Hugs
When the warriors were leaving the Great Hall to go to the new training space, they did not find, incredible as it may seem, no journalists in the corridors, just like when they had gone to have breakfast.
Sev thought, It seems Albus is managing to hold them off long enough that they don't come into direct contact with us. That allows me to recover in part from despair. I have him totally on my side, and I can trust him to solve any problem that arises regarding my safety or that of my loved ones.
The Training Room is huge, enormous, much bigger than the Great Hall or the Library, and it is even better lit than the one that appeared in the Room of Requirement, since it has windows on three of the four walls and a glass ceiling. Wonderful, what a job he has done.
Again they divided for years with the help of the commanders. Doing a round of quick counting, Sev quickly realized. Albus did well to calculate the space for one hundred people, because we exceeded the number. All the Gryffs have joined, all of them, from the fourth, sixth and seventh years except the two malefics. Lily, Remus and Cecile should have come today. Well, they will come next week.
A few more Huffles from all the years, about ten in total, and all the missing fourth and fifth grade Raves, plus the Sly girl who decided to join last night. What a jerk.
We have to make pairs of commanders, one alone can not with such large groups. I'm going to put the Longbottoms in seventh-year, Jack and Deborah in sixth, the Raves in fourth, who already know Lorenz, and I'll take the fifth-years, who are less.
He made a small assembly with the six and proposed, "Don't look for balance anymore, but let those who know how to fight teach those who don't, explain to them how to do it just like I did with you," and to the Longbottoms. "I imagine you already know how."
"Of course, Prince, no problem," Alice replied.
(Nobody is telling me anything at the moment about the bad news that has appeared in the Daily Prophet, although they all seem worried about me, they are not as animated as yesterday, but it does not seem at all to undermine my credibility. I have skipped an abyss only to fall into an even worse one. If I had become a Death Eater, I would have endangered no one but myself.)
"We'll rest at eleven, like yesterday, a quarter of an hour," Sev concluded.
He devoted himself to his group. Consisting of three Slys, nine Raves and four Huffles, sixteen, even. I'll organize them in pairs, put my three snake companions and the five eagles who prepare the OWL to teach the other eight. He explained to them how to do it.
He spent a long time watching them, correcting the mistakes of the newly appointed teachers and making sure that the five Raves were level enough to pass the OWL practical exams and didn't need extra help.
He then headed for the fourth year group. Let's see how my eagle commanders are doing. He interrupted their fights, three against one, to talk to them.
"We have twenty-eight kids in all," Lorenz told him. "Seven snakes, eight eagles, four badgers and nine lions, of which only eight had previously trained on their own, the two Slys, two Raves and four Gryffs who joined yesterday. Those eight take care of another eight, we take away sixteen, and we two of the worst six, twenty-two."
"We have evenly matched the six that were left, the best among those who had never trained," Genevre said.
"You have done it perfectly without help," Sev said. "Brilliant Raves. At halftime break them into two groups, I want to talk to all the Raves and Huffles, and the Gryffs that have joined today." To warn them that the war is going to be long.
He let them return to their fights and in turn watched the eight couples made up of someone who had already trained and someone who hadn't, once again correcting the teachers' mistakes.
He was able to talk to Audrey a bit. She smiles at me charmingly, and I smile back without going any further, we don't make any comments about what happened last night. Our secret.
All the girls smile at me with concern in her eyes, but I only encourage her, what a mess. Luckily we are in a serious environment. I am going to avoid interacting with women outside of training as much as possible. Let's see how I avoid them at home.
Twenty minutes left until eleven. I'm going to see Jack and Deborah, I'm sure the Longbottoms haven't had any problems.
"We have twenty-five," Deborah told him. "Six Slys, six Raves, five Huffles and eight Gryffs, of which sixteen are studying Defense, but we must discount the two Huffles, lazy, so they count fourteen plus the two of us, sixteen, for teach the other eleven. Since they are odd, we have put the best of the sixteen against the two Defense Huffles. To those who are left over, by balanced pairs."
Perfect commanders too. What a great team, Sev thought.
"The three new Huffles are girls," Jack told him.
"Yes, also in fourth and fifth-year. I think they haven't exactly come to train."
"Yeah. I understand."
"What a problem, as if I didn't have enough to deal with," Sev complained.
"Indeed."
Sev thought, At least with last night I'm served for another fifteen days, and if I'm as busy as I hope, maybe even a month. Jack hasn't told me anything about Audrey at all, not even when we woke up this morning when we were alone for a while. Absolute discretion, Sly. I love my House, the Hat got it right.
Ten minutes left. I'm going with the Longbottoms. Again they are fighting two against one at a low level against four Defense's ones, the three Huffles from yesterday and the weakest Rave. I can't wait to recover and fight each one of them. A fair one-on-one duel. He interrupted them.
"We have twenty-eight," Alice told him. "Six snakes, eight eagles, five badgers and nine lions, of which nineteen are studying Defense. Discounting the four weakest, which we have kept, fifteen to teach nine. We have put the six that are left over to fight evenly. We have chosen halflings, but with enough level to enter the Academy of Aurors."
