Training
That first Wednesday in March Sev warned Anthony in Arithmancy class of the danger of Dumbledore reading any of them, and told him that he had already obtained the Occlumency book and that the Gryffs were signing up for Saturday's training.
On Friday afternoon, after spending the night before with Lily, he met Lauren at the pond in the Forest, which they both knew, each coming separately. Again she came equipped with the clothes she had been wearing when they made the night excursion through the Forest.
I like her much more like that than with a skirt, it suits her more with her personality. Quite a warrior.
They found a spot close by, cleared enough of trees to allow them to stand a good distance away without impediment, and warded it. Since it was her first time training, Sev started as he did with Lily, from the beginning, he taught her to disarm. As I already expected, it has cost her much less than Lily to learn.It's going to go very well for us.
From then on they did not miss a single Friday. And yes, Lauren was a very fast learner, enduring the hour and a half of light they had at first without tiring, and as the afternoons lengthened, they also lengthened their training periods, until they were able to lengthen them to arrive at the castle just before dinner.
They returned together, at dark, taking advantage of the journey to tell each other the news about the snakes speaking or projecting, soon they managed to do it without looking at each other. When they reached the edge, Sev waited Disillusioned for her to arrive at the castle, remembering the wonderful afternoon they had spent and starting from that moment to miss her until the following Monday when they would meet at night.
In the month and a half until Easter, they far exceeded the fifth-year syllabus, and of course, he also taught her how to cast curses, for which she immediately got the necessary temper.
On Saturday the Gryffs finally met the Guard, in an atmosphere of maximum tension. Sev introduced them all, who greeted each other with firm handshakes. On the way, during the stretch that they could talk without having to pay attention to the ground they were walking on, Jack stayed with Remus in the rear as Sev already expected.
He walked next to Deborah, since she was the one with whom he needed to strengthen ties, and he could see the profound change experienced by the girl since the previous week. She was close, not at all suspicious, and she also apologized for not having trusted him.
Preceding everyone, Cecile and Lily did the same with Anthony, their classmate for five years, with whom, being from an enemy House, they had never spoken. They were the only ones who laughed at times.
When they reached the rough section, boys and girls interspersed to save it. Sev was thinking, There are seven of us, three couples, and Jack is alone.We're missing Lauren.
They reached the clearing. As soon as Jack, who was bringing up the rear, entered, he ordered, "Prince, ward."
He is already delegating everything related to security on me.
As Sev circled the clearing, Jack told the others, "Let's dry a wide space to sit down, the first thing we must do is an assembly." They did it with their hands, all were impregnated with the magic of the Forest.
They sat in a circle, Jack asking Sev to do it to his right. Lauren was right, I'm the second.
"Prince, how serious is the situation with Dumbledore?" Jack asked.
"A lot," Sev replied. "I think that if he discovers what we know ahead of time, he could Oblivate us or do something even worse to us, because taking away the memory won't solve the problem, we could rediscover the potential by chance, as I did last week."
"Then we can't wait a whole month to get a Pensieve to learn to occlude," Jack said. "Do you all agree?"
They nodded.
Sev said, "But you must put safety first, Jack. If you go out as planned and get caught, Dumbledore himself can appoint you, read you, and find out all about it."
"I already thought about it, Prince, that's why I didn't go yesterday, but Lupin just gave me the solution," Jack said. "He knows of a passageway that leads from the castle grounds to Hogsmeade, and I can meet someone from my family there to bring it to me. In fact, I can do it tomorrow, they already have it bought."
Of course… the passageway that goes from the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack, Sev thought.Why haven't I thought about it?Not to give Remus away, perhaps.How lucky he came, he's put his own secret at risk to help to get us out of the mess.And he must have thought that it would have crossed my mind too and I haven't said anything to cover him up. Sev and Remus exchanged a look of deep understanding and appreciation.
"Do you think it is safe to do it that way?" Jack asked Sev.
"Yes, but at night," Sev replied.
"True, we too have come to that conclusion. It's a shame, because tomorrow we could have used the afternoon to start."
"What excuse have you given to your family to need it? Have you told them anything about Druid Magic?"
"Of course not," Jack replied. "My uncle, who is an Auror, knows about the existence of the Guard. He has not needed any explanation."
