An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter One

"On your left!"

I heard my Uncle Steve yell, but I processed it just a second too late. Something slammed into my left leg, sweeping my feet out from under me and taking me all the way to the ground.

I landed hard on my back, the mats only softening the fall a little bit. Normally, I'd pop right back up and keep going, but this time I stayed down. I was just so tired.

"Alexa? You okay?"

Steve's face appeared above me, and he had a guilty look on his face. As he should, since he was the one to take me down.

"I'm fine," I huffed, still refusing to move. "Just resting."

"No resting," said Aunt Nat, joining Steve in standing over me. "This is your last round of training before you go back to the wizarding world."

I just groaned. Ever since I'd almost died in the Triwizard Tournament and my family had seen just how dangerous the wizarding world could be, they'd become the most ruthless trainers on Earth. We'd made a deal last year that I could go back to Hogwarts for my senior year, as long as I spent the summer training until I dropped and my family was satisfied with the results. I honestly hadn't thought it would be that bad; I'd been training with these people my whole life. I turned out to be dead wrong.

This had been the single most exhausting summer of my life, and that was saying something.

Nat reached out a hand for me and I took it, groaning in protest even as I let her pull me up.

"Alright, we've been training all day," I sighed. "Can we please be done now? I need to go make sure I'm all the way packed before dinner."

"No way. We're not ending on that," said Steve, crossing his arms. "You need to end on a success, to prove to us you can keep fighting even when you're exhausted."

"I've been doing that all summer!" I shouted. Nobody looked impressed.

"Final test," said Aunt Nat as Steve and Bucky headed to the side of the room. "Beat this, and we'll call it good."

I sighed. "Fine. What's the test?"

Nat just smiled and headed to the side of the room with the supersoldiers. Clint stayed where he was, grinning at me and pulling an arrow out of his quiver.

"I have a feeling it's not just you," I said, trying to get ready to go toe to toe with my uncle. I'd managed to take him on a few times this year, but that didn't mean it was going to be easy.

"Good feeling." I turned around to see Rhodey walking through the door with his suit, grinning at me as Peter walked beside him. "You've got Peter for speed, and me to go as hard on you as I possibly can."

"Seriously, Uncle Rhodey?"

"Seriously. I'm a big part of why you're going back at all this year, so it's my job to make sure you can protect yourself. I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened to you, so I'm not gonna pull any punches."

I took a deep breath and tried not to let it show how much that was impacting me. Going up against Iron Patriot at full strength without being able to use my suit was going to be a truly hellish challenge. I'd have to be fast enough to keep him from even getting close to landing a hit.

I shook it off as best as I could. I had to be able to handle this. There was no other option. I hadn't had much word from the wizarding world about what was going on while I was gone, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had to go back.

I got into a fighting stance as Hawkeye, Iron Patriot, and Spider-Man circled up around me. I took a deep breath in and let it out, trying to open up my senses for wherever the first attack would come from. The point of this training was hand to hand combat, so all I had going for me was my Mystic Arts stuff, no wand or suit.