After they had eaten lunch, Harry asked John if they could go to the shooting range and train his aiming, on which John nodded and told him to get his pistol. As John looked to the girls, he saw the untold question if they could accompany them too, so he signaled them to follow him. Doctor Halsey was once again missing from the meal, but Yen had volunteered to bring something down to her laboratory, as Borch was also down there and surely needed something to eat too. As Yen opened the door, Catherine was hunched over the machine who would project the AI which would be inserted. She had opened a panel on the side where the buttons are and had a screwdriver in one hand and Harry's glasses over her eyes.
"You still have some problems? You know, maybe one of the others could also help you" Borch stood beside her holding a torch and lighting the inside of the machine. He had almost no idea how those modern machines function, so why he was here was a mystery to Yen. As she had placed the plates down on a table near them, Borch said his thanks and told Catherine that they should take a break. Catherine stood up and used her sleeve to clean some sweat from her face, placing the glasses once more on her face afterwards.
"Yes, somehow the new matrixes I got do not play ball like I wanted. Maybe the matrix really needed to be used for a copy of an AI to gain hold of it. But that would mean that the upgrades against rampancy needed to be implemented almost on the spot as the AI could fall almost immediately to it, depending on the age the old AI had in the matrix and if it had already shown signs of rampancy. But no one in this castle could help me with that, as only John comes from our world and even with the intelligence he has, he is a soldier not a scientist. I would ask the captain if he could get someone to help me from home, maybe then we could make some progress." Catherine also took something to eat of the plate and began to eat.
"If you don't mind me asking Catherine, but why do you wear Harry's glasses? I thought you don't need those." Yen had that question for a while, only now finding the time to ask her without the others listening. Catherine nodded to that observation and told her that Callie and the other AI helped her with that project, but would need their whole processing power for it, so she wears Harry's glasses to see when they would be finished, as Callie would project herself in the glasses with news of their progress.
"I do this because I wanted to thank the girls for just being like they are. They accepted Harry for who he is, not what he represents in this world. Back then, when I started the Spartan program for the UNSC and ONI, I made one crucial mistake. I developed some real connections to the children that we trained to be literally killing machines, especially to John. He was even special under all those extraordinary children we selected, having this charisma even at such a young age as 6 years old to inspire the others in his platoon to go beyond our wildest imaginations, when they were dropped off for an exercise with just a small piece of a map and were told to regroup and go to the evacuation zone. Only the last one had to walk home they were told, but John got everyone home in another Pelican as the one who should have picked them up. As it turned out some rebels were accidently also there that evening. After he liberated the Pelican, he told everybody to go on board before he stepped on it as the last one. It was by the debriefing where I saw the sin I committed, for not allowing them to become normal humans and just be raised normally. So here, I hoped I can atone for this sin by helping Harry grow up as normal as he could, and so I am thankful that he found some real friends." Catherine was almost crying as she told this story, which was luckily no longer classified by the ONI. Yen and Borch stood quietly and listened as if someone told them how the weather was outside.
After she calmed down, Catherine thanked Yen once more and got back to work. She wanted this done before the kids return to their school. Yen walked back up and heard some shots from the shooting range, so she knew at least that Harry was still not done getting better as the sound was to long apart from each other as it could be from John. As she arrived back in the kitchen, Sarina flew back from her errand and landed on one of the perches that they had placed around the castle for her and Hedwig. She also had a letter in her beak, signaling that Dumbledore had already replied to the invitation from Borch to speak about the stuff he mentioned. It surprised her that he did not come directly but told them that he would be here after the children would be back in Hogwarts as not to stress them with his presence during their break, she found that very nice of him.
As she folded the letter back up, she gave Sarina something to snack upon before she flew back up to the tower. Searching for Geralt, Yen walked through the castle grounds towards the training area where he would normally be by this time of day when he was in the castle at least. She found him later and watched him train his body, while she still heard the shooting of the guns in the shooting range.
