Unofficial Portkey Archive

The snow fell in a slow and steady manner, a consistent sheet of white covering the roads and grounds. Despite the steady stream of snow, the air was brisk instead of chilly, the long winter showing signs of finally warming. The car travelled along the bank of the road as the brakes suddenly squealed and the car turned end over end until it smashed against a large tree, crumpling around the base like an accordion. Then, the dull rush came, growing louder and louder as the snow swirled, a frozen hurricane surrounding a scream.

"HARRY!"

Harry woke up, his wand in his hand and a rush of blood flowing to his head. For a second, he didn't know where he was until he placed his hand on the soft, satin sheets and noticed the green decor of the Slytherin dorm. There was a small light from the bed next to him and Harry peeked out to see Draco Malfoy tiredly rubbing his eyes as he wrote into a textbook with a large, feathered quill. Judging by the first glows of the morning sun rising from the window, Harry realized that it just about dawn. It was more sleep than he had received the previous night and for that, he was grateful. Swinging out of bed, Harry inclined his head towards Malfoy.

"You're up early," Harry commented.

Malfoy spared the barest of glances towards him. "I have a lot to catch up on."

"It's only the first week of school."

"Doesn't mean I don't have a lot to get caught up on."

Seeing no reason to bother Malfoy from some apparent studying, Harry readied himself for the day, despite the heavy headache behind his eyelids. Nonetheless, he rushed to breakfast before the first bell because of the schedule for the day. The first Battle class of the year for the Fourth Year Slytherins was on the docket and Harry wanted to be prepared for anything Snape threw at him. Wolfing down breakfast and making sure to load up on his fluids, Harry rushed off to Trow's classroom to investigate something that had been worrying him throughout the summer.

Much to his surprise, someone emerged from Trow's classroom as Harry approached. Cedric Diggory gave him a wry smile as he hefted a heavy bag over his strong shoulders. Harry had nothing to say to him, so he settled with a curt nod as there was limited time before class began, but as he passed by, he heard Cedric call out to him.

"Harry," Cedric said, "Do you have a second?"

"Yeah, quickly though, trying to get in some tape time before class starts."

"You're going to need to get here much earlier than six thirty."

"Had trouble sleeping," Harry said.

Cedric nodded. "You'll get a lof those. Anyway, I was wondering if you were going to participate...in the tournament, I mean."

"I was thinking about it." Harry tried to sound disinterested.

"Well you should do it. At least put your name in or whatever they have us trying to do."

"Why the interest?" Harry asked.

"To be completely honest, you're pretty good. It wouldn't hurt to have someone that has a bit different...perspective...on our side."

"Making some presumptions about getting in already?" Harry tried not to sound too condescending.

Cedric chuckled, at least appearing sheepish. "I've been at least top twenty five on the Master List for the last three years. I hope they pick me."

"Right, the Master List."

"Right. Anyway, just hoping you give it a fair shot. It'd be a shame if you didn't. By the way, Granger's already in there. She's an...interesting one."

Making a hasty exit, Cedric left Harry with those thoughts. It was a bit strange for the Hufflepuff to implore Harry in such a manner, but without knowing Cedric well enough, Harry theorized that the slightly presumptuous Hufflepuff was just trying to pick his team for the tournament. He had heard of Cedric to know that others called him a leader and he could immediately see why. Diggory certainly didn't lack initiative.

True to Cedric's word, Hermione was seated at the frontmost Stationary Omniocular, her head already buried in what was assumed to be class footage. Seeing as no one else was in the room yet, Harry tapped her on the shoulder. Instead of being startled, she glared up at him.

"Busy," she indicated.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Do you have a second?"

"Thirty seconds," she replied, glancing at her watch purposefully.

"I had a dream. About your parents again," Harry said.

Hermione faltered for exactly three seconds. "So did I. Same dream."

Harry ran a hand through his hair, noticing how long it had grown. It was frustrating to have these dreams and not pinpointing the exact reason for them. Hermione had promised that she would hit the library as soon as she could, but both of their schedules were already starting to weigh down on them. It would be some time before either of them could research the meaning of these shared dreams. Either that or completely toss out sleep.

"Right, good luck," Harry finished.

"Don't need it," Hermione replied as she stuck her head back into the eye sockets.

Shaking his head, Harry sat himself down and began his preparations.

* * * * *

The day already felt long and it was only noon. Battle class was scheduled after lunch and after a grueling session of Transfigurations that were growing more advanced by the day, Harry sought a slight reprieve by having lunch outside. Blaise and Tracey offered to join him and Harry didn't decline.

It was a heavy summer day, the humidity weighing heavily on all of them, but Harry only had his mind set for Battle class. No matter what he thought of Snape, he couldn't deny the excitement that had been growing ever since his return to school. He didn't know whether it was the competition, the challenge, or the perverse sense of satisfaction upon beating someone else. All he did know was that he was looking forward to Battle class.