Wow… we have a good contact outside of school.
"In fact, he himself had recommended that we learn to read and occlude," Jack continued.
"Great…" Sev said. "So, if you get it tomorrow night, we can take advantage of weekday afternoons, in my clearing, to start. Even if there is little light, we can also do it with the Lumos and meet in turns, in groups of three or four, because we will have little time until dinner."
"Wouldn't it be too much for you to meet every day?" Jack asked Sev.
"I have already been studying the book, I can give you the notions the first few days and then you could do it by yourselves," Sev answered. "I think it would be wise to keep both the book and the Pensieve in the clearing itself, warded. Lily has a book of protective spells that Remus gave us and there must be one for that purpose. Lily, are you in charge of looking for it?"
"Of course, Sev," Lily replied. "This afternoon I'll do it with Cecile."
"Don't let Potter catch you."
"No, warded inside the canopy, in our bedroom."
"That is," Sev agreed. "If it exists, give me the sign at dinner, Cecile, and I'll look for it in the one in the Library."
"Okay, Sev," Cecile said.
"Wow, Prince, you have a whole infrastructure," Jack said.
"It's because we have to hide," Sev said. "I can also leave the Legilimency book there. Honestly, it's better that it's there than having it at home."
"And you don't need it to continue learning?"
"Ugh… I already know it by heart, I just have to practice. And in any case, if I need to consult it, I can go to the clearing anyway."
Of course, he doesn't need the books at all, nor the Pensieve,Lily thought.His ally already teaches him and they have a Pensieve too.
"Perfect then, so you don't put yourself at risk every day and we don't have to meet snakes and lions at the same time, we can meet separately," Jack agreed. "Shall we start on Monday, then?"
"Yes of course," Sev answered.
"Who do you think is most urgent to start with?"
With the Guard, little Ariel.And the Gryffs have Lily to teach them, Sev thought."With the Slys, including Ariel."
"Yes, we agree with you," Jack said. "He is the one most at risk of being appointed by Dumbledore, although since you spoke to him he has been behaving very well, you did great, Prince. He has made us learn the Handbook."
All the Slys laughed, the Gryffs didn't understand anything, Sev explained to them, "I gave him a 'Instruction Handbook of the Young Warrior' so he wouldn't put himself in danger. He memorized them the first time." And to Jack, "Then add the eighth instruction, 'Stay away from Dumbledore'."
"I already gave it to him," Jack replied.
"And has him understood?"
"He no longer questions me, the first on the list is 'Obey Jack'. Thank you very much Prince."
"It's because he's your little brother," Sev said.
They all thought, No, silly, he's yours.
"How many more of us should go?" Jack asked.
"I think that if the four of you come we would be too many," Sev answered. "Maybe better just him and someone else. Is it with you that he has more confidence?"
"Yeah," Jack replied.
"Yeah… what a stupid question," Sev said. "Well, then, if it's okay with you, when we finish training this afternoon, we'll both stay in the clearing and I'll give you a first smattering of Legilimency, so we can save time for Monday, because I'd prefer you do it yourself."
"Great. Do you think it's safe that we won't go to lunch today?"
"I do. The odd thing would be if we did it again having missed last week, it would reveal that something strange has happened. I think Dumbledore has been aware of our every move since Christmas, he's settled for that for now and won't act until we make the first move. It would give away that he is aware."
"And me, Sev?" Remus asked him.
Oh... he called me Sev, finally. "If the girls are not missing, he shouldn't to associate you with us. The significant thing would be that Lily did it, since she is the one with whom he knows I had a relationship."
Jo... Lily made a sad face.
"I'm sorry, honey," Sev continued. "When you learn the way, you can come in the afternoon, which is longer."
"Of course, Lily," this one was Cecile. "Be patient, the important thing is to be safe, this is something very serious."
"Okay, Sev," Lily said.
How good Cecile is doing for us to contain her and set the record straight to her, Sev thought.
"And Tuesday?" Jack asked.
"Depends on how Monday went with Ariel, maybe it will be necessary to repeat with him," Sev replied. "In that case you two Sly could come and read each other too."
"And the Gryffindors, Sev?" Lily asked.
