Reconstruction of a Death Eater

Chapter 17 - Training in Earnest

For three hours Alastor had the group studying a single spell they had all learned in the classroom, a Jelly-Legs Jinx. He made them learn to use it without vocalisation, then had them take it apart and see why it worked, learning it in all its intricacies, thinking up variants and testing them on each other. It was an exercise Aurors did all the time, designed to increase ingenuity, exercise and build on magical skills, and subtly strengthen the magical field in each trainee. Usually trainees got a little bored after three hours, but this lot were lapping it up, yelling suggestions across the gymnasium, swapping partners at will and running off to grab books whenever the need arose or the fancy took them. Alastor allowed them to take it as far and as wide as they could as he was interested to see how they stacked up against a 'real' class of Auror trainees. And he was growing more and more surprised by the end of the lesson. He'd particularly chosen a simple hex because, technically, this was a class of school children, but what they changed that simple hex into was far more sophisticated than even a class of third-year Aurors had managed to come up with in all his experience. A body's legs were now the very least thing that would turn to jelly if they were hit with the newly modified and 'souped-up' version of the old favourite.

Somehow, during their years at school, they had also learned a skill very few people ever really mastered, particularly the trio and the two boys, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. They could double or triple the power of a spell by hooking elbows and joining their personal magical fields to enhance their magic, using the extra power to give more 'punch' to a hex or a jinx. It was fascinating to watch the boys use the skill without really thinking about it, simply doing what came naturally. Both Lovegood and Longbottom mastered the new skill within minutes of the technique being proposed to them and tried out tentatively at first then with growing confidence as they saw the results they were able to achieve after only half an hour of practising. Oddly enough, Finch-Fletchly and Emily Dickens caught on almost as fast as the other two couples, and then Moody realised the boys were indeed a couple when he caught the look that passed between Dean and Seamus when they thought no one was looking. Interesting!

Finally, at midday by the clock, he called a halt to the proceedings, and Harry told everyone to go through the far door for lunch. As the group streamed out, exclamations of amazement and pleasure floated back. Following his class, Alastor was astounded to see what had been a simple gymnasium was now a fully equipped dining room complete with a long refectory table, padded separate chairs and a sideboard sporting steaming bain-maries. The smells rising on the fragrant steam was of beef stew, baked potatoes and steamed vegetables. High-topped loaves of golden bread and churn stamped pats of butter were already distributed along the table's length with knives on the boards ready to cut the loaves. It was obvious that the house-elves were taking very good care of the special group!

Harry hurried over and grinned at Alastor who was standing in the doorway with his mouth hanging open. "So, crunch time. You agree we have been here since nine thirty and it is now twelve thirty? Good. So, pop out of the door and find a clock you trust but don't take too long, the room doesn't stop the spell just because the teacher steps out."

"We'll see," Alastor temporised and stumped over to the far door, tossing it open with a 'humph' of indignation. The corridor looked just the same as ever so he stepped out and looked both ways. As soon as he was clear of the doorway, a portrait caught his eye, the woman jerking in astonishment. "What?" Alastor demanded testily as he limped over to stare at her.

"Oh, I just didn't see you there for a moment," the lady replied with a flirty smile. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Not unless you know what time it is."

"There's a clock in the great hall that says nine thirty but I don't know if it is correct or not."

Grunting, Alastor stormed off and laid hold of the third student he saw - refusing to speak to the first two in case Potter had planted them, or something - scaring the wits out of the Ravenclaw girl. "The time, Sir? Oh, it's about nine thirty or nine thirty five. Are you alright, Sir?" she asked, puzzled, when the professor let go of her arm and hurried back the way he had just come after staring at her with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds.

"Yes! Fine, fine, thank you," he called over his shoulder as he disappeared around a corner and was gone.

"He's been nipping the spirits again," her fellow Ravenclaw said knowingly, and both girls giggled as they hurried off.

~~*~~

The twenty-person strong class had spent the afternoon choosing beds, unpacking their few possessions and exploring their new surroundings. There were no formal dormitories just a collection of small rooms, and no one blinked as various people decided to share. No one was surprised when Luna and Neville chose a room at the end of the corridor, nor were they particularly surprised when Dean and Seamus also choose to room together. Malfoy and Crabbe chose to room together, and Hermione chose the room next to theirs most casually. No matter what the combinations, there were always enough rooms to go around, even when Harry and Ron each chose single rooms as did Lavender. At lunch Harry had explained that the Room of Requirement had slowed time inside the suite and they couldn't leave for a week because only an hour was going to pass in the outside world.

