Word of warning, I'm going to skip a lot of years 1-3, because the real action starts in Year Four.

Green eyes sprang open, and a soft curse was heard. She knew it was possible for the Ten Year Bazooka to send people into the future, but she never thought that she would get caught in the Vongola's level of crazy and end up in her past! And she was in her past...the surroundings and the fact she recognized the wards confirmed it.

Looking at her tiny, five year old hands, she scowled rather impressively for a child.

Goddamn Vongola. At least this time she could set a lot of things right, provided this didn't suddenly reverse itself in the next five minutes.

As the dark gave into dawn Lal Mirch, formerly Lilac Adhara Potter, wanted to beat the ever living shit out of someone. Preferably Iemitsu...it was his spawn who let his crazies run wild and play around with that stupid bazooka.

Looking at her tiny hands, she was almost glad she had been clipped by that damn curse.

It meant she knew exactly how to adjust her training to get back into what SHE considered acceptable shape, though she was not sticking around Surrey any longer than she had to. She vaguely recalled the day that set her on the military path, though it took her far too much pain and suffering before she started basic training.

The day one of the men who had been overseas serving Queen and country as part of the Royal Navy came back and surprised his kid.

Being part of the military was one of the few careers Vernon would actually approve of, and if she was able to leave around certain papers that mentioned year-round schooling she had little doubt he'd jump at the chance to be rid of her legally in a way the magical enclaves couldn't do anything about. After all, she was getting an education.

Dumbledore would have a hell of a time explaining why he was forcing her to attend the same school as her cousin...especially if she happened to drop hints of Dudley being part of the SAS or something to Vernon. After all, surviving a military academy would look much more impressive to Smeltings and would make them look better to the neighbors.

The Hat always said she would have done well in Slytherin, and Lal wanted no part of the idiocy and bigotry of Privet Drive a second time.

For now she would have to bide her time.

One year later...

Lal Mirch had to smirk wickedly, in her mind anyway. If Vernon knew he was being deliberately set up by his niece there would be no end of trouble for her. A beating would be the leastof her worries.

Vernon saw the brochures for the year-round academies... some families could send their children to be trained not only during the school year, but also do extra training during the summer months as long as they paid for it. It also came with food, a bed, a set uniform and most of the basic amenities.

However the children would have to endure basic training scaled down for their still developing bodies, a strict dietary regimen and and even stricter set of rules that had to be followed or they would suffer punishment like running laps for several hours. Not to mention the very early wake up calls every morning.

Lal found the one that appealed to her the most, and made very sure that the brochure for Smeltings was right next to it as a subtle hint. A little minor compulsion charm made sure that the idea of sending both children to military academy would root itself in Vernon's mind... at the very least she wanted to be sure he enlisted her.

She had to hide a smile as Vernon started making discreet calls late at night, when they were supposed to be sleeping.

Petunia didn't particularly like the idea of sending her "precious Diddikins" away from her, but Vernon managed to soothe her worries by pointing out they would be rid of the 'freak' and that it would 'look less suspicious' if both the children were in the same academy.

Besides, he had no intention of making Dudley stay there over the summer.

Lal inwardly cackled as her 'family' had them enrolled in one of the best military academies in the UK within a month of leaving those brochures out for Vernon to find.

Dudley would be in the 'special' training courses meant for potential officers, while Lal would be in the 'basic' courses for ordinary soldiers. As a result the odds of them crossing paths dropped to zero, as the two courses were on completely different schedules. And there was no chance of him destroying her things ever again, because there were dorm monitors and the girls were kept separate from the boys.

If he survived military training, then perhaps he wouldn't be a useless waste of space like he had been the first time around. She had not been surprised when Vernon died of a massive heart attack, or that Dudley was killed in a shoot out with some thugs.

Today was paint ball day, and to say Lal was looking forward to it was an understatement.

Since the teachers couldn't exactly give the kids under ten a real gun, even with parental permission, they substituted the rifles with air soft and paintballs guns instead. Paint ball was a game that could teach the students how to shoot with a much lower risk of accidentally killing anyone. The worst anyone had ever gotten from the game was a nasty bruise and only those that passed the basic safety course was even allowed to join.

She had to wonder if Vernon or Petunia knew exactly what the extra summer courses were. God knew Dudley was going to be very unhappy learning that those who stayed over the summer months got to play paintball and a select few were given permission to practice with real guns.

He was barely keeping up in the officer courses as it was. At this rate he might be very well dropped down to the same lessons she was taking.

Lal grinned as she held the paintball rifle in her hand. In order to make sure the kids didn't accidentally shoot themselves or freak out about the guns, they were permitted to fire off a few test shots so the teachers could instruct them on how to hold the rifle properly and how to reload. They were also given some red permanent markers, to act as 'knives'. The idea was that if you allowed another student to get that close to you, then it would symbolize the same damage that could be done with a knife.

It had taken her three shots to get the range on the gun, and know how much recoil she would be dealing with. There were caches of 'ammo' hidden all around the small forest, some in very unlikely spots. You weren't allowed to use the ammo for the other team, as the summer lessons were only big enough for two groups. Sabotage, however, was allowed within reason.

If you were hit with a Kill Shot (head shots were discouraged, despite the fact everyone was wearing special helmets...everything else was fair game), then you had to walk to the "out" zone and wait for the next round to begin.

Lal was a member of the "Blue" team, which she found slightly ironic as a Rain.

She felt like an attack dog on a leash waiting to be set loose. These poor kids had no idea what they were up against.

