Hey everyone, pretty swamped right now with finals coming up so I am choosing to go on a brief break until the second or third week of December. The soonest I will begin work on the next chapter will be the week of the 15th. Do go and vote in the poll on my page as for the pairing of the story, if you don't it will be Harry/Hannah. I will be closing the poll before I post the next chapter, and then we'll see what happens. On with the show.
Thetford, Norfolk
21 December 1987
Royal Junior Thetford Academy
Mess Hall
Most of the cadets had left for the brief Christmas break they had been given. Most of them went home, some went to a friend's house, and some stayed at the academy. The latter was the case for Harry, Cedric, and Ariel. Hannah had wanted to stay for the holidays, but her parents had all but demanded that she return home. In spite of the fact that his best friend had left, Harry was having a jolly good time. He hadn't had a chance to hang out with Cedric or Ariel since they'd been transferred after the whole camping trip debacle. While the commanding officer had been understanding about the whole affair and since no one had been irreversibly hurt, he'd been lenient. However since Ariel and Cedric were the ones meant to be in charge of the younger cadets, they'd been moved to a new team as punishment. Cedric had tried to keep Ariel in the same squad as Harry, but the girl had said she was just as much a part of the problem as Cedric was.
It wasn't all bad, Harry and his remaining original squad got along well with their newest members. Flora and Hestia Carrow were a little younger than Harry, both having been recently enrolled in the Academy after their parents had been arrested. Harry had gotten to know both sisters well in the previous month, and they were both radically different despite being twins. Flora was very outspoken, proclaiming her beliefs and debating those that disagreed. Hestia was the shyer of the twins, preferring to sit in the back of the class and not make eye contact with anyone. Despite his blossoming friendship with the two girls, he still didn't know why their parents had been arrested. The two had gone to stay at an aunts for the holidays, but promised to write to Harry.
Cedric and Ariel seemed to be doing well in their new teams, despite protesting the move vehemently. Their new team was less trusting, but still nice to them. The three friends were in the middle of eating a hearty lunch of beef stew and baked potatoes when the commanding officer stood.
I know there are only a handful of you staying over at the academy these two weeks, so the professors and I are trying to put together a few activities for you all to enjoy. The only one that's been worked out yet is a small paintball fight, but that won't take place for another few days. Notices will be posted in the hallway outside about any other events. Enjoy your meals!" He finished exuberantly, sitting back down to his meal. After he retook his seat the remaining twenty or so cadets broke the silence simultaneously, speaking excitedly to their friends about the upcoming holiday cheer.
Thetford, Norfolk
23 December 1987
Royal Junior Thetford Academy
Mess Hall
The day of the much anticipated paintball war was upon them, and the students that wanted to participate had assembled in the mess hall. There hadn't been any mention of other activities as of yet, but the staff were hinting at something that they would enjoy immensely. There were seven girls and thirteen boys staying on over the holidays, so the cadets were split up by gender. The area they were meant to be fighting in was an old storage warehouse that the staff had cleaned out for the day, and filled with desks and other various objects for the cadets to hide behind. They'd also gone through the place looking for ropes as, an older boy had explained, two years ago the boys' side had lowered half their team down the office area and taken the girls out through the windows. This had been deemed fair play at the time, but they'd changed the rules for all games afterwards. The warehouse wasn't extremely large, but there was a second floor that was broken up into multiple office spaces. It was decided that there was to be two non-objective fights, and a few games of capture the flag depending on how everyone felt. The first game they played the boys were given the second floor to start off in while the girls got the downstairs. Due to their numbers disadvantage the girls were given ten minutes to arrange their floor the way they wanted.
They made their way up to the second floor, rearranging some of the furniture to block off doors, or better provide cover for them later in the day. Harry Cedric and an older boy by the name of Jeremy Brooks were set up on the south end of the floor, keeping their guns pointed towards the stairway. They stayed far enough back that their opponents couldn't poke their weapons around the corner and get off a lucky shot. The rules were that any shot to the chest was 'lethal' and any limb shots were to be counted as immobilizing that limb, and the cadets had to act accordingly. After ten minutes they got the go ahead from the staff in the form of the commander yelling "Go" into a megaphone. Harry and his two cohorts maintained their positions while five of the other boys began working their way downstairs. The basic plan was that five boys would head downstairs while the other eight would maintain a hold of the second floor.