"If you are serious about becoming an Auror, this should not bother you, but if you are not, then I suggest you leave the programme and forget you ever knew of this Room's abilities. I hope to arrange with the Headmistress to spend the Christmas holidays here in the Room of Requirement, getting a whole year's training in two weeks..."

"What about our NEWTs?" Seamus asked, glancing at Dean before turning back to Harry.

Harry stared at his feet for a few long seconds then looked up, pinning each one of them to the spot with his impossibly green eyes. "What good are NEWTs if you are dead? You may survive the war, or you may not, but if we have managed to get some Auror training we will live that little bit longer; and if we are caught, we may make a difference so that someone else might survive. I know I won't live to see the new peace, that has never been in my cards, according to Trelawney; I just need to be strong enough to kill Voldemort before he kills me and fulfil my part of my destiny. After that, it's up to you lot to build the new world and make a better society for everyone. If you can survive long enough, then you can always take your NEWTs later, if they are that important to you."

"Nah, Harry, you misunderstood," Seamus said ruefully, shocked, shamed and humbled by the matter-of-fact confession Harry had just made. "We're supposed to have our NEWTs results before we are accepted into training, but we may come out of this the wrong way around, trained Aurors without NEWTs."

"So be it," Malfoy said surprisingly. "If we are bright enough and strong enough to pass Auror training, which I am assured is diabolically difficult, then our NEWTS should be a snap. Besides, if you already have your Auror Badge and then you do fail one NEWT, do you really think they are going to try and demote you on the strength of that? Look on this training as a NEWTs guarantee."

"He does have a point, you know," Emily said considering, then grinned. "I'm in. My academic record is not that good, and I will take any guarantees I can get my hands on, even if it means training with Mad Eye Moody in secret. I was going to stay for New Year anyway!"

There was a round of agreement before Neville put his hand up tentatively. "How're we going to explain how we got so old so quick? After all, we're going to be a whole year older in a week."

"Good point, Neville. We say nothing, as in 'the least said, soonest mended' school of secret keeping. Most of us are pretty much adult-sized and -shaped now..."

"Speak for yourself, Potter; I hope to get a little taller." Malfoy sniffed.

Ron laughed aloud at this pronouncement. Despite having two tall, elegantly aristocratic parents, Malfoy was distressingly short at barely five feet seven! Hermione, who only reached five feet three herself, simply elbowed Ron in the ribs hard and shook her head when he doubled up with a very theatrical whoof of expelled breath. "Size isn't everything, it's how you use it," she commented, ignoring the guffaws of laughter from around the crowd while staring at the ceiling innocently.

"As I was saying, we're all pretty much adults now, so if anyone comments on the changes we just say it must be the strain of the war effort. After all, it is a strain on most of the community so why should we be any different?" Harry grinned, when the others finished laughing delightedly. "So, look around the area the Room of Requirement has provided for us, but don't go out of the far door into the real world. Bone up on anything you want to or need to revise for school, read a few books you wouldn't usually tackle if this was a normal weekend and as soon as Mad-Eye has assured himself that I was telling him the truth and we are going to spend a week here in one hour out there, we'll get on with it."

"And how long do you think that will take him to make up his mind about the Room of Requirement?" someone called cheekily.

"Knowing Moody, it will probably be sometime after dinner by the time he gets back here. After all, he will be going a lot quicker out there than we are in here." Harry chuckled and rose from his place near the head of the table, taking his plate to the sink and dropping it in with a clatter. "Oh, that's something else we have to take care of; we have to clear our own dishes away, put them in the sink and wipe down the tables. The house-elves will bring food and clean up, but we have to clear the table, I have no idea why, it's just the way it is. That means you too, Malfoy," he added as the youth rose to leave, his plate still sitting on his placemat.

For a moment it looked as if Malfoy would refuse, then he shrugged and complied without fuss, putting his plate carefully on top of Harry's, his cutlery beside the china. Smiling faintly, Crabbe dropped his into the pile too and followed Malfoy out to the bedrooms on silent feet.

Moody did make it back just after dinner while the class was showering and getting ready to go to bed. Despite his sour expression and disgusted glare, he was amazed and astounded by Harry's control over the castle. Accepting a plate of food to make up for his missed lunch and, it seemed dinner too, he settled down to listen to what the young man had to say without arguing every step of the way. The old Auror narrowed his eyes at the concept of doing a year's training over the Christmas school holidays, but Harry could see he was already calculating and planning for the contingency. Even the subject of NEWTs merely made the old man snort in disgust, waving the consideration away as unimportant.

