Daphne was almost laughing on the floor as she was told what Callie was, telling them that even if she would tell anyone, it would be like a muggle would tell another muggle that magic existed. They would never believe her that there was an artificially created construct that only existed in a device which should not work inside of Hogwarts. But she also wanted to know more and asked Harry if he could introduce her to his foster family when they would agree that she could visit them. Hermione also asked the same as soon it came up, so Harry had to tell them that he would ask, but he could not promise anything.
Now they were at the point where Callie showed them the few seconds were Harry saw the teachers and slowed the footage down.
"As you can see, Professor Snape was not the only one starring Harry, as Professor Quirrell just a row in front of him did it too. And the next time we see them both, they both had broken eye contact to Harry; so we cannot be certain which one did the curse, and which did the counter curse as soon they recognized what was happening or even if both countered the spell and it was cast from a completely different place, also interrupted by the same time. But you are right, we should watch out for both teachers." Callie surmised, pointing out the different scenes in the replay that she was showing thanks to her computing device and the integrated holographic projector.
Hermione was watching the payback with a curious look, her chin resting in her hand and her index finger was moving up and down her cheek. Lavender took some notes and Parvati watched all the people for clues. Daphne meanwhile tried to go through her memory if she saw something they missed until now. Harry was also thinking if they were overlooking something. As the others did not know that John also had an AI, Harry told Callie via his glasses that she should ask Cortana if her sensors registered something that she did not. Callie was almost insulted as she pointed out that John was not in the castle this weekend, as he accompanied Michael to Kear Mohen for his debriefing. But she would file a report so John would watch over those two teachers.
Suddenly, Callie shut of the projector and told Harry to hide the device as someone was coming closer. Harry had just enough time to put the projector inside his robes as Ron came around the corner, looking for them.
"There you are! Percy told me to look for you as it is soon time for curfew. And what are you even doing with a snake?" Ron was a bit disgusted that Daphne was sitting with Harry, Ron it still did not believe it was possible that there could be friendship between different houses.
Harry glared at Ron, thinking about how he should handle this, but before Harry could respond Hermione snapped at the redhead.
"We are just studying Ron, something you should do more often. Daphne, it was nice to see you, let's continue this another time." Hermione stood up, gathering her books together they had laid out for an eventual cover story for why they were here. It seemed to serve them well by the reaction from Ron, as he just turned around and left the library relatively fast. Harry said his goodbye to Daphne and escorted the other three back to their common room. He still thought about what happened today and if he really should ask Doctor Halsey and the rest of his foster family if they could visit him. He trusted them, so there should not be any problem as long the UNSC up in space stands there. Harry told Callie that she should mention it in her report for Halsey that Daphne and Hermione wished to get to know Catherine.
As the next day was a Sunday, Harry went to the obstacle courses after he had his breakfast and began to run the obstacle courses once more. after doing his third round he heard someone coming closer and watching him. He turned his head as he climbed up the rope and saw Daphne, wearing some light clothing that was good for training on the obstacle courses. Soon Hermione came down the stairs from the castle with Parvati and Lavender, who also was accompanied by Neville and Ron, what surprised Harry Ron got up so early on a Sunday. As Harry reached the top of the wall, he turned around and waved at them, jumping back down and going over to them.
"Good morning, nice day for some exercise."
"Speak for yourself!" Ron mumbled, reassuring Harry that he was not completely on his own will. Harry just shrugged his shoulders.
Meanwhile Daphne did her warmup and walked over to the start of the beginner course, so Harry surmised that she just wanted to stay healthy. Hermione and the other Gryffindors were also going over there, Ron was a bit sulking behind them, so Harry began once again with the medium level until he was used to it and thinking to be ready for the next level.
They trained the whole morning until lunch, as Harry was like the others, sweaty and decided that it would be enough for today. After they walked back up to the castle and were going to the dorms to shower, Harry was glad that he pushed himself today to this point where he would feel his sore muscles the next day. He just hoped that it would not be too bad. As they arrived afterwards in the Great Hall for lunch, Harry was called by Callie that John would come and get him after he has eaten for some lessons. Harry was now getting nervous, the last time John took him for what he called 'Spartan lesson', Harry was walking funny afterwards. Callie was now laughing as she has once again been reading his thoughts and saw his memory of him walking from left to right, just limping a little bit.
John soon was standing behind Harry, with his arms crossed over his chest and looking to the others at the table too. Ron did his best to ignore him, fearing that he would need to go for another session, even if they were no longer mandatory.
