The Art of Peace

Chapter 18

Approaching War

Training is bloodless battle, and battle is bloody training.

After their humiliating defeat at the handles of Muggles, the four wizards left in place by Sirius and Remus to watch over and hopefully bring home Harry were summarily expelled from the region around Lhasa. Without the ability to be near their target, they went back to England immediately to report their failure. To their surprise, rather than being replaced, the situation was ignored. Instead they were put on reconnaissance duty right there in England to determine the plans of the Dark Lord. They were curious to know what would happen to their former target, but it was a relief to be back in civilization again, and they soon put it in the back of their mind as more important concerns came to light.

Six months later:

Harry put away the latest letter from Ginny with a sigh. The most recent news from England included the first Death Eater attacks in fifteen years. A muggle gas station had exploded from a curse that of course had the muggles in an uproar trying to find the cause. It was but one in a number of muggle directed attacks. The death toll was slight now, but it was only a matter of time before it rose. Of course the presence of the Dark Mark had made the Ministry finally announce that Voldemort had indeed returned, and Auror operations had captured some of the Death Eaters responsible for these latest actions. Of course, if Harry had been there, he was sure it would have been much worse. After all, Voldemort did not seem to be able to leave him alone, and the resurrection spell would probably have made things worse. No, this had definitely been the right decision; nothing could convince him otherwise.

He was training full time now, and Claude was as well. It had been a rough first couple of months, but after they had gone through the intense language training and all of the dull chores, the training had started for both of them. Claude showed an astonishing aptitude for the more non-violent techniques of throws and holds, and his little feat of accidental magic a few weeks into training had astonished everyone. They had been relaxing together in one of their few breaks when a nearby student had lost the grip on his short bo. After it had come to a halt in mid-air a few inches from Claude's head it had been quite obvious that whatever had made him non-magical before was gone. He now studied with Harry, and like Harry used the meditations from their training to learn wandless magic rather than depending on a focal point. Of course he was still quite weak and not very advanced, but as he was only twelve, that was not much of a concern. It was just as much a learning experience for Harry to be teaching because now he had to actually understand the theory behind everything he taught. All in all, life was good.

Eight months later:

Voldemort was on the rise, there was no denying that now. Even here thousands of miles away there was talk about a dark wizard in England. Even now wizards and witches were gathering, readying themselves in the event that the coming war reached them. Harry found himself caught up in the preparations despite himself. As the only person to have seen Voldemort in his most recent incarnation still alive, he was looked to for tactical advice. It was strange to be a sixteen year old boy and be a tactician at the same time. Training in both magic and the martial arts continued regardless of course; a bulwark against the insanity that was rapidly retaking Harry's life. The monks were involved as well, providing facilities for the newly arrived wizards and their families. It had been Sifu's idea to ensure that they knew the arts; after all, it had served Harry well, so what could it do for fully trained magic users?

Their day to day life was full of training and meetings. Like an army boot camp the day began early as the sun rose with stretching and meditation exercises followed by breakfast. After breakfast the trainees split into small squads that trained together. The squads helped them become dependent on their squad-mates in a battle situation, and they were split up so that people of varying talents and skill levels were forced to work together, thus allowing the squads to be multi-dimensional. Depending on the day, either magical training or physical training filled a squad's morning. There were many different training grounds designed to simulate many different types of environments, something made easy with magic. Harry's squad consisted of himself and nine others, although Claude frequently joined in some of their training sessions, and Sifu led their martial arts training. After the initial training session, before lunch, trainees generally did work around the community to keep everything in working order. People shared all the chores, with even the leaders pitching in to help. It was about as close to a classless society as one could come, with leaders being those who knew the most on a particular subject, age or gender notwithstanding. After lunch, training sessions were reversed. Those who had started with physical training began spell work, and vice versa. Following this the squads split up so that those with particular talents such as potions or charms could study together. Evenings were spent in various ways by the wizards and witches, but Harry, Sifu, and Claude usually meditated or worked on various techniques in the seclusion of the mountainside.

