"You know Harry, we do have homework already. Should we really be here?"

The young man smirked as he paced in front of the blank wall, hands clasped behind his back. "Don't you want to get back into fighting trim?" he asked, glancing at the genius with a tilt of the head, longer strands of his bangs falling across his eyes. It was a hauntingly familiar look to the young witch. It was pure Sephiroth.

"Of course I do. I know that it was my fault I almost hurt myself before," she acknowledged, tapping the flat of the red blade against her leg. "I'm just saying, that we could chose a better time for this!"

"No worries," he offered as the door appeared. "I know we don't have a time turner, but a Haste might be useful if we run low on time for homework."

"…Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione muttered as they entered the room.

Now, this was familiar. A simple box, but it wasn't that simple. The blue glow of electricity, or at least as close as the room was going to create, a pair of small phones on the floor, and a familiar red logo on the back wall. It was one of the Shinra training rooms! Harry smirked as he picked up the phones, tossing one to Hermione as he flipped his open with an unconsciously practiced movement. He scrolled through the magical construct, ignoring Hermione's sputtering over how it 'Shouldn't work here, Hogwarts can't support Electronics!'

"Training begins now," he interjected with a smirk, selecting the first 'mission' on the list.

"What are we doing?" Hermione asked as the background dissolved into being. It was a barren wasteland, the ground bare but for a few dying strands of grass that struggled to grow, a straggly tree in the distance that was bare of leaves. Off in the background were the tall matte-black metal walls of Midgar. They were in the wastelands outside the city.

"We, are getting used to our weapons again. Knowing the forms is one thing, knowing how to perfom them while holding a stone or two of metal is another," Harry offered as the last pixel of magic settled into being.

"So, what's the plan?" Hermione asked, flipping her hair out of her eyes. "And what are you going to fight with? That Shinra Broadsword we grabbed may have been just short of a useless hunk of metal, but it was better than bare-handed."

"Just low-level monsters. As for my weapon?" Harry smirked, holding his hand out. He'd practiced last night, after finding a larger room first of course, and the Masamune appeared with a small chime of magic and metal. "I think I'm fine with this."

"Harry! How did you find that?" Hermione yelped, leaning in closer to get a better look at the blade.

"No time. Here comes the first wave," he called, pointing out into the waste. Indeed, the first of the monsters had pixilated into being as they were talking, tiny Mandragora that were only as tall as their knees, but a good first monster to start to re-polish their skills.

And they needed to work on it. The size of the castle and all of the staircases kept them in pretty good shape, but as Harry had noticed before, they didn't have the muscle memory needed to actually use the swords yet. He overreached and almost threw himself on his face at one point, impaling the monster on the Masamune, and Hermione choked back a giggle. Until she tripped herself, falling over another plant-monster. She did kill it though, slicing it on her way down.

Ten minutes later and they were panting as the last Mandragora died under the Rapier, chopped plant matter scattered around the pair. "We, done yet?" Hermione asked, rubbing a sore shoulder.

"Almost, I think it's just the boss now," he offered, rotating his wrists to get the cramps out. He had found him using his left hand more than his right as he was fighting. It had been strangely awkward to use his right hand, and he'd unconsciously switched after a few tries. He flicked his lengthening bangs out of his face. "There's gotta be a better way to do this," he muttered.

"Only a trainer, and the trainer is in our heads for this."

"Look out!" Harry suddenly yelped, pushing Hermione out of the way from the shadow growing in size behind her. A slash, and the creature staggered back with a roar, giving the pair a chance to regroup. It was one of the Anti-SOLDIER monsters that Wutai had bred for the war, and it was pissed as it nursed the slash on its paw of a hand.

Gaia! This was only a low level scenario! This was a monster that First Class SOLDIERs used to have trouble with. At once, instinct kicked in and the pair fanned out, each taking a different side to try and rote the creature. Harry prayed as they tagged and slashed at the creature that a second one wouldn't show up. They would be ok together, but he didn't want to run the risk of exactly how realistic the Room would make the training. He didn't want to know if this could kill them or not, or if it would just boot them from the program like the old VR room had.

As it is, Hermione suddenly screamed as she was clipped by the monster's axe, falling back hard, hand cupping her shoulder. The world seemed to pause. That same shoulder… With a yell, he charged, Masamune singing in his hand as he swiped and thrust and cut, the thick hide of the creature splitting under the shining metal.

As he backed up, Hermione yelled, blue aura flaming and writhing around her, gathering higher and stronger until it exploded outwards in a sea of blue and green and streaks of red. With a groan, the monster collapsed, slowly dissipating into nothing more than wisps of green.

The pair panted as the room dissolved back into the blue steel of the original room. Hermione groaned as she leaned back against the wall. "That, hurt. What was that?"

"A Limit Break? Looked like Ultima threaded with Flare or Laser."

"I'd rather not do that again."

A shaky laugh as Harry raised the magic in the Cure, the fear in his heart easing as the gash closed. "For a moment, I was so worried, that you-"

"What? Would degrade? That's impossible now," she offered, shaking her head as the wound sealed over. It would be tender for a while, but at least it was fully healed. "The reason I degraded before was the Jenova cells. Deepground had all of the information on Hollander and Hojo's work. My cells were dead, so when they died they wouldn't reform like yours did. But these," she gestured at herself, "are new bodies, new lives. No Jenova cells, no Mako, nothing. We're stable now." She shrugged. "It's going to be hard to work back up to the levels our combat skills were, but it could be worse."

The young wizard shook his head, bangs draping over emerald-bright eyes. "I just, thought you… I don't want to lose you. Not again."

She smiled as she wrapped an arm around thin shoulders. The heat from his muscles was radiating up through the robes as they slowly cooled from the fight. "And you won't. Even if the morrow is barren of promise, nothing shall forstall my return."

"Loveless?"

"Good for any occasion."

"Harry? Hermione?"

The pair looked up to see Susan at the door, the young woman looking around curiously. Hermione blushed slightly as she stood, pulling away from the wizard. She had a good idea why Susan was here. The Daily Prophet had announced the death of her Aunt a few weeks ago. She just offered a hand to the younger woman. "Want to join us?"

"What are you two doing in here? This doesn't look like the normal training room."

Hermione just smiled knowingly as the room shimmered and a red oversized shuriken appeared. Harry's eyebrow raised at the familiar Turk weapon. "Magic is strengthened by the strength of the body. Care to get stronger with us?"

Harry just smirked as he flipped the phone open again, Susan picking up the shuriken like it was meant for her hand. The young woman's eyes were steely as the room dissolved into the plains again. "Let's dance."