"Mr. Potter, as you were in every training session since you arrived here, I would like to expand your training to something more advanced. It seemed that you would otherwise just stagnate instead of progressing with your skills. And as I see that Mr. Longbottom and Miss Granger are also present, I will invite you too. But before you agree, be aware that this regimen will be harder than the normal obstacle courses. Please come to the training grounds by 1400. Good day to you." John turned around and walked to the staff table as Ron leaned over to talk with Harry.
"Please tell me you will NOT go there. I mean even the normal exercise we do should be enough. Why would you want to do more?" Ron was almost grabbing Harry by his arm, willing to drag him up to the common room. But Harry just shook his head and continued to eat.
"Like Chief Wulf said, to progress you need to push yourself more all the time. Because even if you are the strongest, out there is still someone better than you." Harry soon was finished with his lunch, he stood up after the plates were magically cleared. He would still need to find out how that worked, it would become handy back in Kear Mohen.
"Why does he talk like we are in the military?" Hermione asked him, as she knew that John had trained him before he came to Hogwarts.
Harry just shrugged once more, answering her that he had always done that. Of course, he knew that he was a war veteran, but it was not Harry's place to tell them. He then saw that John was also talking with Daphne, so Cortana had talked with Callie about his friendships in the other houses. Daphne had a surprised look on her face, but nodded to John, signaling to him that she would think about it.
As the time arrived that John told them, Harry was standing outside on the Training grounds having successfully evaded Ron and to his surprise Malfoy, as he seemed to be interested in what Harry was doing on a Sunday afternoon. Callie soon registered some movement behind him, as Hermione, Neville and Daphne came down the steps from the castle, already wearing similar clothes as they had that morning. As they walked over to Harry, he also saw some older students going to the courses, thinking that they also do some advanced training and would do now some running.
"What do you think we will learn or do Harry? You know Chief Wulf since you were a child." Hermione was now standing beside him, watching for something that would hint what this advanced training was.
"Wait, if you know him Harry, how come you still call him Chief Wulf?" now Neville's curiosity was piqued. Daphne was also listening more carefully instead on doing the same as Hermione did before.
"It has to do with respect before your superiors and the trust you have in them. Until he gives me leave, I can't address him so familiarly like I do back home, I will call him Chief Wulf or Master Chief. By the way, here he comes." Harry explained, pointing now back up to the castle where John and someone almost as big as him were now walking down towards them. This man was also walking with purpose and precision until he and John stood before the first years in what a soldier would call "at ease".
"Hello children, I am glad that you all followed the invitation. Let me introduce you to my fellow colleague Jerome Cable, we trained together back when we were both children. He will help me with my work in this school together with my younger Brother Michael. Now the reason I invited you is for you to learn advanced techniques to train, especially in hand-to-hand combat if you want to learn it. It will provide you with the tools to defend yourself, but you must promise me that you only use it when there is no other choice. But first we'll both show you how it is done before you try to copy us. Understood?" John was now looking at the students, as Harry stood to attention and said, "Yes Sir". Neville laughed almost as he imitated Harry and did the same, what only got the girls laughing on the floor.
Meanwhile John grinned and stood right before both boys. "If you do that, then in the future you have to salute too. Now let's begin." John then positions them so that they could see what he and Jerome were doing, of course for the Spartans it was like almost standing still as they went through the motions of attacking and defending. They trained like that since they were six years old after all, right until they had to fight a war were Humanity were almost wiped out. Battle hardened they always fought until their death or until they won. It was because of them and their brothers and sisters in arms that they had bought enough time that Humans could fight back.
Soon Neville was enamored by the fluidity of their movements and just wished that he was not so clumsy as that was the reason, he would have to work harder than everyone else. But he developed a question in his head. "Excuse me, Chief Wulf. But a wizard can attack from a distance, what would bring us these techniques if we just could fight them back the same way with counter curses?"
The Spartans stopped and were contemplating how they would explain the next point for this session.
After a while, John began to speak once more. "Mr. Longbottom, this question had gone through many great warriors that were sure that their ranged weapons could not be beaten. But exactly this happened when they had their guard down, as the opponent did get into close range and had beaten them before they could fire the weapons they used. I think in History of the Humanity there are many instances of that happening, and I see that Miss Granger can think of a few, judging by the position of her hand. Please lower it, we are not in a classroom environment. But please, tell us what you know." John stood back, showing Hermione that she could come forward a bit, so everyone present could give her the attention that she deserved.
