Headstrong

Chapter 20

Amanda walked into the camp, with the bag slung across her shoulder. 

She was surprised to see Blaise in the camp, quickly walking over to him with a grin. He raised his hand in greeting. 

"Hi Amanda. I'm supposed to give you a tour of the camp. I just need to tell you the schedule. We have to wake up at three o'clock in the morning, do chores till eight, then we have a small breakfast. We then have training till three and have lunch break. Training or classes until nine and dinner. Bed at eleven. Here are the sleeping quarters, you'll find out the rules tomorrow. Have a good sleep."

Blaise walked away with his head bowed, and Amanda turned to look at the building in front of her with a sigh. Having an idea now where everything was, she climbed up the steps to her sleeping quarters, dumped the bag at the foot of a bed and collapsed onto it.

...

Amanda was awoken at three in the morning by an older girl, who told her that her name was Lucy. She gave Amanda a uniform, that in Amanda's opinion, was incredibly ugly, with a watch, a backpack, and some supplies she may need for the camp. Amanda would have to give them back at the end.

Amanda got changed, then followed the older girl out. She showed Amanda down to a farming area, and quickly left so that Amanda could complete her chores.

Amanda worked for five hours doing various things. She moved hay bales, fixed the roof of a barn, painted a fence, and collected produce from various animals.

At eight, she grabbed a quick breakfast. She then walked down to the training ground, following everybody else.

"You will run until we tell you to stop. The person left behind will get the cane." A bulky man said, before blowing his whistle.

Amanda immediately took off, leaving some of the people behind her in the dust. Amanda did not want to be beaten, and so she ran. The group continued to run laps, being given a short break on completion of each one to drink some water.

When the whistle blew once more, Amanda checked the military watch she had been issued, almost collapsing with exhaustion. It was lunchtime. They had been running for over six hours. Breathing heavily, Amanda made her way slowly to the lunch hall, falling heavily onto a bench and placed her head on her arms. 

They were given a large lunch, then taken back to the training ground.

That afternoon, Amanda had to do various exercises. But that was only for an hour. She was then taken to class.

In this class, all of the campers were piled in together, and together they had to listen to adults talk about Pureblood ancestry, the terms for Muggleborns, (Amanda didn't realise how many these people actually used) and because Amanda disagreed heavily with what they were saying, she was beaten. Many times.

Amanda noticed that the people favoured the boys, as they were hardly ever beaten. The girls of the group sported red marks on their hand from the cane, and slap marks on their faces.

When Amanda left, her hands were blistered and bleeding. She saw Blaise come up to her and walk beside her.

She showed Blaise her hands and he winced. He dragged her away and passed her a balm from his supplies. He brought it every year, but he hardly ever got beaten these days. He had learnt to keep his mouth shut.

Amanda smoothed the balm onto her hands and felt instant relief.

The two quickly raced to the dinner tent, as they didn't want to be noticed as missing.

At eleven, Amanda went to bed, exhausted. She hated this place.

...

By the end of two weeks, Amanda's hands were throbbing even after she had put the balm on, she was exhausted, and she was fed up.