"Perfect commanders, without the need to explain anything to you," Sev appraised them.
"We had always dreamed of an opportunity like this," Frank said. "Thank you for giving it to us, Prince."
"Thank you for making yourself worthy of it."
Sev thought, What a wonder, I'm expendable. I have to look for alternative commanders for fifth year and I will be able to be absent from training if I ever need to take advantage of the weekend. I'm going to count. Twenty-eight, plus sixteen, plus twenty-five, plus twenty-eight, ninety-seven, plus the seven commanders, one hundred and four. Wow… Plus Cecile, Remus and Lily, one hundred and seven, nice number. "We are one hundred and four."
"Dumbledore was counting on it."
"True. He still was a little short, we fit just right."
"If you ask him he will enlarge it."
It won't be necessary, as the exams get closer, people won't come so massively, especially those Huffle girls who go where they go.
"11I'm going to count by Houses," said Sev. Sly: seven, plus three, plus six, plus six, plus three commanders, twenty-five. Rave: eight, plus nine, plus six, plus eight, plus two commanders, thirty-three. Huffle: Four, plus four, plus five, plus five, sixteen. Gryff: nine, plus eight, plus nine, plus two commanders, twenty-six. "Twenty-six lions, sixteen badgers, thirty-three eagles and twenty-five snakes."
"Wow…" Alice said. "The eagles are the majority."
"You would be if the fifth-year Gryffs were here, but you know what's up. And we Slys are not because we have two thirds of the House left. All of us from fourth and up are here, also the Raves, that's why they beat us."
"And the fourth, sixth and seventh-year lions removing the two malefics," said Frank. "Now yes, they have given away themselves."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to infiltrate the next one. There are also three Raves that have not come," Sev informed them.
"Bah…" Alice said. "Don't worry about that, we've already spread the word. We won't let them do it."
"Marvelous. Well, it's time to rest. I'm going with the fourth-years, I want to chat with them for a while."
By the way, I'll choose a candidate for Audrey and put her to train with him. The best thing will be a Rave or Gryff of those who had never trained before, so that he gets used to her teaching him things, to admiring her. A Huffle doesn't suit her, too soft.
La creme de la creme would be a Rave who is studying Arithmancy, for him to help her with her studies. Also, Raves tend to get a girlfriend when they are older precisely for this reason, because they focus on studying, they are not so gregarious. And Slys and Raves we understand each other well, we are all intelligent in our own way, you see how well we have done with the Guard.
He sat in a circle on the floor with the eight eagles, four badgers and five new lions. Many of them are not in uniform, I'm going to have to ask them. The two Huffle boys I know who they are, the ones that were there yesterday, so the other two are girls. I'll ask everyone, to hide it.
"I introduce myself to those of you who don't know me yet, I'm Prince. I'm not going to remember your names on the first day, but I would like you to introduce yourselves anyway so that you can also get to know each other. Let's do a round, say your name, which House you belong to and if you plan to prepare the Defense OWL next year."
They did it. Sev thought, Okay, five candidates, the three lions and two of the untrained eagles want to do it, and the two Huffle girls don't. What I was telling you, and they don't even make an effort to hide it, badgers, without malice. Let's see how I hide the Arithmancy thing. "A curiosity. Which of you take Arithmancy? Raise your hand."
Wonderful. The two Raves do it, and one of the Gryffs, I'll find out how he's doing with the rest of his subjects later. Now let's get serious. "To all of you who want to study Defense, I want to warn you about something. The war is going to be long, longer than it seems, and now that you still have time to choose another profession, you should think about it very calmly, because at war you'll go to kill and die. It's not a game."
No one responds, and some look at me fearfully, because of me, of course, the whole school has heard the news, but also because of them, but not the dark-haired Rave who came yesterday nor the Gryff, these two have arrests. Enough to make them think about it.
"I didn't mean to intimidate you, just to make things clear, so you don't waste your time," Sev continued. "You are losing study time by coming here, one month before the exams. If you back down, nothing happens, you will not be cowards, each one must choose his destiny."
Seriousness. Everyone understands, let's see if we get rid of the badgers for next week, we can't waste time teaching anyone who isn't determined to fight either. Now to pry.
"And now let's chat for a while to get to know each other better. How are you doing with the necessary subjects for the Defense OWL? I tell you in case you still don't know them. Outstanding in Defense, Transfiguration and Charms and Exceeds Expectations in Potions and Herbology. Let's do a round too."
The Gryff is lazy, it was to be expected, quite ugly and even so he is smug. Let's see the two Raves. Wonderful, they carry them well. It's almost decided, I have one criterion left, the physique, one blond and the other dark, but the latter is too handsome not to have a girlfriend, fair skin and blue eyes, face of an angel, he looks a lot like Genevre. Could he be his brother? Then I'll ask her. Although he is sitting next to two other boys, I don't think he has a girlfriend, they would have sat together. Also, both Audrey's boyfriend and I are dark-haired and fair-skinned like him, he's her type. He is already chosen.