Blushing a bit, she did just that and began to tell them about the Native American Indian tribes and the American settlers, as it was there that firearms were used, but because of their slow firing rate the Indians could go in the defended zones and defeat the people who invaded their land. But as soon this problem was solved, the Indians needed greater numbers to defeat the settlers, but as soon they run out of ammunition the same occurrence happened. So, for Neville to understand this conundrum, she explained that as soon someone was too close to use ranged weaponry, or in their case use a spell efficiently, close quarter combat was better as you were faster in defending yourself on the spot than move to a better place.
As Neville began to understand, John also was thinking about the different spells that could negate the advantage of catching a wizard or witch in close quarter combat and how he could counter that once more. He would need to get the scientists on the In Amber Clad II to develop a special sensor suite for magic as this may predict where they would reappear if they just left the combat zone. Or else their shields needed to be improved if they could not withstand a spell. Of course, they would only need that if Voldemort would really return in the future, and they would then still be here.
As this lesson was wrapping up, Jerome was looking over the grounds like he was trained to do, so he was looking for good defensive positions and weaknesses in case he needed to attack. He then saw the firing range that John had set up and asked himself if he should just go over there and see how he fares after almost 30 years in cryo-sleep. He surely needed that muscle memory built back up, because he was sure that he got rusty with his precision. He just looked over to John and nodded towards the range, who responded in an affirmative nod from John to tell him that he could go.
Jerome was now inside the fenced off range, looking around to make sure that everything was as safe as it could be. He then saw a weapons locker inside a small shed, so he guessed that John had some firearms there for training purposes as he just opened it and looked inside. There was an assortment of guns, from Handguns, for Jerome, an unknown model to assault rifles and shotguns. He even saw something what likely be a sniper rifle, but he just got the handgun out and was now looking for a magazine that would fit. As he found some fully loaded because it was closed off in a separate safe-like compartment inside the locker, he looked over the handgun one more time. It was minimalistic, just like the Spartans liked them. Some engravings did tell the manufacturer of the Pistol and the model, it was a Colt M1911 chambered in .45 ACP. The caliber was just a little disappointing for Jerome, as he was used to the UNSC Magnum with the .50 caliber. But at least the number of rounds were similar, as the Colt held only one shoot less.
After he made sure that the gun would function properly, he stood by one row before his target and loaded the weapon. After he aligned it in line with his target, he squeezed the trigger and fired as fast as the gun would allow. After another magazine was inserted and spent, he laid the Colt on the table and called for the target to come up to him with a pulley. He was satisfied that all shots were on there, as well as they were in one tight group together. So at least with this pistol he was still a good shot. But still he was disappointed that there were no stronger pistols in this locker, so he would have to get one from the quartermaster on the Spirit of Fire when he returned.
As the range was silent thanks to Headmaster Dumbledore putting a silencing charm on the place, the others did not hear how many shots Jerome fired. So, the students did their self-defense training as well how they could counter these techniques more efficiently just in case they would need to do it.
"Can you imagine what Ron would do the first thing after he learned how to throw someone over his shoulder? I'm sure he would provoke Malfoy or Crabbe to attack him, so he had an excuse to defend himself like that." Hermione was almost laughing at that image as the gangly Ron would lift the much bigger Crabbe and thrown him over his shoulder.
Harry was almost laughing as he pinned Neville down the ground. "Well, that would only be one step. I'm sure that Crabbe could easily break out of any hold that Ron could muster up." As Harry stood back up, it was Neville's turn to attack him. Harry saw that this training did his self-confidence wonders, as he was smiling and nowhere near the usual clumsiness, that he showed almost every day.
As the day has gotten well into the evening, the four students said their goodbye to John and headed back up to the castle, taking their showers before their dinner in the Great Hall.
"So, was that the kid you are still here even if you could have gone back home with the In Amber Clad II? I must be honest John; I am not impressed. When we were his age, we had already shot assault rifles, pistols and shotguns and broken many bones in our training, so what is so special about him?" Jerome now stood beside John, having cleaned every gun he used before as well the shooting range. John just turned to him and looked sullen.
"You would not understand Jerome, as you and your team were frozen inside cryo tubes in the heigh of the Covenant war. But me? I had now 10 years of peace and serenity, still training to keep up my game and be ready if we have to fight another war. But in these 10 years, I saw what Halsey did to us and the others. Don't get me wrong, if I had the choice to repeat my life, I would jump once more into the fight. I like what I became, but at the same time I see what we missed as children. The rest of blue team is still out there, fighting the good fight against any Insurrectionist and covenant loyalists that still pop up. Even if we get older, we still are ready to fight, and they would come to my aid when I need them. And even if we could retire, I am sure that some Spartan IV could become great fighters, if they would just shut up sometimes. And yes, even the ODSTs think we are the one and only who deserve to be called Spartans."