In there, Harry had his gun aimed down the range, just a small Glock for beginners as John told him back then, but it still had a deadly punch so Harry had to be disciplined with using it. The girls were also looking over all the guns assembled by John, thinking about if they also could shoot some of these. John stood beside Harry and corrected his stance once more as months in school had tampered with Harry's skill just a bit. As they all did wear ear protection they had to wait until Harry would take a break before they could talk once more. Harry emptied another magazine from his gun, as the slide locked back when it was empty, prompting John to call the target to them to see how he fared. As Harry put his gun down and tock his protection of his head, Daphne and Hermione came over and wanted to see how good he was.
"Still no Spartan-level, but by your age I was just a bit better Harry. Try to calm down your trigger finger when you do follow-up shots after requiring the target once more, as you tend to push your hand to the right when you just pull it." John explained, remembering himself when he was a kid and was trained by the soldiers to improve his shooting. Hermione and Daphne asked if they could also shoot, what John would allow them they needed first to learn the basics. They would gladly do that, as Michael came into the range carrying a shotgun and a battle rifle on his back. He walked over to the ammunition crates and took out some magazines and boxes for his weapons out and placed them on the table towards the targets. Harry watched him put all the bullets right in the middle with a precision that almost rivaled John's, confirming to Harry that they had to be trained similar back then.
"Is there a reason why you are looking at me, boy?" Michael turned around, putting his rifle down after he emptied another magazine for it. Because he was not in his armor, he was not as imposing like he would normally be for normal humans, but his height was still greater than the average person. Harry was still intimidated by his behavior and then began to babble something like he just wanted to learning by watching as John came over with the girls, each of them had a similar pistol like Harry used before. John told Michael that Harry was not a soldier, so he should ease off a bit.
"And why are you even here? So far I know is that your orders are to remain in the base and protect it together with Red-Team." John wanted to know why Michael defied his orders and came into the castle to train, as they also had a shooting range in the base for the marines to exercise.
Michael just shrugged, telling John that he was relieved of duty for some time, and thought he could talk with the only other Spartan who was dubbed Hyper Lethal. John, always the competitive in boot camp told him to grab his ammunition and show him how good Michael really is. Harry meanwhile watched over the girls so that they would be safe while shooting, when they heard the rapid fire from Michael's battle rifle sounding over the range.
While Daphne's attention was grabbed by the precision that Michael showed them, Hermione aimed down with her pistol and pulled the trigger each time she was sure to hit the target. After she emptied the magazine, she asked Harry if he could call the target to them like she saw when John did the same as Harry was finished. To no surprise, only 2 shots out of 10 were on target, Harry assuring her that a beginner could be happy to hit at least once as they still needed to learn how to aim properly, also how one would pull the trigger with the finger had also an effect on the accuracy. He assured her that he was no better than her right now, but he was training with his pistol since he was 10. And a year can make all the difference with such a small weapon.
Daphne soon got her attention back to her own target, as she lined up the pistol with her target for her first time. Putting her finger on the trigger, she squeezed it until the first bullet left the barrel and was flying right over her target, as the recoil of the gun had surprised her, and the gun rose up. So, she aimed lower this time and did hold the gun with more force, this time hitting the ground in front of the target.
"Relax Daphne, you can't do it this tense." Hermione told her, holstering her pistol in the holster they were given to store their pistol if they were not in use, after making sure that it was not loaded. Daphne just hummed and began to align the gun with its intended target. While she was doing that, Harry asked Hermione how she knew what Daphne did wrong before.
"My father took us for a vacation to Switzerland once, where we stumbled over a shooting range for civilians. As there were people, we asked if we could watch them and they gladly agreed, as long we would not disturb the shooters in their places. After a while, I heard someone tell a small boy that he needed to relax as he had the same problem as Daphne did, so I concluded that this was her problem." Hermione explained, as John walked over to them, smiling smugly while Michael was sulking.
"So, who won?" Harry did not need to ask, as John just pointed to the scoreboard, where he was shown to have one more point than Michael had.