Ugh… she wants to be with me, she's already seeing that today we won't even be able to talk, she doesn't understand that they are at much less risk than us and that she herself is going to teach them to read and occlude, Sev thought. I should have explained everything to her on Thursday, but I hadn't counted on having the Pensieve so soon.I'm going to have to explain it to her in front of everyone. "Lily, you Gryffindors aren't taking a risk like we are. And the first thing is to teach Ariel. If he catches one of the older ones, well look, he'll screw our life, but it is a decision that we are making consciously. He is still a child and we have to protect him at all costs."
Ugh... what an idiot I am... Lily thought. "You're right, I'm sorry."
"I'll meet you on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how it goes, so you can practice on Friday afternoon or the weekend with each other. Next week we'll have Sunday, right, Jack?"
"Yes," Jack answered.
"And are we going to continue only the older ones?"
"According to how we are doing this afternoon."
Very well, he avoids talking about the curses in front of Lily and Cecile.I'm sure he's already talked to Remus about it on the way, too, Sev thought. "Okay. In any case, I don't think it will be enough for you to learn the way to come alone in the afternoon with only once. So next Sunday you'll have my clearing free all afternoon to practice among yourselves with what I'll have explained to you. Does it seem good to you?"
"Of course, Sev," Cecile answered. "That's how we will do it."
"Also, although obviously, I have never tried it, I think I have a talent for Occlumency, and Lily has it for Legilimency, so by passing it on to each other on the fir tree, now we all enjoy both," Sev continued. "So I don't think it's too hard for us to learn. Maybe in a month taking turns it will be enough for us."
Ugh, poor Sev... he's going to fall behind in his studies again... And me demanding to meet him, Lily thought.
"Okay," Sev went on. "So we meet Ariel and Jack Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday or Thursday watch for the sign at lunch, Cecile. We will try to avoid communicating in writing on this subject. We have already been taking risks with the letters in which we told each other how well we were doing."
"Well, yes, Sev, we have been unconscious," Cecile replied to him.
"I have burned them all, it made me very sad, but there was no other remedy. Have you done it, Lily?"
Lily made a sad face.
She hasn't, and I told her on Thursday, Sev thought. Again to scold her in front of everyone, no, please.
"Maybe there's a warding spell for that as well in the book I gave you," Remus said.
"Well, then look for it this afternoon," Sev said to Lily. "But if you can't find it, to the fireplace with it. And don't get caught by Potter."
Remus is looking at Lily, he knows there is such a spell, Sev thought. I'm sure he used it for the map, that's why he knew about the book and he gave it to us because he caught us at the Fidelius.
"Is there anything else the seven of us should talk about, Jack?" Sev asked.
"Not at the moment, unless the girls want to say something else," Jack replied.
With Remus he's already talked it all over on the way, Sev thought.
"I agree with everything," Cecile said.
"Me too," Lily said.
Ugh…Luckily Remus and Cecile are in on the secret, otherwise she would be impossible to control, she's toughtless, Sev tought. Let's see if she is learning with the Sly influence, Deborah and Anthony have not opened their lips.
"Well, then let's take advantage of the time we have left to train for a while, an hour," Jack said. "Do you think so, Prince?"
"Yes, of course," Sev replied.
"How do we do it?"
What Lauren said, he delegates the training to me. "We are odd, so we will have to make a group of three. I'm going to put myself against Cecile and Lily, so I try them out, I don't know what level they have. And you four organize yourselves as you want. You can start by trying Remus out, and then fight in pairs or two against two, whichever seems more balanced to you."
"Brilliant," Jack agreed.
They all got up and removed their cloaks. They arranged as Sev had said.
Well, Lily also wears trousers, like Cecile.And comfortable warm clothes under her cloak, surely Cecile has lendthemto her, because she always wears an outfit.The only one in uniform is me, I'm not taking off my jersey for the moment, let's see what war they give me.
"Cecile, do you already control nonverbals?" Sev asked.
"I don't. I have reached the fifth year syllabus," Cecile asked.
"And the counterspells?"
"Yes, all."
"Okay, then we are going to fight for a while with verbals and without disarming," Sev said. "I'll just defend myself, give everything you've got."
The two in front of him. Lily thought she had improved a lot, until she verified that Sev, only with Protegos and moving, did not let himself be reached even once in ten minutes.