Flashback
With them was a former ODST, who now was a Spartan IV thanks to the advancements in the augmentation for the Spartans now allowing fully grown, consenting man and woman to become supersoldiers. Sergeant Edward Buck, as he was known before, came down with the Fireteam Osiris, an elite unit inside the now Spartan branch in the UNSC. And with them came an old ally of John's, the Sangheili Thel Vadam, also known as the Arbiter. He still called John Demon, as his people called him that during the war because all he left was death and destruction. But as he explained that it was meant as an insult back then, it now became a word of respect for the old Spartans from the war. The Arbiter then looked over to Fireteam Osiris and told John that they still needed to earn this name, as in his eyes they were just not the same caliber as John and his brothers and sisters.
With that, Sergeant Buck came over to speak with them, as he just wanted to confirm that not all Spartan IV would deserve any recognition from the UNSC, as they just wanted some bragging rights.
"And to be honest Master Chief, even if we call ourselves Spartans, many of us still know that we are just a copy of the real deal. Heck, even Sergeant Johnson could manhandle some of the recruits, and he was just one from the old ORION program. He was even outdated when you came along. But Commander Palmer does her best to get them in line and become true Spartans one day." Buck had still to look up to John, even if his augmentation made him taller than he was before. "And another thing, the ODSTs are still out there, even if we can do the same job and they still hate us. But for you and the rest of the Spartan II, they hold now only respect and would gladly fight alongside you just one more time, Master Chief. I hope we will see each other again." Buck then saluted; a gesture copied by John as he nodded.
The Arbiter regarded the surrounding land and the castle that John has been living for the past six months. "A curious place to find you living my friend. But something tells me you would not stay here if the purpose was not true and honorable." The Arbiter regarded John thoughtfully hoping he would elaborate on his new mission.
John grunted and nodded as he turned to look back at the old castle. "You have no idea. Only a few days ago it became clear what that mission was," John turned back to his former enemy and now ally. "Although I doubt you'd believe me if I told you the context of that mission. But suffice to say I've been asked to help raise a boy that seems to share a common theme with Spartans." John smiled grimly. Especially knowing the cost of that ability for young Harry.
Vadam cocked his head to the side as he wondered what the Spartan was implying.
John sighed. "A young orphan boy. He survived what would normally kill even me, if I wasn't careful. The humans here have evolved to channel their bioenergy to do amazing things. They call it magic, if you can believe that." John gestured with his thumb towards the castle. "In there are a separate group of humans who dedicate their lives to hunting monsters."
The Arbiter's brow raised in intrigue. "Truly? Then perhaps I should visit again in the future. But for now, I must depart. It was good to see that you are not dead as I had feared. It Is very hard to find such good warriors that refuse to die easily." Thel Vadam shook John's hand afterwards as they climbed back into the Pelican, which would carry them back to their ship in space.
End Flashback
John shook his head and tried to bring the topic back to the present. "And you would be surprised at what Harry is capable of. It was only less than a week ago that he took down a fully grown mountain troll on his own. He may not look like much but he's determined, brave, cunning and loyal. He's been trained since he was 7." John nods towards the rows of obstacle courses that he had set up with Dumbledore's help a few years ago. "He runs those courses whenever he gets free time. Back at Kear Mohen we have a similar set up and he's been training on them too."
John chuckled at a memory, as he met one fireteam once when they came down with equipment for Doctor Halsey.
This was a time Cortana was treated for her rampancy, so she could not recall seeing those Spartan IV, even if she now had some reports on their battle records. As all of them were already trained to be soldiers, they only needed the augmentation and relearning their skills, but in contrast to the Spartan II, they had already established characters not fully suited to be Spartans like John or even the Spartan III for that matter. If they would go through the same training as previous Spartan generation did, they would break. Cortana was still analyzing all the records from the battles while she was treated, and she was not impressed. Most of these missions would have been finished quicker and more efficiently if blue team had been there. Yes, maybe the collateral damage would have been bigger, but if you had told them that no unarmed civilians should be harmed, they would have found a way to go and just do their job. But maybe she was just biased, as Callie told her so many times when she helped her doing those reports.