"I'm dreading Battle class," Tracey said.

"I hope he goes easy on us and just sets up duels. I'm not in the mood for a whole House match right now," Blaise agreed.

Harry chewed on his food, tactically staying quiet as they continued to air their complaints.

"I'm going to get matched up with Granger. I know it," Tracey said. "Who knows what she's been cooking up with a whole summer?" She looked pointedly at Harry at the last part.

"Truth be told, I don't know exactly," Harry answered.

"Oh you're useless. What's the point of working with her if you can't get some information?" Blaise asked.

"Contrary to what you might believe, she doesn't tell me everything. Most of the time, she tells me to piss off," Harry said.

"Do you have any advice if we get matched up against her?" Tracey asked.

"Yeah, don't try Legilimency on her," Harry answered with a smile.

Blaise guffawed, almost choking on the loaf of bread he was eating. Tracey scowled, punching Harry on the arm in jest.

"It's not funny," Tracey insisted. "We don't all have our own spell as a hidden trick."

"Maybe you should learn one," Harry offered.

Tracey snorted in an undignified manner. "That'll be the day."

The bell rung, effectively ending their conversation and summoning them towards the one class that mattered the most. Blaise was already grumbling, unhappy and ready to get it over with and for the umpteenth time, Harry questioned the ability of the Slytherin house. If his two most trusted friends didn't even want to participate, how would that bode for them going forward? He could hardly put his trust in anyone else in the house.

As they reached the seventh floor where the Room of Requirements opening was located, the trio found themselves at the back of an already long line and upon further inspection, it was apparent that every Fourth Year house was going to attend today's class.

"This is not a good sign," Blaise groaned.

Indeed, it was rare for all of the houses to attend the same Battle class save for special occasions such as the last year's forest match. Gathering all of the houses on the first day of Battle class was different than the norm and Harry anticipated that Snape was not going to ease them in for the year.

The hallway was buzzing with chatter, all four houses represented. They were dressed in matching grey robes, the only denotation of difference being the intricate patches laced onto the right breast of their outfits. Stuffed in Harry's pockets were the dragonhide gloves Tracey had given him over the summer. He didn't want to tip his hand yet, but they could prove invaluable should the situation require them.

The heavy and rhythmic thud of boots silenced the bustling crowd as Snape approached, his robes billowing behind him and both of his hands behind his back. Harry noted that he looked more haggard than usual, an unusual thin dusting of a beard appearing on his face. Yet, his eyes were still cold and dark, unforgiving and threatening.

"Bones. Granger. Boot. Potter." He enunciated each word with a staccato rasp, emphasizing each syllable harshly.

The four names stepped forward, looking at each other curiously. Harry looked questioningly at Hermione, but she imperceptibly shook her head. It didn't take long for Harry to realize that the four names were all in the Magical Theory Track. Such things were not a coincidence.

"The rest of you." Snape swept his arm and the door appeared, opening and revealing a white space on the other side.

"There is another staging area within. Wait there for me," Snape ordered.

The pack shuffled forward and Tracey glanced uneasily at Harry as she passed him. Harry tried to reassure her with a facial expression, but he was more concerned at why Snape was separating the four of them. In black and white objectivity, he knew the Slytherins were significantly weakened without him, but would Snape really take out Granger, Boot, and Bones as well? What was the point?

Snape paced back and forth in front of the door once the last student entered and the door glowed briefly until the headmaster stopped his pacing. He waved his hand again and the door opened except it was dark inside this time.

"Follow me," Snape said as he entered the room without looking back.

Terry eagerly followed the headmaster first while the other three wearily stepped inside. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Harry found the room spare save for four large tables. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the tables were raised around the borders, not unlike a billiards table. They were equidistant from the walls and each other, forming a perfect square.

"Welcome to the Board Room."

A blue light without a source glowed overhead as the Board Room was bathed in different shades of blue. Harry heard the soft crackle of magic as the four tables were also illuminated with color. Shades of green, blue, red, and yellow highlighted each table and it didn't take long for Harry to gravitate towards the green table, recognizing his house colors. The others followed in similar fashion as they each took their place at their respective tables.

"As you can see, each of you have control of your board. On your boards, you will find a communication port. Attach them around your neck to communicate with your respective houses. It is a charmed one to one communication device and the members of your House will be able to hear you as if you are standing right beside them. Additionally, you can communicate who you speak to via the corresponding keys on the ridged edge of your board. Simply press down on the key of who you wish to speak to or use the spell Omnes to talk to everyone."