Ugh… how green they are…, he was thinking. I'm going to have to meet them tomorrow too.Well, so they don't get discouraged, instead of letting me catch up like I always do, I came up with an idea that also helps me to practice. "Okay, girls, let's change. Now I'll put myself in the center and you'll attack me each from one side. Lily, you can go to nonverbals. Try not to reach each other, better keep a certain angle. That's it, and you can also move around me."
He used the Protego to defend himself against one and dodged the other. He let Cecile hit him from time to time, so as not to discourage her. Let Lily ginger up.
"Okay, stop for a minute," Sev ordered. "How much time do we have left?"
"Half an hour," Cecile replied.
"Okay. Now I'm going to attack you too, so I won't use Protegos anymore and you'll have an easier time reaching me, but at the same time you'll have to defend yourselves. With shields, or better yet, moving, to be able to continue attacking. Cecile, have you noticed how I did it?"
"Yes, guessing where the attack comes from," she answered.
"That is." This one is going to learn quickly, she wants to. "Let's go for it."
They did it. Sev attacked both of them indiscriminately, hitting Cecile more than Lily, since the latter almost always used the shield to defend herself while the former did not use it once, but in the time he needed to pronounce the counterspell, the other sometimes, reached him. Well... this is getting more balanced. Half an hour passed.
"Congratulations, Cecile, you've done great, you haven't used the Protego even once, that's how you learn," Sev said. To Lily not a word, if she wants congratulations, she should ginger up. "Well, girls, I'm very sorry, but we must leave, I'm going to accompany you to the road. Say goodbye to others."
Remus and the Slys were fighting two against two, the two fifth-years against the two sixth-years. Remus has Anthony's level. They interrupted the fight to say goodbye to the Gryff girls, who gave everyone kisses.
"Did you take a good look at the way there, Cecile?" Sev asked.
"Yes, Sev," she answered.
"Next week you both will try to guide us, to see if the two of you remember it."
"Good idea."
"And thank you very much for sacrificing yourself and going back to the castle with Lily, you wouldn't have to," he said.
Wow… Sev is right.What an idiot I am, Lily thought.
"It is not necessary that you thank me, that's what friends are for," Cecile said. "Thank you for the class."
"Thank you for making the most of it, despite the walk and the little time we've had. You are a very good student."
"And you are a very good teacher."
"Also look at the way back," Sev said.
Now Cecile won't have anyone to help her move, Sev thought. So I'm not going to offer to help Lily either, let her get used to walking alone in the Forest, the other girls do it, so she'll gain agility.
Sev preceded them. Lily followed close behind, and Cecile, keeping an eye on them, kept her distance so they could talk in private for a while.
"How did I do, Sev?" she asked him. "Have I improved…?"
"Yes, Lily, but you don't put enough effort into learning. You've gotten used to being given the advantage and if one day you have to fight for real they're going to crack at you."
"Yeah…"
"Have you noticed how Cecile does it?" he asked. "She takes the hard way and not the easy one to make the best use of the time we have. She hasn't used a single Protego to learn to dodge. At this rate, in two weeks she'll surpass you."
"Yeah…"
"And the two of you are well below the level of the Guard, and when I get the damn letter we won't be able to defend you, you Gryffs are going to have to do it and there are only three of you, because we can't count on Dumbledore anymore." And Potter and Black, luckily, but I'm not telling her now, otherwise she's not going to ginger up.
"Okay, Sev, I'm going to take it seriously."
"Do you promise me that you will do it?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"And that you are going to put everyone's safety ahead of your desire to be with me? I'm looking forward to it too, but today you have behaved like a capricious girl when we have talked about how to meet this week. You know very well that you only need me to learn how to extract thoughts with the wand, you already have the basics of Legilimency and Occlumency and you could teach them to Cecile and Remus yourself. If I'm going with you too, it's because I have to cover my ally's back."
"You're right, Sev. I have been very ashamed."
"Well, it doesn't seem like it," Sev said. "Am I going to have to make you a Handbook too, like Ariel?"
"No, Sev."
"Learn from Cecile. She is aware, despite she got into trouble for us, without choosing it. She doesn't hold it against us and she's still grateful."
"You're right." Lily was on the verge of tears of shame and regret.
"Okay, if you promise me that you're going to change your attitude and not waste time, we'll also meet tomorrow in the clearing, if Cecile and Remus can or they give you an alibi."