"I register that Harry is now back in his dorm after dinner, do they still need your counseling, or have they got over the issue with the troll?" Cortana turned in the digital plane the AIs shared and was now looking to Callie, who was sitting by a digital desk, just for show as they did not need it. For Callie, it was a means of storing sensitive data, as the compartments of this desk could only be opened by her and no one else, as she made the encryption key herself. This way Harry and his friends would be safe even if she was somehow captured and hacked, as these datafiles were nowhere in her core memory, they only existed in this plane.
"No, they don't need me anymore and I have to say they have coped with it remarkably good. I would have guessed that they had some sort of trauma for a while, but their behavior does not show any signs of it. It is almost like the young Spartans as they had their first mission and killed for the first time. Of course, you cannot compare those two scenarios as Harry did not kill that troll, but if it could happen again, they would not cower in fear a second time. I begin to see what John and the others see in Harry, as he is almost a copy from John, at least in the characteristic of Harry to help where he can and rather trusts his gut instead of thinking too much if the plan fails. And he is a natural leader. He will be there when they need him. On a side note, what do we now know of the Quidditch incident? Was it Professor Snape?" Callie was now looking to Cortana, between the piles of simulated paper on the desk. Cortana projected the video once more for them to see.
"My analyses show that his lips were moving yes, but the spell he used was not the reason Harry's broom was behaving like it did. The opposite in fact, he tried to get the broom to stay still. But Professor Quirrell, on the other hand, was trying to throw him of his broom, the reason I do not know until now. Maybe he is a Slytherin and wanted to make sure that his team would win? This theory is of course bonkers, as this reason would fit Snape, but not Quirrell. And our sensors are not equipped to investigate them, at least not as long John does keep his helmet away. When he was in his armor because of the troll, Professor Quirrell was not with us as he was in the hospital wing as he was unconscious by that time. We can only locate them inside the castle and that's it as long we are in this state. But something is strange with him, so I will tell John to install some sensors in the castle, with the permission from the headmaster of course." Cortana was still compiling her report for John to read before he sent it to command. Callie was nodding at that and finished her work with her part of the report.
As time progresses and winter came around with so much snow that herbology had to be canceled for a while, all that Harry could think of was where he should stay during the Christmas holiday. If he would stay in Hogwarts, he could still study during the break, and they don't celebrate it in Kear Mohen like the other children told him what they do at home. On the other hand, he would miss the old castle and his foster family even longer until he could return in the summer. And the view from the tower over the valley when there was snow was still something he liked to see. He was still undecided as Hedwig was landing before him during breakfast, lifting her leg with a letter attached to it. He took it after he gave her some bacon and opened the letter.
Good Morning Harry, I hope you are still good in school and learning many new things. Professor McGonagall told us that over Christmas, it is allowed for the students to stay at Hogwarts or come back home. We would like if you could come back over the break, so we can see what you learned until now, and as for your question if your friends could come to visit us, ask them if they would like to accompany you over the break after they had some time with their family. That would give us time to prepare and hide all the information that they should not know. As for getting here, we could gather them if we know where they live. We hope to see you soon.
Yen and Catherine
Harry folded the letter back up and told Callie to remind him to ask the others when they were in the library. But first they had still some classes to go to, as he stood up and was getting ready for Charms. On his way there he evaded Peeves, the poltergeist of Hogwarts who liked to prank the students everywhere he met them. The one only who could rival him were the Weasley twins, which almost had them getting detention every week if they could be caught that is. Harry had still to learn the many ways to move in this castle, as Callie had still to map more of it as they were moving along. Cortana did not find every hidden corridor, so that was a two AI job it seems. Then even the teachers were sometimes surprised when a student came out of perceived walls and doors were concealed until someone came out from the other way. Some doors even would let you cross almost instantly the whole castle when you would step through it. One time Harry even saw one student coming through the roof in a corridor, but lucky for him he landed on his feet. He mumbled something from a disguised hole in the floor, as he walked back up the staircase and evaded that exact location. Harry could not imagine what the Founders of the school were thinking as they built this castle. Maybe they were pranksters or wanted the students to be aware that anything can happen and that they should prepare for any eventuality. Somehow just like John had trained him when he was younger.
After the classes of the day were finished, Harry walked into the library and was sure that the others were already there. As he got to their corner he smiled as the four he knew would be there already doing their homework, Hermione had even transfigured the wooden chairs into cushioned chairs for comfort. He had to give it to her, she was talented when magic was concerned. He sat down on one of the cushioned chairs and grabbed the letter out of his rope pocket a seat at the table.
"What do you all do over Christmas?"
And once again thank you for the favorites for this story.