It was a cold, windy day on the mountain when Sifu was enlightened. He was with Harry and Claude practicing their meditations. The past few weeks had been hard. Here he was with children who were more powerful than he, who could do things he had always thought impossible, but now they were joined by dozens of people like them. It was still unnerving to see objects flying around the growing community with nothing supporting them. However, the same things that frightened him also made him think. Harry had always described magic with colors: green for death, blue and yellow for protection, etcetera. Even if he could not use the magic, should he not be able to see it? What was magic after all but an extension of a heretofore unknown part of the chi? So he focused his meditations on rediscovering chi, opening his mind to the possibility that something else was out there. It was rather anticlimactic when it happened, just the addition of a few new colors to the spectrum of his vision. He was trying to focus when a giggle interrupted him. He opened his eyes to reprimand Claude for not finishing his exercises, but the pale blue light extending from Claude's hand to a rock hanging in the air stopped him. Cautiously he reached out to the light, ignoring Claude's consternation when his spell was broken by Sifu's hand. Harry merely looked at him, understanding slowly coming over him about hat had just happened.

"You saw?" he asked.

"I saw the magic! It was really there!" Sifu replied. "It was blue, and hitting my hand made it disappear!"

Harry just smiled before returning to his meditations, leaving Sifu to watch Claude show off all the colors he could produce with various spells. Of course this new development was important, as it opened up the possibility of muggles being able to fight back at magic users attacking them, but that could come later. After all, they would need someone to teach them, and Sifu had to understand it himself first. That would come in time, and time was something Harry did not worry about much anymore.

England:

Fifth year was definitely not as much fun as everyone claimed. Of course, having your brother's girlfriend constantly on your case to prepare for OWLs was really not enjoyable. It did not help that both Hermione and Ron were prefects now, either. Any attempts for a little extracurricular liaison were shot down by either Ron keeping his little sister from the 'big, bad world' or Hermione just on general principles. At least this way she was bound to get good OWL scores, though. It was somewhat hard to find anything else to do when most of your friends were threatened away by your brother.

Away from Hogwarts, things were not so clear cut. Both Bill and Charlie were back in the country using their talents to fight the approaching war. Percy and her father worked with the Ministry, trying to ready the populace for what was coming. Even the twins were more serious than usual. They had opened a joke shop as they had planned, but they used it as a base for espionage with their less legal 'pranks'. Ron, of course, still had his hero mentality and was planning on becoming an auror when he graduated. It seemed that everyone who was intelligent and observant enough to see the bleak future was preparing to fight and perhaps die, but here she was just worrying about school, and to be honest she really did not care. Why could she not have a normal life? What was it really worth to sacrifice everything and never truly live? Ah well, she did not have much of a choice, unfortunately, and sitting here thinking about it only made it worse. Sighing, she turned back to her studies as the silence of the library closed around her.

London:

The alarms rang in the Auror headquarters, announcing another attack. Quickly the on-duty Aurors threw on their battle cloaks and apparated in battle formation to the location. They arrived in a narrow street with closely packed apartment buildings on either side. Almost immediately they were set upon by the Death Eaters in the streets and soon found themselves in full retreat as the Death Eaters were reinforced by those who had been in the houses. Spells flew everywhere, both of the standard and Unforgivable variety. Shields were quickly erected and destroyed as the Death Eaters tried to destroy the trained defense the Aurors put forth. The Death Eaters knew numerous spells, but their weakness was a lack of squad training, something that allowed the slow retreat of the Aurors to not become a route. Thankfully the Auror reinforcements soon came in as well as the off-duty and on-assignment Aurors apparated in. In the face of this combined force the Death Eaters soon apparated out, leaving the wounded behind to be captured or die.

In the aftermath, the Aurors counted their losses, apparating the prisoners to holding cells and the wounded to St. Mungo's. Once the streets were clear the mop-up teams moved into the buildings, obliviating muggles and ensuring that the wounds were not obviously unnatural. Within twenty minutes the street was clear again, the only sign that something had happened being the delayed arrival of muggle police at the scene. Unfortunately, this was not an uncommon occurrence anymore. Although not a daily or even weekly event, these raids happened with much more frequency than these peace-time Aurors were used to, and they were fast becoming battle-hardened veterans. Although they had started as frightened men, they were now ready to fight, unlike the rest of the wizarding community. There had been no large attacks on magical establishments or homes, but the knowledge that the Death Eaters were back and taking out muggles left a feeling of helplessness and fear. This fear was propagated by the knowledge that the person who had beaten You Know Who before was dead, killed by the very muggles he had saved. There were some who believed he could not have died so base a death of course, but for the most part they were derided as lunatics and fools. As those who knew better kept it to themselves, hope was not forthcoming to the helpless witches and wizards of England.