"Really, Sev? You can?"
"I shouldn't," he replied. "I've had a very tense week as you can imagine, and the next one is going to be even worse. I should rest and do my homework, I haven't touched it."
Yeah... Yesterday afternoon he didn't go to the Library, Lily thought. "Then we won't meet, rest and study. I'll tell Remus and Cecile to practice between us."
"Thank you Lily. I'll talk to Remus later about how he should do it, because I'm sure he can beat both of you and that's how you should train, and not playing."
"Yeah…"Ugh... I'm going to change the subject, otherwise I'm going to start crying and that's the last he needs, on top, Lily thought. "Sev, the place where we have been is where you took me to eat hazelnuts?"
"Of course, haven't you noticed?"
"Yes, it was familiar, but it seemed bigger."
"Because now the deciduous trees still don't have leaves," Sev said.
"Sure…"
"We are very close to the Passage of Options, do you remember?"
"Yeah…" Lily replied.
"When you can come in the afternoon we'll escape and go together, okay?"
"Brilliant…"
"And we give each other that kiss that we didn't give then," he said.
"Yeah… how silly I was."
"It's okay, now it's over."
Sev dropped the girls off on the main path and retraced his steps. When he reached the clearing again he found the others resting. Jack greeted him with a friendly rebuke, "Before we held out until one o'clock, but we have lost shape for not training for so long in almost three months, your fault, Prince. Do you think we can take the opportunity for lunch now or do you prefer to fight another while before?"
Ugh… I'm starting to feel tired too, and in the afternoon we have to do something very demanding.It would have been better to spend the morning on it when we werefresher, but well, at least we're warmed up now, Sev thought. "If you are hungry, we better have lunch now. It is not convenient that we arrive exhausted to risk our lives."
"You're right."
He sat in the hollow of the circle, now five. Anthony brought out the food and this time he offered it first to Remus. Poor wolf... and on Monday he was complaining about the 'alliances with the snakes'. "What's up, Remus? Has it been helpful?" Sev asked him.
"Well yes, Sev." Lupin answered. "I had never fought at this level."
"To really learn, the struggle must be even."
"And how did you learn, Prince?" Deborah asked him. "Against the other snakes?"
If I answer that, Remus is going to feel terrible.How tactless, Sev thought. "I taught myself, Deborah. You know, out of necessity." I hope with that she understands.
They continued talking informally, more relaxed than in the morning, at least now they had plans in mind. When they were done, they rested the food for a bit, and then Sev, still in the clearing, taught them how to cast the Unforgivables with small insects. I hate doing it like this, but I have to make sure they'll be able to do it before we go to the place where we're actually going to test them.
He also taught them the Reducto and other spells that could be performed on rocks. He only reserved the Sectumsempra, he considered it his personal seal, which for the moment he only taught to Lily and Lauren. When he had made sure that they were all capable – Remus was the one who had the most trouble with, as he already expected – they set off again.
When the others could not hear them, Sev said to him, "Wolf, don't take risks if you're not sure you can do it. This afternoon any of us can die."
"If you were able to learn alone 'out of necessity', as you have said, I must too. When you get the letter, we will have to defend Lily."
"Thanks, wolf."
They reached the surroundings of the acromantulas nest, they had previously planned the strategy to follow. They had to approach it stealthily and climb the trees close to it, where the giant spiders could not climb.
Then, Sev, who was the closest, launched the first curse, Imperius, made the spider leave the nest and many others followed it in the direction where the others were, killing them as they passed below them, with Crucios, Avadas and others.
They left the Reducto for last, to eliminate the remains, and returned the ones that were alive back to the nest with Imperius. They still waited a while for them to calm down again after the carnage, which was historic.
Sev climbed down from his tree as the others covered him and the others did so in turn, Remus and the girl being last. They left the place walking backwards, in formation and on guard. When they were at a safe distance, out of danger, they celebrated.
"I think we will not be able to return next week, we have decimated them," Sev laughed.
"Better not, otherwise the next generation won't have a way to train," Jack replied.
"Hagrid is going to be upset," this one was Remus.
"No, man," Sev replied. "We have left Aragog alive."
They laughed out loud, finally discharged from the adrenaline of the tense day.