When the round ended they continued chatting informally until the quarter of an hour of rest had passed. When speaking all together he has not opened his lips. Shy, but he listens attentively and intensely to others, with an inner life that he does not externalize. Interesting, as it happened to me. This boy is gorgeous but he's never had a girlfriend, and Audrey is going to know how to treat him.
"Time to go on."
Sev jumped up and crossed the circle in two strides, directly toward the boy, holding out his hand to help him up. "What was your name? I no longer remember."
"Percival."
"Brilliant. The time that remains you will fight against a good Sly warrior, who already controls a large part of the fifth year syllabus. She's going to teach you a lot, and she's a lovely girl."
He doesn't answer me, he's embarrassed. What I'm telling you, he's never had a girlfriend. The fourth group is already meeting. Let's see, where is Audrey? Over there. "Come with me," Sev said to the boy.
They went to where she was. You'll see what hintI threw at her. "Audrey, I introduce to you Percival, a Rave boy who wants to take the OWL and has never trained," he winked at her. "Teach him well."
She looks at me knowingly. She has understood... snake, and she likes him. You are going to see who is left without a girlfriend today. And me without a lover, because I'm not going to let her cheat on him with me, the other one deserved it, but this one didn't. I go back to the unsatisfied lover, how little joy has lasted me.
And to him, "This is Audrey." And to both, "I'll leave you alone, chat for a while while the commanders reorganize the pairs."
Merlin, I am a better matchmaker than Albus. How many have I already? Cecile and Remus, Lauren and Jack, Audrey and Percival. And I, to starve.
He headed to his eagles commanders. "Reorganize the pairs as far as you can. I have already made one." Never better said.
"By the way, Genevre, is Percival your brother?" Sev asked her.
"Of course. We look alike, right?"
"A lot. You are both charming." And so is your new sister-in-law.
He returned to the group of his fifth-years, who were waiting for him, and reorganized in turn. He watched them for another while, correcting mistakes, and when he saw them move freely, he went to the two doors that were in one of the corners of the only windowless wall and entered. Washrooms, for boys and girls. Perfect.
Then he went to the one in the opposite corner. A meeting room for the commanders, with a large table with ten chairs around it and a large shelf with brand new Defense treatises. What a job Albus has done. And investment, the books have been bought, this has come out of the school budget.
I sit down for a while to rest and leave my mind blank, I have a great need for solitude. This afternoon, if I don't have to go rescue Mum, I'm going to spend it locked in my bedroom, doing my homework and studying.
I'll also write to the mediwizard and ask Jack or Anthony to go up to the owlery and post the letter, so there's no escort to organize. In fact, I plan to spend as much time as possible at home, to see myself less exposed and not rob them of their freedom.
At twelve he went out and made a round among the commanders to chat for a while and tie up some loose ends.
"Jack, have you contacted the sixth-year Huffles?" Sev asked to his friend.
"Yes, all in order," Jack replied.
"Great, that way the four Houses are connected. If it's convenient to train on Friday afternoon I'll let you know. Maybe only the seventh-years for the Auror Academy and the fifth-years for the OWLs. In that case, only those who need the practice will come, they should also have time to prepare the theory. If there is no new news, we will meet next Saturday like today."
"Have you read the news?" Alice asked, taking him by his left forearm.
Tge password. She is to death with me, Sev thought. "Of course I've read it."
"And even so you have not collapsed and you have been able to come to train anyway."
"It would have been much worse to be left alone ruminating."
"You're not going to be alone in this," Frank said. "Rest assured. We will escort you also in summer if necessary."
Sev thought, Wow… and they know me from yesterday. I'm already about to cry. They are the first to learn Occlumency and Ancient Magic, because they are right. Maybe I'll need to be accompanied everywhere in summer too, and they can already use their wands outside of school. If I had to defend myself and they put me on trial with everything so recent, perhaps even Albus himself could not free me. "Thank you very much, I take you at your word."
"Of course, don't hesitate."
"I will too, Prince," said Genevre. "Lorenz can't because he turns seventeen in August and won't take the Apparition exam until next year."
"Well, there are four of us now," said Jack.
Sev thought, Deborah doesn't say anything because she'llturn seventeen in July, she can't either. Wow… what a relief. Genevre must also be taught Occlumency. Well, three people, one Rave and two Gryffs, let's see how they do without going to the fir tree first. Otherwise, I will have to take them to acquire the power and then teach them. Another group of four affined ones. "You don't know how much I appreciate it. You are going to make me cry again," he told them.
"Give us a hug, come on," this was Alice, who already had misty eyes.
He gave a three-way hug with the Longbottoms, she took the opportunity to whisper in his ear, "Don't worry about Lily, we'll take good care of her. She has told us that the three of them were going to the Forest so as not to coincide at home with the malefics and to avoid the journalists. We're just going to leave her alone when we come to train."
"Surely they can come next week. It's already suspicious that they didn't do it today, with almost all the Gryffs here," Sev replied.
"Sure, you are right. Then fear no more for her, she will be safe."
Then his eagle and snake commanders also embraced him. And one by one, the rest of the ninety-seven warriors as they left the Training Hall.
. . . . . . . . .
I dedicate this chapter to my dear friend Jean, for all the hugs she sends me when I need them most.