Triad

Sacrifice.

Harry adjusted to her new routine surprisingly well.

Life in the safe house Augusta Longbottom provided, however, wasn't a bed of roses. A few people were still giving Potter angry looks, they clearly blamed her for what happened in their last camp, but either way, Harriet didn't have time to deal with her newly acquired outcast status.

Every second she was awake was spent training, doing patrols, night missions, or planning a way to get the cup out of the Lestrange vault.

Tom and Regulus were effective but brutal teachers. They forced her to build steel stamina through exercises that made torture look like child's play.

"Power means nothing if you don't have enough energy to keep dueling for hours. Exhaustion can kill you faster than any Unforgivable Curse." Tom had told her, staring at the girl as she panted, covered in sweat.

There was nothing Riddle loved more than Magic, that was evident in his fixation with improving himself, in the way he abandoned his usual and so typical arrogant posture when he was teaching her.

His fighting style was dirty, cruel, and chaotic, stunning to watch.

He dueled Regulus once to show her what to expect, and Harry thought that that little world would crumble. The sky darkened, the buildings shuddered in their structures, the boys were nothing but flashes of light and magnetic power crackling in the air.

Shards of glass covered the entire street when Regulus finally disarmed him forty minutes later. Potter had only escaped unharmed because they had both put a shield around her.

"He's right, but persistence doesn't guarantee victory, especially if you continue with this ridiculous spell repertoire," Black adds to the conversation, signaling for the girl to get back to exercising. "Now, Harry, what spell would you use if you wanted to dismember me?".

Harriet glared at him through the sweat covering her face. "Believe me. I wouldn't need a spell right now."

Tom clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth in disapproval. Regulus smiles and casts a weakening spell that brings her to her knees. "Wrong answer, start over."

"Fuck, what's your damn problem?!".

"I could list our dear Regulus' problems, but if you don't show progress by late afternoon, I'll intrude," Riddle announced, ignoring the eye roll of the boy beside him.

Tom had a lot less patience, and his punishments for failing tended to be harsher as well. Grumbling, Harry got up off the floor and started again.

The girl's over-involvement with the Horcrux and its two residents also made the task of reconnecting with her old friends nearly impossible. Potter felt terrible for thinking that way, but every second spent with Ginny or the other's survivors of Dumbledore's Army felt like a waste of time. She always caught herself thinking that she could be doing something useful, something that would help end Voldemort.

Despite the trio's efforts, everything seemed useless. All the plans Harriet formed with Tom and Regulus had holes or turned out too ineffective. Through Hermione, Harry got from Draco copies of obscure and ancient books for the boys to study, but not even the treasures of Malfoy Library had any promising results.

As the weeks turned into months, exhaustion found a permanent home in Harriet. Tom made her practice spell movements with a stick until her gestures became robotic and her wrists ached for days afterward. Regulus took care of her pronunciation, and the girl murmured incantations even when she was sleeping.

But even with all that relentless dedication to improving herself, Potter was desperate. It only got worse when another attack happened.

The fall of the second camp wasn't exactly a surprise. Voldemort was a temperamental creature, and he was angry. He wouldn't stop until the last of those who opposed him died -Harry included, now that the Dark Lord believed the girl had betrayed him.