Snape walked over to the Slytherin board as Harry tried to process all of the information at once. He could see Hermione's hand twitching out of the corner of his eye as if she desperately wanted to take notes. Harry tried to keep his attentions on Snape, not wanting to lose any minor detail.

"Last of all, you will receive an image on your board."

The headmaster waved his palm over the flat table and five corporeal bodies appeared, the images clear enough so that Harry could see it was the five of them in the Board Room. Everything was outlined in a green tint, from the persons to the tables. The movements were tracked one to one and Harry demonstrated it by waving his hand in the air and watching the doppelganger mimic his motion on the board.

"With the charms on this table, you will be able to see what the members of your House see but nothing more. From here, you can direct them as you wish and you can use several motions to change your field of view."

Using both of his hands, Snape rotated the room by twisting an invisible wheel clockwise so that the images or figures turned as so. He showed a few other movements that could cause the projected room to expand or zoom within the board. The detail was perfected to the fine minutiae. Harry could even see his glasses on the projected image on the green-lit board in front of him.

"These boards are specifically tuned to your wands and will be activated as so. If you will, Mr. Potter?" Snape asked.

Harry wearily gave Snape his wand and the headmaster placed the wand onto some sort of chassis. Instead of holding it between the hooked prongs, however, the wand floated in suspension, only briefly glowing as the projected images on the board transformed from the Board Room to a mountainous terrain. It was still bathed in a green light, but Harry could decipher the rolling hills and flat plains that represented the likely battlefield for today's Battle class.

"As you might have deduced, you will only be able to give orders and oversee what is happening by dictating what you see on the board. Communication will never waver unless one of your house members is eliminated from competition. You will hear everything unless you choose to do so. The spell to silence all outgoing communication is Nemin."

Snape turned towards the sole door in the room, attempting to leave them to their thoughts, but Susan stopped him with a very pertinent question.

"Why didn't you make those in Leadership do this?" The Hufflepuff girl who was known for being shy and meek was the first to question the headmaster.

Snape paused, looking slightly over his shoulder so they could only see half his face.

"There is a difference between leading and commanding. There are only four of you in Magical Theory and it is because you are the best at what you do. There are times when you have had to lead. Many of you have done so over the course of the last three years. Your house has followed you into battle, reveling in the comfort of your superior talents. Command is different. They must obey you. They must listen to you. They must learn to survive without your outstanding capabilities by their side because there will come a time when you will not be able to be there with your housemates - your friends. They will not have your assistance and all you will be able to do is watch and direct. It is a different skillset, one that you have not applied until now. The cost of learning is steep, so I suggest you learn quickly."

Before the last word even left his breath, Snape left the room, the door slamming shut behind him with a bleak finality. There was a numbness within Harry, a confused rage that Snape had somehow taken Harry's concerns from the night previous to Lupin and directly applied them for this Battle class. But it wasn't possible. Magic like the Board Room couldn't have been done overnight. It required time. It required excellent spellwork from a bevy of faculty. Had the older students ever said anything about it before? Not that Harry could recall, but then again, he rarely spoke to the older students.

By the time Harry recollected himself, his three compatriots had already placed themselves in front of their respective boards. Terry was the last to place his wand in the chassis and as he did so, a shimmer of magic rose from the ground and separated all four of them. Harry watched, transfixed, as the distorted translucency blocked a clear vision to the others.

"Of course," Harry whispered. "We're not allowed to see each other's boards."

Yet, Harry could still see a faint outline behind the glass-like surface. To his right, he could see the distorted and shaded figure of Hermione, easily outlined by her bushy mop of hair. Harry stepped towards the magical wall and watched Hermione do the same until they were only separated by the glass-like barrier. He placed his hand against it, noticing that she mimicked his actions and placed her open palm against the wall.

Taking a deep breath, Harry took a step back and timidly walked towards his dark green board. The communication port was made of silver and Harry opened it by flicking the clasp in the front. It opened and Harry gingerly placed it around his neck. Snapping the clasp into place, Harry felt the communication port magically constrict so it fit snugly against his neck without being too restricting. Still, Harry felt not unlike a dog with a collar.

In front of him, the board suddenly came to life as nine green figures appeared on a flat plain within the terrain. He could see Blaise and Nott towering over the rest as well as Tracey's figure right beside Blaise. She was looking around, trying to examine her surroundings while her hand reached for her neck. Looking down, Harry saw that there were around twenty, slightly raised, buttons on the side of the board. In bright green ink, the Fourth Year Slytherin's last names were placed over nine of them, clearly signifying who he could speak to.

It was only because of the tightness of the communication port around his neck that Harry noticed he was breathing heavily. He was never one to grow nervous before Battle class. If anything else, he usually maintained a calm disposition as he anticipated his opponent, but this was unlike anything he had to do before. He could not save Slytherin with an unknown spell. He couldn't bail them out time after time. That gnawing feeling in his stomach that had been eating away at him all summer had come to fruition and not for the first time, Harry wondered how good Snape was at Legilimency.

