Year One

Chapter 4: Hex

Madeline woke up that morning bright and early. So early that the sun wasn't even out yet, and the Slytherin dorms were still a gloomy dark from the moon shining through the lake water into the windows. Maddy's waking wasn't by her choice at all though. No in fact she would've much prefered to sleep in today seeing as it was Saturday and homework could wait till tomorrow. However instead she was rising with the other Slytherin first years because of the older sixth and seventh years. The older students were already dressed and were going around to all the first years firing off firecracker charms in order to wake them. "UP! Come on! Up you get!" they shouted.

Maddy groaned, but did as they said and rose with the rest of those in her year. They got dressed sloppily and headed out into the common room. They sixth and seventh years (there were about ten of them) all stood ready with their cloaks on. "Right," one of the seventh years with dark hair and sorrel skin said. "You all are about to learn some of the most important things about being a Slytherin. Yes even you, muggleborn," he said looking at Maddy. "Now, put on your cloaks; we're going outside."

"What?"

"Why?"

"I want to go back to bed."

"This is dumb."

Several of the other first years (all of which were pureblood) complained. Maddy rolled her eyes. If these sixth and seventh years wanted to teach them about being Slytherin, she was all for it. She would love to have a bit of an advantage over the purebloods if possible. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" another seventh year shouted. Maddy looked over to see the familiar blond hair and green eyes of one of the Slytherin prefects. She recognized the older girl from the welcoming feast when she'd led them to the common room the first night, Tris Cavanaugh she thought her name was. "Listen up. This is an optional exercise," Tris paused for a second and a few of the first years looked like they were about to go back to bed. "HOWEVER! If you choose to skip this morning's activities, you should beware of the consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" a black haired boy with freckles asked.

"You'll find out tomorrow morning," the prefect smiled.

Now Maddy was really intrigued. If a prefect was leading this, it shouldn't be too terrible, right? she thought.

"Alright you lazy first years! Get moving!" one of the sixth years said as he hustled the bedraggled first years towards the common room entrance.

Then again… Maddy thought as she frowned at the sixth year. However she didn't say anything as she headed out the common room entrance. Luckily from the dungeons, it wasn't that far of a hike to the Hogwarts main doors. Tris led the way outside and towards a flat patch of ground in the early morning sunshine. "Spread out now, and group into pairs of two," Tris called out.

Maddy paired up with Allison Longbottom and the two girls faced each other before looking around. The older students had spread out as well around the first years. Maddy also noticed that none of the first years who had been complaining had gone back to bed. Apparently Tris' threat was enough to get them moving. "Okay, now a lot of you have probably heard bad things about Slytherin house. Well I want you to forget all of it, because it's all rubbish!" Tris called out as she walked around the circle of first years. "Fact! In the seventeen years since the end of the war, Slytherin house has produced many of the most talented witches and wizards currently working in the Ministry of Magic."

She came around to stop in front of Maddy and Allison. "Fact! In the seventeen years since the war, there has been a forty percent increase in halfblood and muggleborn Slytherin first years." She smiled at Maddy before continuing to walk around the circle, her hands clasped behind her back. "Fact! Slytherin values characteristics such as cunning, adaptation, intelligence, ambition, and drive. Does that mean we're not brave? No! It means we are smart about when we are brave. Does it mean we are not loyal? No! It means we are cunning about who we are loyal to! Does being a Slytherin mean we hate muggleborns and halfbloods? No! It means we adapt to the modern age and accept those who would enhance our values!"

Tris came back around to the head of the circle. "We've brought you out here this morning to give you an advantage. This tradition was started five years after the war ended and has been done every third weekend in October since! We've brought you here to learn from the best of the Dueling Club. Being Slytherin can get you a lot of flack from the other houses, and sometimes it goes too far. We don't want you to be at the same disadvantage as those who came before us were. After the war, the Slytherin house was targeted by bullies because of many of our members' former allegiance to the Dark Lord."

Tris smiled then and slid her wand from a hidden sleeve pocket in her robes. "Today we teach you how to defend yourselves. Between today and tomorrow you will learn simple defensive spells and simple offensive spells. We will be testing you. We will be throwing jinxes and hexes your way in the hallways. If you're not prepared, then you had best study up for next time."

With that, the sixth and seventh years started by showing the first years how to do expelliarmus to one half of the group, and a simple protego spell to block hexes and jinxes to the other. Allison and Maddy took turns casting expelliarmus at each other and pulling up a shield to block the other. It took a few tries, and Maddy had her wand pulled from her hand multiple times, but eventually she got the hang of it. Allison on the other hand seemed to be a natural at the defensive spell, but her offensive spell casting needed a bit of work.

They switched partners at multiple times as well in order to get used to another person's spell casting. Even the sixth and seventh years paired up with a few of the first years. By the time the morning had slid into afternoon all of the Slytherin first years were fairly proficient at both protego and expelliarmus. However they couldn't leave for lunch until they could block a spell from one of the Dueling Club members. Maddy and Allison got a shield up right away on the first try and were awarded with a smile and permission to go eat. As the two first years made their way into the Great Hall, their stomachs rumbling, they couldn't wait to find out what they would be learning the next morning from the Dueling Club! And Maddy couldn't wait to try out her new skills on Violet.


Authors' Notes: Hey! Ismira here again. Queenoftheslayers and I hope you're enjoying our story! We're still having a lot of fun writing it! Feel free to leave us comments letting us know how we're doing! We'd be glad to hear from you!

Thanks!