The blue team was sent in first, as they had won the coin toss. It was to prevent any 'accidental firing' from either side and to give them the advantage.

She found a reload spot rather quickly, one that was meant for her team. She made sure to mark it and then found a perfect spot to snipe the red team without being seen once the game started properly.

As this was the game for the younger years, it would be impossible to set any 'traps' up to catch the unwary. Besides, this training doubled as a fun way to get the kids used to firing guns and hunting each other.

She wouldn't be surprised if it also gave the teachers a better idea of who would survive real military training and would likely enter the service once they were legally old enough to do so.

Hearing the air horn go off, Lal didn't bother to fight back the feral grin.

Outside the forest

When the first set of 'Red' students came out of the forest after ten minutes in, the teachers were merely amused. Four or five wasn't that unusual.

It took them several long minutes to register something rather important...that each student had been hit with a perfect one-hit kill shot from a blue team member.

"Goddamn sniper! Who the hell is up on that ridge anyway?" complained the red team's captain.

"Ridge?" asked Professor Arnold. He had been a member of the SAS back in the day, and now he was stuck teaching due to a bum knee.

"Some jerk from the blue team is sniping us," complained the red team captain. "We can't get within ten feet of the creek without shots being fired or another man down!"

Professor Arnold knew of the creek...there was only one ridge nearby that would provide decent enough cover for a sniper that was within range of the cheap paint ball rifles they had given the students.

"Worst part is that we could see some of the extra ammo for the red team and none of us could get near it," complained another.

Professor Arnold had to hide a smile. It sounded like someone on the blue team had a good grasp of ambush points. By leaving a supply of extra ammunition out in the open, it turned anyone from the opposite team into a perfect target. Add in the fact they were able to snipe another student with something as boring as a paint ball gun, and it meant the shooter might be slated for 'extra' training later.

So when the air horn went off, and the blue team came out of the forest, the teachers paid special attention to figure out who the sniper was.

Most of the blue team were very confused, as they hadn't actually seen the red team members. Several of them had grouped up together to try and find the red team so they could start the game.

Only one member of the blue team seemed quietly smug about something.

Lilac Potter was something of an anomaly in the academy. Her family had made it clear that she was nothing more than an errant troublemaker and that any punishment necessary to keep her in line was considered 'acceptable'. Her aunt and uncle also made it clear that she was to be kept as seperated from her cousin as possible, and that special treatment should be given to the other boy.

The reality couldn't be further from the truth. The girl they were warned was a 'troublemaker' gave them the least amount of problems, even if she wasn't a morning person at all. She was usually the first one up, her things were well kept and she was generally the most prepared for the morning run and only gave the bare minimum of grumbling during basic training. Her grades were in the top ten, and she almost seemed bored during class despite being able to understand the material.

Dudley, on the other hand, was a spoiled brat who complained far too much and was simply a bully. He might have been thrown into the officer training courses, but he certainly wasn't officer material. He was always the last one up in the morning and was extremely lazy. He never took care of his things, was often reprimanded for his slovenly habits, and he kept attempting to steal the food of others until the teachers made it very clear that such behavior simply wasn't acceptable.

Worse, he kept calling his much smaller cousin a freak and would attempt to pin the blame of any of his own misdeeds on her, despite being nowhere near the area and with an airtight alibi to boot.

There was something deeply wrong with that family.

When the second game started, the teachers paid close attention to Lilac.

Some of them even snuck into position, and noted with some shock that she was able to tell where they were but did nothing about it.

It only took a few minutes to ascertain that Lilac Potter was the mystery sniper.

"That girl is going to go far, you mark my words. She's a natural sniper!" said Professor Emily. She was one of the few female teachers in the school, and the one in charge of the female dorms.

"I have an idea... why don't we switch the courses the two cousins are taking?" suggested Arnold.

"What do you mean?"

"Dursley is far from officer material, and he's consistently at the bottom of the class. Whereas Potter has been in the top ten, if not the top five with consistency since she started this school, and she's trained her ass off during basic to the point she's usually the first one to finish. The fat lump paid for one of them to be in the officer track and the other in the general track... nothing said we couldn't switch their lesson plans around and I highly doubt the Dursley child is going to complain about having an 'easier' course guide," said Arnold.

You could hear the disgust in his voice when he called the 'general' courses easier. The only difference between the two was that the officer lessons was that they were held to a much higher standard and were given harder lessons on top of extra training. After all, an officer had to act as an example of leadership for his men in the field and thus more was expected of them.

Dudley had thus far shown he was more 'lackey' than 'leader'. He would be much better off with the general students.

Besides, Dursley was going to get exactly what he paid for... one student in the general course and one in the officer.

Lal looked at her new lesson plan with interest. Her original one was rather light on the lessons and had plenty of time for personal training.

This new course guide left very little free time, and had several lessons that looked more like a lighter version of what she went through in officer training school when she was in COMSUBIN.

Hearing Dudley brag about being given 'special permission' to drop several classes gave way to suspicion. Especially when she realized that her new lesson plan meant that she would no longer be in the same classes as her friendly acquaintances she had made.

Was it possible the teachers deliberately switched their lesson plans, putting Dudley into the general courses?

By the end of the second day she was sure of it. She knew Dudley was a lazy, boorish braggart who only got away with half the things he did because he was bigger and more inclined to violence... never mind the fact his parents did nothing to curb his bad behavior and were more inclined to ignore it entirely by blaming her.

An evil gleam entered her eyes. Well, if the teachers were going to switch their lesson plans around, she saw no reason to half-ass it like she had been.

Though she was still debating on whether to attend Hogwarts or not.