But that would be a fight for another day.

"Omnes."

All at once, he heard the chatter. It was so clear and so precise like Pansy was talking in his head. They were confused, disoriented, complaining that Snape had told them to attach the communication ports around their neck before sending them through the door into this terrain. He heard Blaise ask, "Where's Harry?"

Taking one last deep breath and willing himself to calm down, Harry finally spoke.

"This is Potter. Prepare yourselves."

* * * * * *

"Harry, get out of my head."

It was Blaise, already reacting in a manner that annoyed Harry. Using his hands like Snape showed him, Harry expanded the map so that he could see further out. Frustratingly, all he could see was darkness beyond the two hills that surrounded the flat plain where the Slytherins were starting.

"Move towards the valley in front of you," Harry ordered.

Instead of obeying his command, his head exploded with senseless chatter again. Almost all of them were bombarding him with questions of why he wasn't there and how he was speaking inside their heads. Harry could tell that he was going to have a headache after this Battle class, but he was in no mood to play question and answer. Every second wasted would be detrimental to victory and now that the initial panic had passed, Harry felt the competitiveness surge back to life.

"LISTEN TO ME," Harry bellowed, finally silencing the continuous squawking. "Rally to the valley in front of you! I will explain everything as we go, but you need to move now."

There was finally a silence, a blissful moment where the voices were gone from his head. Just as Harry thought they were finally going to start paying attention, Tracey spoke up.

"Harry, where are you?"

Harry gripped the edge of the board, inhaling deeply and wondering if he could project anger through the communication port. He looked up and even through the distorted barrier, he could see Terry gesticulating wildly as he, no doubt, tried to encourage his Ravenclaw brethren to do the same. To his right, Harry saw Hermione calmly leaning of the board, not a wasted movement in sight.

They have to move.

"I'm in a room, watching all of you. I will not be there. I repeat, I am not going to be able to help you down there. All of you are on your own and if you don't move within the next five seconds, we all will lose."

Finally, Tracey said, "You heard him. Let's go!"

The nine images broke forward, moving with a purpose as Harry eased off the board and swiped the back of his hand against his forehead, wiping away the perspiration that had already collected on his skin. Observing them was more nerve wracking than any Battle match he had ever done save for the forest. Frustration and a sense of helplessness radiated off him, but he had to control him for it would do the Slytherins no good to hear that he was nervous.

The board slowly lit up in areas previously unknown. What was shrouded in a cloud of black was revealed to be more hills as the valley curved in an "S" shape. To Harry, it was an obvious bottleneck that he wanted to avoid. He rotated the images with his hands, expanding his hands towards the sides to zoom in slightly. Despite the decent fidelity, Harry had nowhere near the range of vision he would have if he were standing there.

"Blaise. Those hills. Can you climb them?" Harry asked.

"This is still driving me bonkers, Harry."

"Can you climb them?" Harry hissed.

"I suppose we could. They aren't too elevated," Blaise said.

I need someone to get up high. I have no idea what the rest of the terrain looks like or in what direction they might be coming from. If only I could do it. Yet, who? How many? Should I chance them going through the "S" valley?

It was hard to think, much more difficult than it was for him when he was actually participating in a match. On the ground, everything was instinctive and he made snap decisions cultivated by years of training in other situational events. But overseeing everyone else required him to think for everyone else as well. He had to assess the strengths and weaknesses of his friends in real time since he was unable to cover the gap with his own abilities.

"Did you see that?!" Pansy suddenly cried out.

Jumping slightly, Harry cupped his hands together over the board and then drew them apart, expanding his view to see if Pansy was right. Yet, nothing was showing up in front of him. Nine green figures had their wands out, pointing in scattered directions. Harry rotated his hands around the invisible axis, rotating the view continuously, but he still couldn't find any movement.

"Pansy, what is it?"

"I don't know I saw something!"

"Is it over there?"

"No, I think it's over that hill."

"Change, change, it's around the bend."

"I don't see anything!"

The voices interchanged quickly, overlapping each other in Harry's head. He didn't know whether they were normally like this and he was too busy to overhear every little facet but confronted with every single communication, Harry was going mad.

"Nemin."

It was the most glorious silence he had ever heard. What was a buzzing of bees in his mind turned into a comforting blanket of nothingness. He could still see the green figures desperately turning in what was possibly the most strategically disadvantageous point at the mouth of three valleys, but Harry needed the momentary reprieve. Without the terrible squabbling filling his head, he was finally able to think. Pressing the Tracey button, Harry noticed that it squished instead of clicked.

"Tracey, take Pansy with you and head up that hill. We need a better vantage point," Harry calmly ordered.

