NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: New Faces, New Challenges
As was his practice every night, Evan spent two hours practicing wandless and parsel magic. He was also working on other simple charms, like making an object glow – Evan wondered if the light from lumos had to be in the palm of his hand. What if he focused on the light appearing above his hand? On the bed? In the end he could make things glow, even with different Colours! He also continued on working with transfiguration – he had begun originally with converting a match to needle, just like in class. Little by little he had progressed through all the transfiguration exercises they had done in class. He had recently completed second year material, and was going to start on third year material. Intent and focus!
October 8 – After revelry, warmup and breakfast, all the soldiers were assembled in the yard. Of the 10 men in Evan's team, one had dropped out and one was deemed as not sufficiently physically fit. The remaining eight, including Evan, were told to pack up their kits as they were shipping out at 0900 to the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM) at Lympstone, Devon, approximately 250 km to the southwest. Much of the basic training was out on the rugged terrain of Dartmoor and Woodbury Common where "the Royal Marines could be trained to carry out a variety of infantry and amphibious tasks in a range of operational environments". At 0900 they were lined up ready for roll call, and then ordered on the bus.
At about 1500 (3pm) they turned into a large facility with iron-barred gates, guard shack and a green and red insignia flag indicating they had arrived at the CTCRM. A few twists and turns and they arrived at a five-storied dorm building. They were then assigned new quarters and told to assemble out front at 1650. Dinner was at 1700, followed by orientation. During orientation, the unit was told training typically lasts 32 weeks (a little more than 7 months) for marine grunts, and 60 weeks (1 year and 2 months) for officers. (They were supposed to complete their course May 9, 1996).
They were told what to expect during training, what the security procedures were on base, what kind of behavior was expected of them off base, and what information could and could not be discussed in correspondence with friends and family. Next, they were marched over to the armory to be issued with a L131A1 semi-automatic pistol and a L85A2 Assault rifle (5.56mm). A Team Leader was then randomly assigned and a guard rotation established for the evening.
Lying in his bunk that night, Evan sent another letter to Hermione (to the Post Office Box Hermione wrote him about) telling her how his first few days were, and to what address she could write him back. He included a post-induction picture of him featuring his "Buz Cut". He initially thought of putting a Band-Aid across his scar to hide it – no need to "advertise" his scar, and then remembered the scar had faded completely away after the purging of the horcrux.
October 12 - Back at Hogwarts, Hermione received a muggle letter during the morning "mail bomb". In it was a picture of a young man dressed in a dark Navy Blue Royal Marine uniform, white with red-ribbon hat, sporting a crew cut. Hermione showed the picture to Ron, Ginny and Neville, who were sitting next to her. They saw a muscular older teen with light brown hair and brown piercing eyes looking back at them.
Other than the hard, grim and serious face looking back at them, there were no other distinguishing features. Ginny commented that Evan reminded her a little bit of Harry in the shape of his face and chin, but this guy Evan was obviously older, had no scar, no glasses, and had brown eyes and hair. Hermione quickly agreed, saying maybe that is why she seemed to like this guy. Ginny appeared happy in a way, that Hermione could not be close to Harry anymore (and unfortunately neither could she), and that Hermione had "moved on".
At breakfast the next morning, Evan began learning about the seven men and two women in his team. The women were Corry and Regina (R.J. for short). The men were Jimmy, Bobby, Scott, Ben, Oliver, Noah and Theodore. Their ages ranged from 18 to 21. Corry and RJ were both 20-year olds and transfers from the Royal Navy. They wanted to become more "operational". They had been trained in communications and field medicine, respectively. Corry, the communications expert was a Midshipman, and was supposed to be promoted to Lieutenant in six months.
RJ, the field medic, was already a Lieutenant. As such, she was the designated Team Leader because she held the senior rank. Jimmy, Bobby and Scott were all 18, and a year out of school, with no real training. Ben and Oliver were 19 years old respectively, and had spent the last two years working in fast-food restaurants. They were looking to improve their lives through the military. Noah and Theodor recently graduated with their Bachelor's degrees in sociology and math. They were feeling unfulfilled and, with the war in the Middle East and eastern Europe, felt they could serve society better in the military.
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