The game hadn't been on for more than five minutes when they heard paint pellets being shot from somewhere underneath them. Harry gripped his gun a little tighter, flashing Cedric a nervous grin before turning his gaze back the staircase. A few more minutes passed before he saw shadows flickering their way up the stairs, he nudged Cedric to get his attention motioning to the stairs. Cedric nodded before peeling out from the desk he was behind and slipping to the right where he'd have a decent shot of the landing if they made it up that far. Brooks took up Cedric's previous position, laying down on his belly and propping his gun up against the leg of a chair. Harry leaned his way out from behind the desk, keeping his eyes trained on the stairs for any sign of further movement. By chance he looked to his left and saw Ariel and two other girls on a catwalk outside of the building. He did his best to make it seem as though he hadn't seen them at all, moving behind another desk that kept him out of view of the windows. Cedric was out of view of the windows behind a pillar, giving Harry a confused look. Windows Harry mouthed to his friend, Cedric's eyes widened in understanding, before turning and getting the attention of the two boys watching the other staircase.
With the information relayed Harry took a deep breath before peeking out, only to see the slight peek of red hair that signified that Ariel was leaning her back against the wall. With none of the girls actually watching the room Harry slowly stood keeping his profile partially concealed by the desk, pointing his gun towards the windows. Brooks and Cedric were still watching the stairs, and the rest of his team was still up to his knowledge, so Harry with his eyes still focused on the window stage whispered to his team. "Stairs" it was loud enough to carry all the way to Ariel and her team, who took the chance to stand on the catwalk. Harry and one of the other boys to the north made quick work of all three, one shot to the chest per girl. Ariel pouted slightly as she realized what had occurred before going to the 'dead' position. The other girls that had been lurking on the stairs took their chance and rushed the upstairs. Harry got hit twice in the fight, one pellet hitting him on the hand as he took aim at the two girls charging up the stairs, and the other hitting him on the foot as he dived for cover. Despite the element of surprise, the boys outnumbered them. Ariel's small force was obviously meant to throw them off their game, allowing the others to take them out while they focused on the catwalk.
They swapped locations, with the girls getting their ten minutes to set up. Soon after they were allowed to engage the boys found out what they had done in those ten minutes. They had upturned more than one desk into two of the three stairwells, making it impossible to go up any but the northern most staircase without alerting them. They had left one girl on the other two stairways, and one to watch the catwalk. The other four were entrenched well facing the northern stairs. The boys were having a small debate about what to do.
"If we all rush the one stairway, then we might have a chance of taking them out." Brooks said, glaring angrily at the blocked off stairs to his right.
"If we do that we get slaughtered, if we attack from all points of entry we might divide their forces enough that we can get through." That was Cedric, sighing in disappointment. Harry had a contemplative look about him, prompting Garrick Downey to ask him what he was thinking.
"I was thinking that if we attack from the north and the catwalk, then some of the younger kids and I might be able to go up the west stairs or the south stairs and surprise them." Harry said, scratching the back of his neck. To his surprise there were a large amount of heads bobbing in agreement with his plan.
"Agreed. Cedric, Downey, Smith and I will move for the catwalk. Harry, Jacob, and Anderson will go for the west stairs. The rest of you will move for the north stairs." Brooks said, before grabbing his gun and heading towards the doors that led outside. Harry nodded to the two boys that were about his age, Jacob being the smallest, with Anderson being the tallest of the trio.
They moved slowly for the stairs, carefully clambering over chairs, desks, and trying not to disturb coffee mugs and clipboards that had been set up for them to knock over. They were just up to the landing dividing the two floors when they heard one of the girls shriek, before the sound of pellets hitting desks began to sound. Harry and his trio made their way swiftly up the steps, the sounds of their footsteps being overshadowed by pellets hitting desks, cadets clambering over objects, and useless orders being yelled.
They made it up to the second floor and peered into the room. The remaining four girls were huddled together behind a trio of desks that had been flipped, with the only gap being pointed straight at Harry and his group. They took position, and pulled the triggers has fast as they could, pelting the four girls with pellets. The group emerged as the commander declared the boys the winners. Although the girls had lost, they had managed to take out eight of the boys as they stormed their way up the stairs.
The staff congratulated both teams before taking a vote as to who wanted to continue. Most of the cadets were bruised and battered, a few with bruises and lumps forming as they spoke with the staff. It was decided that they could continue tomorrow if they wished, but for today they were to retire to the mess hall for a spot of dessert, and more than a few cups of a hot beverage. As he sipped the hot chocolate, Harry deeply wished that Hannah had been there to join in with the fun. Then, another thought struck as he realized that if they had faced each other during the game he wouldn't have been able to hurt her – even if it was only just a small pain from the paintball pellets. This confused him a lot, and he decided to talk to Cedric about it – he knew he could speak to him even if he was in another squad now. After all, Cedric knew the answers to nearly everything…
That's a wrap ladies and gentlemen, once again I would like to thank the fabulous Pixel and Stephanie Forever for the lovely job they do as a beta. (Pixel here: Sorry about this getting uploaded late, but I got the story and was working my way through it when I suddenly had a sort of mini-seizure… The only bad thing is that I now have to wear reading glasses – not that bad a trade really). I hope you all had good holidays, whether it was thanksgiving or another holiday. I hope you all liked the chapter and I'm looking forward to the next time I post one.