"But what about -"

Harry interrupted her briskly. "Get up that hill, now. I don't see any movement here."

"Pansy said that she did and everyone else is asking why they can't hear you."

Disregarding her comment, Harry pushed on. "Tracey. You need to trust me."

There was another silence as Tracey wisely stopped talking and started thinking. After just a few seconds, she whispered, "Pansy and I are going up the hill. It'll be about a minute and I'll let you know when I'm up there."

Thank you, Tracey. Finally, someone that listens.

"Omnes."

The constant chatter was back, but it wasn't as overwhelming this time. He could separate their voices easier and found the experience more manageable. They continued to talk, their voices rattling in Harry's skull, as he watched the field of vision expand as Tracey and Pansy's images ascended the hill. There was a flicker of view that disappeared so quickly that Harry couldn't tell if it was the lighting playing with his eyes.

"Blaise, pull them into shell formation. I saw something coming."

Instead of immediately questioning his orders, Blaise had the decency to try and form them into their practiced and cautious formation. Overlapping shields in a slow moving group wasn't optimal in terms of attack, but it would at least regroup them and hopefully settle them down.

"Harry, I see Ravenclaws," Tracey interjected.

True to her word, blue images broke over the horizon of the hill, already slightly elevated from the main contingent of Slytherins. His hands moving quickly, Harry rotated the map so that he was situated behind the Ravenclaws, trying to see the vantage point from their perspective. As he tried to understand their trajectory, their images flickered as they lost consistency for a moment. Shaking his head, Harry wondered just exactly how this magic worked. Could he see anything within the predetermined field of vision? Could he only see exactly what his Slytherins saw?

"Tracey, turn around. Face away from the hills," Harry said.

As Tracey obeyed his commands, the Ravenclaws disappeared totally from his board. The answer to that particular question would be useful. Understanding that he could only see what they saw increased the importance of a scout like Tracey.

"Whatever you do, Tracey, don't attract attention to yourself. I can only see what you see and I can't lose you in this one. Disguising and illusions spells. Whatever you have to do to make yourself unseen."

"Got it, Harry," she answered.

Tracey and Pansy lay flat against the ground and Harry could only hope that they had used some sort of Disillusionment charm. After all, he could still see them on his board, but he didn't know what effects of the spell would have on his visibility. There were far more pressing matters to worry about. He pushed Tracey's and Pansy's buttons on the communication panel of the board, not wanting their directions to overlap with the orders he was going to give to Blaise.

The Ravenclaws had spotted the Slytherins at the mouth of the valley and Harry saw them scrambling for better positions up the hillside. It was quite a bit of distance to traverse so at least it wouldn't quite be Flubberworms in a barrel, but Harry had to get them moving.

"Blaise, there are Ravenclaws directly ahead of you along the ridge. They're too far away to do any real damage to you without some accurate spells so you need to beat a retreat to the other side of the hill and regroup with Tracey and Pansy at the top," Harry ordered.

Blaise didn't respond, but Harry could hear his heavy breathing in his head and touched the silver ring around his neck, marveling at the piece of magic. Since none of the older students had told them about this Board Room, Harry tentatively concluded that this facet of Battle match was new to them. Certainly, it would be quite helpful to obtain this wonderful piece of wizardry.

A flash of light caught his eye and Harry watched as an illuminated beam shot from one of the Ravenclaws wands, Mandy to be exact, arcing like a rainbow towards the group of Slytherins. It came short of hitting them, but Harry had no way of knowing what the spell was. Judging by the panicked movements of the Slytherins at the mouth of the valley, it was not just a Stunning spell.

"Blaise, what's happening?"

"I don't know," Blaise responded, "Some sort of thick sludge. It's growing around us. I don't know what spell this is!"

"Conjure something. Throw it into the sludge and for Merlin's sake, move back!"

"Conjure something...conjure something…" Blaise whispered, presumably to himself.

"Just do it, Blaise. Stop thinking about it! Everyone else, smoke and haze charms. Cover your retreat. Get back! Get back!

"Harry," Pansy whispered. "On the other side."

Flecks of red appeared around the bend, two or three Gryffindors on the ground level of the snaking valley. Upon sighting the turned Slytherins, they broke into a dead sprint and Harry watched as they raised their wands.

"Incoming on the other side. TURN. TURN. TURN."

There wasn't enough time to prepare nor did Harry have any grasp of the rest of the area. His immediate action area was a narrowing slice of land sandwiched between two approaching forces. It was only Pansy and Tracey, hidden to his knowledge, that gave him a tentative advantage.

Unfortunately, the Slytherins were slow to react to his orders as only some of them turned while the rest concentrated on the Ravenclaws over the ridge, now lobbing various spells concentrated on confusing the patch of Slytherins.