"Your plan is sound and I will put it to the current Head of Aurors, Gawain Robards. He's sympathetic to the Order and your cause. I'll also run it past Minerva, but I think we will have her support; after all, it was her idea to institute this course to help keep you students alive in the first place."

"Thank you, sir; we need this training more than we need to be politically correct or to finish our schooling."

Rising, Moody patted the young man's shoulder. "You'll have the chance," he promised over his shoulder as he left the dining room.

~~*~~

Alastor worked his class hard over the next week, putting them through a series of exercises designed to include every muscle in their bodies as well as every particle of magic they could access. Auror training was designed to weed out the unsuitable and hone the suitable into lean, mean fighting machines, or at least make them strong enough and determined enough not to fold at the first touch of a painful hex. A trainee Auror had to be bright, intelligent, capable and fast as well as magic-strong, determined and incorruptible. Most of the kids measured up to those criteria, except Malfoy and Crabbe. In the psychological tests they had taken one evening, as a simple 'exercise', both had come up as sneaky, underhanded and slippery, but they had also scored highly on integrity and tenacity, much to Alastor's astonishment. The magical marking system had concluded that once bought, these two Slytherins would stick to the bargain. Now all Moody had to hope for was that the bargain they had received was attractive enough to keep them interested and that they stayed bought. If they chose to leave their present company, both Slytherins had enough information to make all the Death Eaters attack the school in huge numbers to prevent Harry Potter growing any stronger than he was at present. That possibility terrified Alastor Moody more than any other at this time, including meeting Voldemort face to face.

Having been an Auror for a very long time and having experienced the best and the worst of life, Alastor recognised the growing attraction between Malfoy and Granger, probably before they even realised there was an attraction there themselves. They tiptoed around each other, sharing secret smiles and trying to hide how interested they were in each other's ideas and ideals. She was a magnificent witch and if Malfoy stepped out of line, she would destroy him, so they counteracted each other. Crabbe would follow where Malfoy led without a thought in his head and if Malfoy fell, he would trip over Crabbe's body just before he went down. Crabbe displayed amazing loyalty, and he would give his life to protect Malfoy, if the situation warranted it - if only it was directed at the Light.

When he trained the group, he always teamed Malfoy with the Trio, hoping that the more exposure they had to each other, the more they would learn to trust each other with their very lives. Crabbe, when added to Lovegood and Longbottom made a second trio that stood strong, stronger than Moody had expected. Definitely that 'whole' was stronger than the sum of the parts, just as with the Dream Team.

Oddly enough, Weasley and Malfoy were shaping up to be equals in a very interesting battle of wits. Both were sharp, intelligent and lacking in self-confidence in some areas, although neither of them would believe it. Once they managed to suspend their hostilities, they could almost read each others' minds when it came to strategic planning and execution. If they could learn to be friends, they would be a formidable pair to go up against no matter what the circumstances. Harry was a pure attack wizard and Hermione a defence witch, but the other two were versatile, sneaky and skilled enough to be almost interchangeable. Sticking them on the opposite sides of a chess board had been a real treat to watch, bloodless warfare and a battle that was still going on. It also increased their respect for each other as their small black and white people battled it out for them.

Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were knocking boots, he'd put his money on it. True, Thomas had been going out with Ginny Weasley for a time but when that fell through he had wandered off between Brown and Parvati Patil but had always returned to Finnigan. They did everything together, including shower and on one memorably public occasion sleep together. They'd passed it off with fair aplomb for their age group, but in all they were accepted as an established couple. That closeness proved to be very useful on a number of occasions, especially when they all but pioneered the joint magic technique.

Yes, he had a good feeling about this group, more than any other group of Auror trainees he'd had been in charge of for years.

~~*~~

It was Saturday again and everyone had had a leisurely breakfast and packed up their goods ready for the end of the spell. At ten thirty, Harry nodded and wandered out the door to be greeted by Ginny Weasley who grinned at his nonchalance.

"Had fun then?" she asked allowing Harry to slot an arm around her waist and pull her close to drop a kiss on her hair.

"It worked, Ginny, it worked," he crowed softly, holding her as close as he could without setting Ron off on a tirade.

Ginny nodded and smiled, kissing Harry's cheek to hide the calculation in her eyes. "So, are you going to spend the Christmas Holidays in there, after all?" she asked casually as they strolled back toward the Gryffindor tower. If they thought she was going to wait on the outside ever again, they had a rude shock coming to them, big brother, boyfriend or not.

"Yes, indeed," her big brother replied, looming up on her other side and grinning down at them. "Roll on Christmas."