Chapter 4
The next few months was constant training in tactics and pistol shooting. Harry spent at least 4 hours on the pistol range every single day. He was as accurate with his sidearm as he was with his spells, and twice as fast. He had seamlessly settled into his role in the team, it had taken very little instruction for him to learn the tactics and ways of the Hit Wizards and the SAS.
Perry found Harry where he could usually be found, on the range practicing with his pistol. Perry stood and watched for a minute as Harry moved carefully through the targets spaced out at different distances. As each target popped up, he dispatched it with two bullets in the chest and one in the head, with deadly speed and accuracy. When he ran out of ammunition, he changed magazine so fast, if Perry blinked, he missed it. Once Harry had finished his training run, Perry walked out to meet him.
“100 meters in 45 seconds? Nice!” Perry mused, clearly impressed at the time Harry set.
“Yeah, 30 targets as well, with some civilians thrown in” Harry said, a little out of breath.
“Wow! I think it's time to add our spells into your training. How’s your Occlumency?”
“Pretty good. You spend your entire school life with Voldemort and an unhinged potions professor trying to get into your head, you learn some things.” Harry smiled.
“Ha-ha! Fair enough, we’ll test your defences another day and teach you some tricks of our own. Legillimency?
“Passable. I was never entirely comfortable with invading someone else’s mind, but I know how to” Harry admitted
“That’s fine. Smoggy is a master Occlumens and Legillimens. He’s our go-to guy for interrogation, but it doesn’t hurt to know it yourself” Perry and Harry walked out to the hangars in silence for a minute before Perry’s next question caused Harry to stop.
“What are your thoughts on ‘The Killing Curse’?”
Harry pondered the question carefully. He had gotten to know his team leader quite well over the months he had been a Hit Wizard, he knew he could trust him with his opinion.
“Honestly? I hate it. But, as an Auror, the amount of times we would lose good witches and wizards on a raid to it and not be able to use it ourselves really pissed me off” Harry spoke softly, looking at a point just behind Perry.
“Well, the people we go up against have, and will, kill people. They will not hesitate to try and kill you; you need to be prepared to kill them right back” Perry explained, he understood Harry’s mixed feelings on the Unforgivable curse that had claimed many of his friends at Hogwarts.
“You will need to learn it and be able to do it wordlessly. Can you handle that?” Perry asked.
Harry nodded “I’ve survived it twice, what's the worst that could happen?”
The pair broke out into near hysterical laughter and were still giggling as they met the rest of the team in their hangar.
The preparation for training to use Avada Kedavra was like nothing Harry had ever done before. For one-week Perry had Harry fight the other members of the team for a full minute, you were not allowed to block or dodge and you could not stop punching for the entire minute. Once Perry had shouted ‘STOP’ the fight was over. Perry called it ‘Milling’ and he had learnt it from the SAS and Paras. It taught a person to control their aggression, to be able to turn it off when it was not needed, and to turn it up to 11 when it was. Spells work on intent, so before spell practice Perry made Harry run on the spot shouting “KILL!” over and over again. It made Harry want to kill just to stop, it also made the curse a lot more powerful. Within a few weeks Harry could cast the curse wordlessly, and without having to run and shout ‘kill’ all the time. He had also learnt a modified piercing hex that mimicked a bullet and was also lethal if aimed at the chest or head.
In nearly six months, Harry was a fully trained Hit Wizard.