"Holy hell," Nott muttered.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Someone shrieked, but Harry couldn't decipher who as screams filled his mind. The Slytherins split apart as something scattered them, slicing them in half down the middle. There was an individual writhing on the ground, grasping his leg and upon further examination, it was Millicent.

"It crushed her leg!"

"Where'd they conjure that from?"

"She's screaming so loud!"

Blaise was lifted off his feet, his body twirling in midair before his image disappeared off the board. Judging from the overlapping shouts, he had been stunned by the Gryffindors rapidly approaching, sandwiching them in the overexposed mouth of the valley. Harry expanded his view, noting that they only had one way to escape.

Slamming his fists against the edge of the board, Harry screamed, "RETREAT UP THE HILL!"

Harry wondered if they were hearing him at all as they continued to try and fend off the Gryffindors, rooted to their spot at the bottom of the hill as Millicent continued to writhe on the ground, pinned by what had to be a conjured boulder. One figure walked over to Millicent and pointed their wand down to her and Millicent's image vanished from the board as well.

"UP THE HILL! UP THE HILL!" The person who stunned Millicent shouted and Harry blinked as he registered Malfoy's voice for the first time.

"Tracey, what is up the hill? Is it flat or is there something you can use to cover them?" Harry asked.

"There's uh...there's some trees. We can use that...we can use that!"

Tracey and Pansy leapt to their feet, finally emerging from their prone position as they waved their wands in slashing motions. Harry couldn't see any of the environment, but if he had to guess, they were cutting the trees down and rolling the trunks down the hill.

"Get out of the way!" Tracey yelled as Harry heard a thud and snap of wood.

The board was covered with spells flying across the air as the green figures scattered at the bottom of the hill, desperately avoiding the rolling logs while simultaneously ascending the slopes. The Gryffindors who were pursuing them halted their pursuit, scrambling towards the other side of the valley.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the blue images suddenly vanish off the board. Tracey wasn't fully looking in that direction, so Harry didn't know whether they were out of his field of vision or if someone else had caught them napping. Pansy swung around, thankfully o

Glancing to his right, Harry saw the distorted view of Hermione dancing around the table and though he could hear nothing, Harry imagined that she was delivering rapid directions and commands as she flitted around the magical board. There had still been no sign of the Hufflepuffs and if they were indeed following orders from Susan, they would no doubt take a more cautious approach. Cautious was probably a misnomer. More likely, they were biding their time, waiting to mop up everyone else.

The three Gryffindors that had pursued the Slytherins along the ground were doubling back across the valley, using the newly collapsed logs as cover as their images flitted in and out of view according to someone's line of sight. They were moving quickly, trying to close off a Slytherin retreat as Ron stood up, ready to attack.

"Everyone, down the other side of the hill. Get out of their line of sight and Granger won't be able to see you on her board," Harry said.

"What board?" A variety of voices asked.

"Just don't worry about it," Harry said with an exasperated sigh, his stomach tight with tension. "You need to get out of their view and bust it down the hill so you can outflank them on the other ridge. It has to be all of you, I can't risk splitting you apart now."

Nott responded, "Why can't we just stay on top of the hill? This seems like a defensible position. High ground and all that."

"As we speak, there are three Gryffindors coming up the same side of the hill you came up on. They will cut off your retreat and the rest of the Gryffindors will hit you with Bombarda and other spells designed to just splash the area. We will lose if you don't get off the top of the hill!"

"Harry, I don't see anyone. I don't see the Gryffindors coming up," Tracey said.

"I can see it all," Harry growled, anger boiling at their impertinence. "I can see all of you. I can see them when you see them and trust me when I say they are going to pin you down if you don't move now!"

"Shit, Potter, how can you see them? I think - I think we're better on the hill. Let us get some time to regroup," Pansy said in a panicked voice.

Harry's fist slammed down against the side of the the table. They weren't listening. They just weren't listening and Harry wondered if they even usually listened when he was there with them. Still, his fears were mostly confirmed. They were headless chickens without him, relying him on every turn and even though he was giving them what he thought to be good directions, the Slytherins were unsure without their leader.

"This is an order," Harry menacingly whispered. "Get off the hill."

Of course, they didn't listen.

* * * * * * * *

One night later, Harry waited at the bottom of the stairs of the Slytherin Common Room. The majority of their injuries were healed thanks to Madame Pomfrey's skills otherwise Harry would have pulled them all out of the night of his first session in the Board Room. He had given orders to Tracey to retrieve the girls from their side of the room and fortunately, at least in this situation, she complied without complaint. He gave the same orders to Blaise and reminded all of them to bring their wands.

