting at the edge of his chair.
"Not even that you had magic?" Jameson said, narrowing his eyes in what seemed to be anger.
"No sir, to my knowledge they despise and have always gone out of their way to tell me that it doesn't exist." Harry cast his eyes downward to avoid showing his CO the anger he felt at being left in the dark.
"Well there are a few ways to go about this, since you technically should have known about your heritage from a young age, there are certain penalties about an appointed guardian not explaining to their child about magic." He paused for a breath here, watching Harry carefully. "The penalties can range from small fines to the child being move to another's custody. It usually depends on the age of the child when they are first told about magic. In your case I believe it would depend upon your wishes, since you are old enough to at least give an opinion to a Department of Wizarding Child Services." Harry's eyes lit up like fireworks on New Year's Eve, not having to return to the Dursley's was a dream come true for him.
"If I do have a choice sir, I'd prefer to be moved to a new guardian, as long as I can stay at the academy." Harry managed not to stumble over the words in his haste, something that surprised Jameson. Harry loved the academy, despite the short amount of time he had spent there. Most importantly for him, was that he had made friends, something that was unlikely to occur in Surrey. Jameson looked at Harry for several long moments. He did not normally look into the mind of his students, but with Harry he simply skimmed the surface thoughts and found him thinking about one female Cadet – Cadet Abbott if his memory served him well. He'd been made aware of the circumstances of Harry's collection from the Dursleys, and he could tell that this girl seemed to be the only real friend he had ever had in his life.
"Indeed" he said carefully, "I'll have to do some paperwork to get that all approved and you'll probably have to give a statement or something similar, but for the time being you won't have to worry about anything" the Lieutenant Colonel said with a warming grin. Harry smiled and thanked him profusely, before being dismissed back to his dorm.
So this is where the chapter ends I am afraid to say. I do plan on trying to make the next chapters longer, but they might not be that much longer. With school starting back up I find myself a little more strapped for time than I was previously. I've had a few people ask as to whether the pairing in the story will change, I have to say I don't know. I like the pairing of Harry/Hannah, (Pixel and Stephanie Forever also STRONGLY likes this pairing) but I plan to put it into a poll in a while. Pixel wants it to be known that donations of Milk and biscuits will make him work faster in betaing the re-write. The author would like to say that he prefers tea and scones, and they help him work period. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I wish you all good luck.