Just over two years later:

Ginny woke up excited for the coming day. It had taken seven years, but finally it was her last day at Hogwarts. It was not that she disliked the school, but having started off on the wrong foot, being possessed by Tom Riddle and all, really had not opened doorways to popularity. Yes, she had her core group of friends, but they were all leaving now to fight in a war they had not started. She had been invited to join the army as a healer, but had declined, much to her family's dismay and, lately, ire. They just did not understand why she would not help them in what was becoming an increasingly one sided battle as the years wore on. Of course she could not tell them that the reason for her refusal was to collect a gone, but not forgotten, scarred wizard. It was time for him to face his destiny, something she had only found out about recently. A jaunt into the Restricted Section of the library had led to the discovery of a book about blood ties that pointed out that the only person able to kill Voldemort was the one who shared his blood - in this case, Harry. She had kept in touch with him over the years as they matured, and she knew that he would give his life to stop evil if he had too. It was only recently that she had finally really understood why he had left. With Voldemort's public announcement of his return a few months ago, the war had moved from a smattering of skirmishes to full scale, bloody battles. It was nothing like the old stories of glory to be won. On the contrary, it was bloody; dirty; and, above all, evil. Good people were forced to uncover their base natures to help family and friends, and she watched her brothers become hardened killers. Even Percy was a killer now, one of the Ministry Hit Squad that targeted Death Eater leadership positions. His reputation had led her family's house to be destroyed in a punitive raid that her mother had barely escaped. It was then that Ginny finally felt what Harry had feared followed the TriWizard Tournament. To see your family in grave danger because of the actions of that same family was frightening at the least.

It was this experience that made her decide her current course of action. Whenever the forces met, the Light side held its own until Voldemort took the field. When he did it was like a tide washed his opposition away. No one could face him except for Harry, and come hell or high water she was bringing him back. With that plan in mind she had told her parents she needed to get away for a while after graduation, and as she was in her majority they could not stop her despite their pleas. As much as she wanted to tell them of her plans, she could not in the event she failed. She was leaving as soon as the ceremony ended, walking out of Hogwarts and apparating to one of the international floo hubs. From there she planned on flooing to Katmandu, Nepal, the nearest hub outside of China. A long broom ride would bring her to Harry and his companions and hopefully to someone willing to return to end this dirty thing they called war.

Tibet:

Harry and Claude dropped into their stances at Sifu's command, circling each other warily. Claude had proven himself a formidable opponent even at fifteen, reminding Harry of himself at that age, minus the overwhelming responsibility of having to face Voldemort of course. Claude made the first move as usual, his impatience overcoming a need to understand his opponent's intentions. Harry dodged the spell with a slight feint to the right before attacking with a petrifying hex of his own. It merely bounced off Claude's shield, the magic radiating around him harmlessly. Sifu, meanwhile, looked on in delight. It never got old for him to watch the magic they used or its effects now that he could actually see it. Harry ended the magical portion of the duel quickly by launching a spinning kick at Claude's head. The boy flattened himself underneath it, sending a fist into one of the nerve clusters on Harry's leg as he soared overhead. Harry fell to the ground with a grunt, hitting the leg again himself to end the lack of feeling. Claude merely looked at him with a smile, proud of having gotten a strike in on Harry. Then, without warning he launched his own attack, feinting with a high punch before executing a sweep at Harry's legs. The sweep was easily avoided, and Harry used it as a launching point to step within Claude's guard. Grasping his robes, Harry pivoted quickly, sending Claude flying to the opposite side of the ring. Moving to follow up on his attack, Harry stopped in consternation when a girl walked through the door behind Claude. This was not as surprising as it would have been before. Ever since the wizarding community had been established to train potential warriors, Harry, Sifu, and Claude had been living outside of the monastery walls in a compound they had built with the help of magic. Thus, it was normal for people to come in on training sessions, etcetera, to learn new techniques. However, none of them had red hair, something Harry had not seen since leaving Europe. Knowing only one red-haired person who would know where he was, Harry was understandably in shock at her presence.