There had been several ways in which Harry could have approached this situation. He had left the Board Room, disgusted and avoiding Hermione's obvious pleading glances to talk about the tools they just used. There was too much swimming through his head to add Hermione's eagerness to talk with it. To Harry, there were much more pressing matters to deal with first. He would eventually talk to her about the implications of the Board Room and what it meant to them, but the House came first.

"Potter, what's this about?" Nott asked as he stumbled down the stairs, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

Nott's impatience further stoked the embers of his anger. Harry didn't respond, simply glaring at him until it became obviously uncomfortable. Just as someone was about to speak, Harry quickly interrupted them.

"No talking."

He said nothing else though he could still hear the whispers behind his back, but it was beyond time to worry about that. As they followed him out of the Common Room, Harry had to laugh within his head. How easy it was for them to follow when he was present but not do so when he was giving orders from a remote location. No. That would not do.

Though the Slytherin House was located in the dungeons of Hogwarts, there was still a further level down where there were empty classrooms, a derelict of the past. Harry walked towards one that still had a door and opened it, ushering everyone else through first. Not a single one of them made so much as a complaint as they entered the abandoned classroom, save for Draco who glanced warily at Harry and the wand that hung loosely in his hand.

As the last person, Tracey, entered, Harry shut the door quietly, whispering a Locking Charm and a Silencing Charm at the same time. Turning around, Harry noticed that least Blaise and Draco were paying attention and showed some apprehension that Harry had locked the door behind them. Making a mental note to file that piece of information away, Harry strode towards the center of the room, disgusted by the way they gravitated away from him.

The silence continued, awkward and overbearing in the eerily quiet castle. Harry let it dangle there, letting them wonder why he had summoned them into an empty classroom in the middle of the night. Tracey looked at him expectantly and in some ways, Harry had been most disappointed in her. While she followed his direct orders to her, he noticed her silence as he tried to urge the Slytherins to move instead of staying at the top of the hill. After the battle in the forest, he had hoped that Tracey had enough initiative to wrestle control when he wasn't in play, but she failed in that regard.

"Potter -" Pansy started.

"Don't speak," Harry harshly interrupted.

Her mouth dropped and Harry reminded himself that this was the best option of the ones he imagined. In an ideal world, he would have replaced those who were not up to task to serving Slytherin with others, but this was the hand he was dealt. There was no replacing Goyle's oafishness or Bulstrode's lethargy. There was no undoing Malfoy's pride or Blaise's cowardice. There was nothing he could do about Parkinson's narcissism or Daphne's laziness. He could not change Nott's ego or Sadie's selfishness. Tracey he could rely on, but she had too much fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. She was too unsteady to lean on for now.

Alone, individually, in separate pieces, they could not function cohesively. Not now, at least. Maybe further down the line, he could trust them to operate without holding their hands the entire way, but they needed to be united. They needed to obey. Even if they despised him, the Slytherin House needed to regain their sense of self, long lost in decades of apathy.

"No one is leaving unless they get past me," he hissed the last word, calmly looking at each of them in the eye.

They looked around, struggling to find someone to speak to him. By default, they fell to Tracey and it angered Harry even more that they couldn't find the wherewithal to ask the question themselves.

"What...what are you doing, Harry?" Tracey asked for all of them.

"Yesterday was a pathetic display of basic dueling. All of you were terrible."

"That's a little unfair," Blaise said.

"You're right," Harry kept his coldness, not wanting it to seem like he was playing favorites. "Let me rephrase that. All of you were irrefutably awful."

Some confusion, but mostly anger, flickered across their faces. Harry struck again, twisting the knife deeply into their senses of pride and ego.

"I often wondered whether or not the rest of you would make it through one match without me. I think I've gotten my answer."

Pansy, always thinking highly of herself, stepped forward. "Now wait just a minute here -"

"We have all night to wait." Harry didn't let her finish. "All of you will learn how to take directions. All of you will learn to follow orders. All of you will learn how to comply. Until then - no one leaves."

Some of them were beginning to realize that Harry was serious. He had positioned himself between them and the door and Harry figured that he had at least four hours to bring them together. At least one of them would try to escape and that would trigger the others. Harry thought of how Snape stood and imitated him, widening his stance until his feet were shoulder width and placing his hands behind his back, his wand hidden though they knew it was present.

"From now on, I AM MERLIN'S WORD!" Harry screamed the last part, his voice echoing off the stone walls as some of the Slytherins flinched. Tracey, in particular, looked in shock at this sudden change in him.

"Salzaar Slytherin would be turning in his grave to see what Slytherin has become. Weak. Passive. Unable to function in any conceivable manner that could be deemed as half clever without me. Do I have to babysit all of you? Do I have to win every match for all of you?" He taunted.