"It was a close one, but if you factor in the time used it was clear that I would win in a competition." After he explained, he walked over to Daphne and told her how she would do better, as Hermione reloaded her pistol and began to shoot once more. Michael meanwhile watched over Harry as he was better and needed another approach in teaching if he wanted to improve his shooting. As they used the whole afternoon to shoot, Yen came down to them with something small to eat, as it was not time yet for dinner. As she was looking over the targets, she let out a small whistle as she saw how good Harry had become. She said that the next day some magical training would be in order, as she thought that he could use it too in the future.
Hermione and Daphne perked up by the mentioning of magical training and asked Yennefer, if they could learn how to summon those portals Triss used when they came here. Yen said that she could try to show them but made no promises that they would learn this spell before they had to return to Hogwarts. Hermione and Daphne were okay with that, after all even the mightiest sorceress and wizards were not born overnight.
In the great hall, Triss was setting the table as Catherine came out of her laboratory, followed by Borch and holding four little packages in her arms as she put them beside the plates. She then took the glasses of and placed it besides them, sighting. "Well, I did it somehow. But I need Kalmiya to analyze how that worked, as Cortana and Callie will be happy to be back with their partners once more. They missed them." Catherine laughed a little as she told Triss this bit bit of information.
Triss also had a small smile on her lips, as she remembered the talks she had with the blue AI from John when he was in the shower and had to leave her behind.
As the children arrived at the table, Harry saw that his glasses laid on the table and asked if he could have them back, which in turn had Catherine laughing once more as it was apparent that Harry missed Callie too as he took the glasses with a smile and put them on. Hermione and Daphne were looking at the packages, wondering what was inside them. Catherine told them that she would tell them after dinner, as she was hungry having not really eaten for two days. John was sitting beside Triss, dwarfing her with his great frame. They ate in silence, as Harry and the girls were a bit tired after today's training sessions and shooting. Harry was also talking with Callie about the surprise the girls would get after dinner, as she told him what she was up to the last two days.
It seemed as she had some problems to solve with her sisters, as the AI they wanted to install on these matrixes had some characteristics that were not suited for young girls who were still going to school. She shuddered as she told him about one especially who wanted access to all the cameras for "safety" reasons even if the setting would speak against it, like in the bathroom. Almost immediately they purged him of any system he could have hidden. The problem was that they only saw the characters from the AI after their first boot upon the matrix, so after a while they were getting desperate as one of the matrixes was getting bad from all the install and deleting of data. But they pulled through after installing all the upgrades for the AI and were satisfied with their new friends. They only had to restrict the Access to the network of the UNSC for them, as they were still a secret for the population from this world. So, they had to speak with them for future updates, but that was the best solution they found.
Harry was almost nervous how the girls would react, still a bit afraid that they would stop hanging out with him as soon they got what they wanted, something that Callie told him not to worry about as she had a good sense that this would not happen. She had learned much about them in their sessions after the troll incident back on Halloween.
The girls had both different thoughts about the time they had until now. While Hermione was thinking if she could shoot the next day again, Daphne was thinking if they also had some more beginner friendly obstacle-course on the grounds she could run, as she had begun to have fun doing her physical training at Hogwarts and did not want to slack off. But both were of the same opinion about the food they ate, as it was almost as good as back home. They almost bounced in their seats at the delicious meals they were allowed to enjoy here, eating happily their fill of the food. Of course, their Hosts were also nice to them, showing them that they are glad to have them here.
After Dinner, Harry offered to help Triss with the dishes as they walked into the kitchen with John behind them carrying the rest from the table, as Catherine gave the girls one package each. They opened it and inside was a similar machine each like Harry had.
"Wow, you succeeded in making them. Thank you, Doctor Halsey. How do they work?" Hermione grabbed hers out of the box, turning it in her hands looking for the on button.
Daphne did the same, but noticing the small necklace inside a small pouch which was also in the package. It was a small, silver-colored circle with a little fox pictured on it. She found it cute, but asked what it was for.
Catherine explained to them that because it would have been too obvious when they suddenly wore glasses like Harry, she needed something what would substitute for the time being as visual recording-device, as they could not place the matrix on the table for the same reason as the glasses. That way the AI could help them study when needed as it could take those and show them once more with the built-in projector what they were missing.