"Ginny? Is that you?"

"Harry? Merlin, I've finally found you! Do you know how hard it is to find someone in the middle of a closed country?"

Harry just looked at her, stunned. Sifu and Claude looked bemused as well, but not nearly as shocked as Harry. Finally, Claude broke the silence.

"Harry, you didn't tell me that your pen pal was so beautiful!"

Harry started laughing as Ginny blushed at the comment.

"Come sit down," Harry said, gesturing at a table at the side of the training area. Looking over at two wizards who had been waiting for their turn in the ring, he said, in Tibetan, "It's your turn now, this will take a while."

The four of them sat down at the table, Ginny under intense scrutiny as she settled into her seat.

"Not to be rude, Ginny, because it's great to see you, but why are you here?" Harry asked.

"You know what I've been writing to you about how Voldemort is back? Well, he is, to be blunt, unstoppable. His armies are no stronger than the Ministry's or the members of the Order of the Phoenix, but he himself cannot be stopped. Even Dumbledore tried, and he was put in the hospital wing for almost a month. I found some information on the ritual from the Tournament, and because he has your blood, you're now the only person who can kill him. I know you wanted to leave everything behind, but, Harry, we need you to come back. You're our only hope."

Harry sighed in defeat at her words.

"I never want to go back; there are too many things I wanted to get away from. Are you sure it is the only way?"

"Positive. Trust me, I wish there was another way, too. I was the only person to hear your reasons after all. I researched it as much as I could, and there are definitely no other options. I'm sorry."

Harry just looked at her in consternation. All of his work to distance himself from the English wizarding community was for naught if Ginny was to be believed, and seeing as she had kept his secret for three years, he trusted her with his life. His features hardened as he made his decision.

"Alright then, we leave in a couple days. Just let me get my things ready to leave and say goodbye to everyone."

"You aren't leaving without us," Claude interrupted. "You and Sifu were there for me when I had no one else, and I won't let you try to leave on your own. Isn't that right, Sifu?"

Sifu nodded grimly. "Of course it is. We're family, nothing can change that. Family sticks together."

Harry smiled weakly before standing up.

"Ginny, I'll show you a place to stay until we leave. Sifu, we had probably better tell Lobsang and the others before we leave."

They quickly stood and left the training area, heading off to prepare for war. It was several hours later when Sifu and Harry met the leaders of the impromptu army to inform them of their intentions. Lobsang, the leader chosen for his experience fighting dark wizards over the years, was troubled.

"You cannot leave, especially you Sifu! You know I respect you, you have taught me many things. However, you are not magic; you are not capable of defending yourself indefinitely no matter your talents in seeing magic. I must insist that if you leave I accompany you for your protection. My honor will accept no less."

With his words, the other captains quickly stood to show their intentions as well. Sifu was shocked. Yes, he had spent the past three years or so training these men and their followers to fight with their bodies as well as with magic, but this response was unnerving. He was not used to people following him like this, it just was not right.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked. "There may be no coming back. We all may die in the process of stopping Voldemort, you realize that. Are you willing to make that sacrifice?"

As one they answered, "Yes." With this declaration they left to talk to their units, and within the hour Harry and Sifu were leading a small army. Four hundred strong they rallied, telling their families goodbye, gathering weapons both physical and magical, meditating to ready their minds for war. Two days later they were ready, gathering in a field outside of Lhasa for the journey. Lobsang had acquired several dozen flying carts fitted with invisibility charms for the journey, and once the supplies were loaded and the troops on board, they lifted off. England, Voldemort, and a war were waiting.

A/N: Well, this is the longest chapter of all of them, so hopefully it isn't too boring. As usual, props to my betas Ters and Kraeg001, and thanks to Afroman for his suggestions on the last couple chapters. Thanks for all the reviews, they mean a lot. Peace.