"I am tired of watching you wait to see what happens. I am tired of carrying all of you on my back time and time again. I am tired of witnessing incompetence so gross that the Hufflepuffs could probably march you up and down Battle class without breaking a sweat. Because of this, you will obey every word I say. If I have to order when to breathe, then I will do so if that lets us win. I am not your friend. I am not your Housemate. Snape has let me know as much by assigning me to watch your every move while you are in Battle class."

More than a few of them had their jaws hanging open, not knowing whether to feel rebuked or angered by Harry's constant insults. Good, let them get mad, he thought. Harry was relatively confident that he could handle all of them if they decided to simultaneously attack him to try and leave, but they wouldn't do that. Tracey didn't have the courage to do so and neither would Blaise. Seven versus one he could handle with a mere Fulminare. It was an empty threat, one designed to instill fear within them.

"I am your Commander. You will address me as such wherever you see me. In Battle class. In hallways. In our dormitories. Until such a time I deem that you can walk without assistance in Battle class, you are all under my control and you will obey or I will not take you into Battle class."

"You can't do that!" Nott pleaded.

"I can. Snape has given me the right to do so," Harry lied.

No one questioned Headmaster Snape and Nott looked helplessly around at his other Slytherins who were in similar states of shock. Harry kept his face impassive, feigning calm anger while his heart hammered in his chest.

"WIll you obey?" Harry asked, walking towards Nott until he was face to face with the taller boy. Theodore looked away, not answering.

Stepping back and slowly pacing in front of them, Harry made sure to make eye contact with all of the Slytherins, restraining the desire to use Legilimency to influence their decisions. They had to make it themselves. They had to respond to him.

"Will you obey?" Harry repeated, the volume of his voice increasing this time.

It could have easily backfired. One of them could have laughed when he declared himself Commander or picked out his lie about Snape, but none of them did so, a testament to their lack of ingenuity under pressure. That would have to change but first, they had to learn to trust each other instead of just trusting him.

"WILL YOU OBEY?!"

Harry stopped pacing, resuming his Snape stance as he would come to call it, and waiting for the one person who would step up.

One person did so.

"Yes, Commander Potter," said Draco Malfoy.

One by one, the rest of them followed suit and Harry did his best to avoid the hurt stare from Tracey or the incredulous expression of Blaise. This was good. This was progress. The fact that it was Draco who complied first was better than Harry could have expected. They might not function optimally the first time, but they would listen. They would get better. They would hate him.

And inside, in a place that no one was likely to reach, Harry's heart blackened.

* * * * * * * *

"You got what you wanted."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Oh yes, it's basic leadership. Make them hate you to unite them. I've never been fond of that tactic."

"It's just the first step."

"The first step to what? Bringing the Slytherins together or turning Harry into the leader you envision him to be?"

"Why can't it be both?"

"You are…"

"I am what? Say it. Don't think I haven't noticed your disturbing trend to be more protective of the boy."

"I just don't think this is the best course for him...anymore…"

"And now you say this? Deep into our program, you have a change of heart? My - you are - just the man I thought you were."

"Do not let the sins of both of our pasts cloud your vision. I am simply looking for the best way to shape the boy."

"Spare me your attempts to share the blame. It lies with you. This could have all been avoided if you were mildly competent at what you were trying to achieve. That same penchant for heart and sympathy will kill the boy when he faces the Dark Lord. I do not care if you have had a change of heart. We have been paying for your mistakes this entire time. You, of all people, do not get to change what we have started."

"What would you have me do? What would you have me say to change things?"

"Nothing. You can do nothing. Just as you did nothing all those years ago. The boy has taken a great step today. He has recognized that he needs to be different. He needs to separate. He can not simply be satisfied with the fact that he is better than the rest of his peers. I will not have you sully this day of progress because of your change of heart."

"Do not let your bitterness control you. There is a way for the boy. A way that does not so closely share the same road of a similar ilk a lifetime ago."

"No."

"I have made you what you are. I have crafted this program for you."

"And it is my decision we will go by. The boy will learn to dictate the battle from afar. The boy will learn, in the upcoming tasks, how to win against monstrous circumstances. The boy will lead and clean the Slytherin house from the decades of rot that has settled deep within the roots. He will do all of those things because we - I - have chosen the right path for him."

"Please, Severus. I can no longer foresee a successful outcome for all parties."

"There never has been. After all, was it not you who originated our end game procedure?"

"It was...it was…"

"Don't pretend that neither you nor I didn't know what could become of this. Our first and foremost object was to rid of the Dark Lord. Then, establish a framework to defend against any such beings in the future. Last of all, in the case of irreparable damage, make sure that we have not created one. Oh - you do come up with the most sinister of ideas."

"It was an idea. Just an idea!"

"Yes, it starts as an idea. Then, it grows until you have no control over it. Potter will not have that problem."

"I'm...I'm a monster."

"Finally, you see."

* * * * * *

Estimated update time: 16 days

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