The next morning, Adrian and Harry were training by the lake, as always.
"Come on little brother" Harry said as he dodged a punch from his brother
"I'm only a few minutes younger" Adrian tried to kick Harry's leg, he was denied when Harry lifted his leg up and stepped back. Adrian jumped at Harry and wrapped his arms around him, he tried to lift Harry up. Harry went limp, and Adrian struggled to get him up.
"Adrian" Harry said with a small smirk "in a fight, if something doesn't work, don't waste time on making it work, just move on."
"Oh…okay"
"By the way, you know how most of our training ends with you on your back?"
"Uh…yeah but why are you…" Adrian was cut off by Harry throwing him overhead and him landing on his back, thankfully Harry had already drilled how to fall and reduce impact into his head "Ah…that's why"
"Yep" Harry helped him to his feet
"I doubt I'll ever be able to beat you" Adrian sighed
"How many people said that with me and Voldemort?" Harry playfully nudged him on the arm "If I was you, I'd focus more on reachable goals as compared to reachable goals that will take longer"
"Hmm, what do you mean?"
"Alright, imagine you're walking up a really tall mountain. You see the tip of the mountain, hanging in the air, it looks like it reaches all the way up into the sky. If you look just at that then you'll feel defeated and hopeless. Just look a bit closer to where you are and focus on reaching that point.
I defeated Voldemort and have been fighting for nearly all my life, don't try and match me when you've only began training recently. Focus more on becoming best in your year or the best Gryffindor, then once you've achieved that, upgrade your goals. Small steps brother"
"Thanks…that makes sense" He said eventually "hmm, this is nice"
"What is?"
"You know…spending time with each other" Adrian smiled "me learning from you and you offering me smart advice"
"Of course I'd offer you smart advice, that's the only advice that ever comes out of my mouth" Harry smiled back
"Whatever. Uh...Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you mind if I ask you a bit of a personal question?"
"Ask but I can't promise I'll answer" Harry replied honestly
"You've...killed before, h...how does that feel?"
"What do you mean?" Harry raised an eyebrow
"It means how do you feel when you kill someone? I'm curious"
"Honestly?" Harry thought about it for a sec "I have to admit...nothing really"
"Nothing?"
"No...I'm sort of numb to it" Harry admitted "the first time I killed was the Dursley's, and I was way too mad at them and focused on surviving to properly think about it. But in all honesty I have no regrets about that, Uncle Vernon wanted to kill me and Aunt Petunia was going to let him. Maybe Dudley could have been redeemable, I doubt it but he could've been, either way I have no regrets about that. I've killed quite a few over the years but never anyone innocent or anyone who didn't deserve it. I've killed in self defence, I've been doing so for so many years."
"You killed Quirrell for me" Adrian reminded him
"And that Basilisk for Ginny" Harry added "it's rather sad but I've sort of gotten used to it. I was never emotionally invested in any of the people I killed, I don't think I'd ever kill Daphne or Rose"
"Do you think we should be killing in this war?" Adrian asked curiously
"Not everyone" Harry answered "some are redeemable, others aren't. That's the mistake that Dumbledore is making, he thinks everyone is redeemable"
"You think he's wrong?"
"I think everyone is different, some are redeemable and others aren't. Look at Peter Pettigrew, he made his choice and sided with the dark. Some could argue he did it out of fear, but you remember what he said about mum in that graveyard. He did it because he was a power hungry little shit"
"True" Adrian nodded "but that would've meant he would've stuck with Dumbledore if he thought that Dumbledore was more powerful"
"No, because Dumbledore is powerful but he would've lost. You know how muggles fight wars? They don't charge at the enemy with their fists, they use knives and guns and they fight to win, not knock out. Because they know that every second is a second that could determine if you live or die. In the last war Dumbledore had the order stun everyone and send them to Azkaban, in an ideal world that would work but this is the real world. Those death eaters would eventually be let out because the dementors were on Voldemort's side, so the order would have just wasted hours of their lives and some actual lives just to temporarily contain some death eaters.
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