While Hermione was fascinated with the possibility's and implementation of this technology, Daphne was looking at the necklace and had an uneasy feeling. "Excuse me Doctor Halsey, but are those devices always on and who can access it, I think you called it files? Even when we are asleep?"
Daphne was hiding something, Catherine could tell. But if she would share it, it was her decision. So, she told them that the necklace was not recording while they slept, but the matrix would record everything until the morning, just in case if something bad would happen. If that would be case, as long as they were inside of Hogwarts, John would be alerted by a projector inside his office as Harry could only be alerted when he would put his glasses back on. Everything else would not be shared without their permission.
Daphne was a bit relieved by this information, as she did not want everyone to know that she talked sometimes in her sleep and that everyone could listen to it.
While they were talking, the device in Hermione's hand began to scan his new owner, looking for favorable traits in its holographic appearance and almost immediately began to construct his avatar. As it noticed that it almost looked like Harry Potter, the boy who was in company of Callie, it decided to alter his own appearance as to not give Hermione any reason to be embarassed. It would keep his unruly hair, but the glasses will be exchanged for sunglasses, the robe would give away for a leather jacket and jeans. But it would keep the sneakers for the complete look, as it asked the other AI if it was ready too.
The matrix in Daphne's hand was almost finished, choosing the appearance of Daphne's younger sister with the hair from Callie, for the same reason as the AI from Hermione did change its own avatar. But it also chose clothes that would suit a grown-up businesswoman, as Daphne would like her professionalism when they were in company. As their sensors told them that it was okay to activate the projectors in the devices, they shown themselves to the girls, seeing their smile for the first time.
As Harry came back from the kitchen after helping clean the dishes, he saw that there were two new projections on the table, one boy and a girl. As he closed the distance to his friends, he overheard them talking. "So, your name is Luke and her name is Sissi? Those are nice names." Hermione did hold her AI in her palms, giving Harry the hint that hers was the boy, Luke. So, the other AI has to belong to Daphne and he thought that they did fit them almost perfectly, as the girl curtseyed to Daphne elegantly and smiled, as the boy had the appearance of true intelligence, even if his eyes where hidden behind his dark sunglasses, giving him a rebellious look. The people at the table noticed Harry arriving and the girls ran to him to give him a hug and thanking him for making this possible.
"All I did was ask Doctor Halsey, it was her decision to give you these AI, but I see that there are two more packages. Am I correct in guessing that those are for Parvati and Lavender?" Harry took one package in his hand, weighting the device inside it. It felt like his, so he knew that this had to be the case. As he saw that either Hermione or Daphne did not wear glasses, he asked how they got the sensor data out of curiosity, as Callie shows him the necklaces the girls are now wearing. She also explained how there was a miniscule camera inside the pendant and how it recorded the information for them.
Soon, they decided that it was time to head to bed so Harry escorted them to their quarters as he wished them a good night. As they entered their room, they decided to speak about today's events, while the small projectors were on and talked with them, telling them that they still needed to get to know them to serve them better.
Hermione told them off for this term, as she did not want them to serve, she wanted them to help them as friends, just like Callie did with Harry. Luke apologized; he was still new to human interaction after all. Sissi meanwhile was silent watching them talking to each other as she had a digital conversation with Luke, sharing all the information they gathered since activation.
As Harry reached his room, he walked over to his desk and prepared to do some homework, as he got an idea. "Callie, could you ask Hermione and Daphne if they did their homework already? I think we could use this time to familiarize us with so many AI's working at the same time. As far as I understand it is like multiple people have different opinion and ways to get the result needed." Callie was surprised but told him that he should do that himself tomorrow, as it would be better for his social skills to not rely on her too much. As he thought about it and came to the same conclusion, thanking her for her foresight and began to study, just in case the girls were already finished with their Potion essay. Callie watched over him, just hinting on the mistakes he made while searching for the texts he needed to prove his view on the matter.
As he began to get tired at the desk over his books, he decided to go to sleep for the rest of the night. He just wished that he had a dreamless night, as today's events were exciting to say the least. As he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, he smiled happily that he had such good friends. Unbeknown to him, the girls had the same thought as they drifted off to sleep