Chapter Eight: The Dueling Club
Two days later was the first Tuesday of November, with Umbridge gone from the school, and Professor Shacklebolt taking over, the idea for Dumbledore's army was no longer needed. However, Professor Shacklebolt had wanted to give students some hands on practice with Defence against the Dark Arts. So what better way than a Dueling club.
"Now class," Professor Shacklebolt began. "In the dueling club, there will obviously be no dark spells began cast however, if you ever run into a dark wizard, this dueling club will help you be prepared." As the Professor announced this in his fifth year class, all of the students broke out into a buzz about the dueling club.
"Settle down, settle down. In this dueling club we will have a signup sheet that you will sign if you wish to participate. Once you sign up, you will be paired with three others. There will be a captain on the team, who decides on strategies and what not and three members."
"There will be two duels per match with a tie breaker if necessary. What happens is the first duel will be a three versus three. Your captain may not be a part of this duel. The second match is your captain and one other member versus the other team's captain and one of the other team's members. The tie breaker will consist of a captain versus captain match. You may not use the same member for the second match twice in a row."
"There are five divisions: The First and Second Years; The Third and Fourth Years; The Fifth Years; The Sixth Years; and The Seventh Years. There will be one match every three weeks for each team. If you wish to sign up, on the wall beside the door to my office is a signup sheet for each year. You must sign up for your year. In two weeks' time, we will be having an assessment day on the weekend to determine everyone's skill levels. One week after that will be when we announce the teams and the Captains. That is all, class dismissed."
"This is great!" Tracey exclaimed. Alvar and his friends were in the library writing their charms essay for homework.
"Tracey." Daphne whined. "You're supposed to be looking for books on the Silencio charm, not spinning around and dancing."
Tracey gave a big smile and went back to looking for a book. Alvar silently chuckled at the two of them. Alvar had offered to help the two of them with the work because he already knows everything and anything about the silencing charms. Tracey was all for it but Daphne want her and Tracey to actually spend time looking and reading because it would help them remember it. Tracey was not amused.
In front of him sat Susan and Hannah who were silently working on some Herbology homework. Susan looked up and caught Alvar looking at them. Susan lightly blushed and went back to her work, not looking up at all. "So Alvar, when are we moving into the new wing of the school where you will be training us?" Hannah asked.
"Well I still need to speak with the Headmaster about that. Also, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and whoever else they want to bring with them will also be with us. They will need to be trained as well." Alvar replied.
"Actually I may as well go see the Headmaster right now considering I have little to do. I'll see you girls later." Alvar said standing up from his chair.
"Bye Alvar." The four girls chorused.
Alvar silently left the library and made his way to the Headmaster's office. Right as he was approaching the Gargoyle, it moved to the side and then Professor McGonagall walked down the steps. "Hello Professor, I need to see the Headmaster."
Professor McGonagall paused before moving out of the way, allowing Alvar access to the stairs. Alvar allowed the stairs to bring him up and then he reached the Headmaster's office. "Come in Alvar." Albus said from inside his office. Alvar shook his head 'I wonder how many people get freaked out or confused by this, it's obviously a detection charm.' Alvar opened the door and strode forth to the Headmaster's desk.
"Now what can I do for you my boy, oh, would you like a sherbet lemon?" Albus smiled.
"No thank you Headmaster, I actually need a favour to ask of you. You see for the upcoming war, I plan on training four students to be my lieutenants and I also plan on training Harry and his friends. I wish for a small section of the castle where we would have our own private common room with dorms, a magic training room with a dueling platform, a workout room and a muggle weapons training room.
"Well that is a mighty tall request but I think I can manage. I shall have it by Friday. And if I may ask, who are the four students you plan on making your lieutenants."
"That would be Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass of Slytherin House, and Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot of Hufflepuff House, Headmaster." Alvar replied respectfully.
"All right my boy, now is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Yes, could you tell me where Harry Potter is right now?"
"Yes, he is in the Gryffindor Common Room."
"Thank you Headmaster."
With that, Alvar swiftly left the Headmaster's office and made his way towards the landing with the portrait of the Fat Lady, the hidden entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. He went up to the portrait and waited for someone to enter or exit. Soon enough he saw a small little first year running up the stairs towards the Gryffindor Common Room. The first year reached the portrait, panting and out of breath. "Hello, could you please get Harry Potter for me." Alvar asked politely.
The first year hesitantly nodded and gave the password and went into the common room. Very quickly, Harry walked out onto the landing. "Hello Harry, follow me." Alvar said mysteriously.
The two walked through the school until they reached the seventh floor in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and Alvar silently paced in front of it three times and then he quickly pulled Harry in through the door that magically appeared. Inside was a small square room with 2 big leather armchairs with a coffee table in-between them. The two sat down.
"Harry, I wanted to let you know that I will be personally training you for the war. You will be moving with me to a separate area of the castle. We will have our own training grounds and common room and dorms to stay in. You will still be able to go to the Gryffindor Common room and dorms if you so wish. Now, I need to ask who you wish to be privately trained alongside yourself. Choose no more than five others."
Harry sat deep in thought for a few minutes. "Ok, I obviously want Ron and Hermione; I also want to have Luna since she has been a great friend when others have not." Harry thought for a few more minutes before continuing. "I also would like to have Ginny here because Ron would really want her to be protected, and I suppose Neville as well."
"All right then, everything shall be ready on Friday, which is when we will all be moving in. Oh, by the way, I will also be training my four personal lieutenants, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Daphne Greengrass, and Tracey Davis." Harry looked momentarily shocked at the people but quickly shrugged it off knowing that they are his friends.
"Alvar," Harry began. "Why do you want me to lead the light side?"
"Because I do not agree with Dumbledore's philosophies. Yours are much more practical and realistic. His will cause the future world to be in disarray. That is why I chose you instead."
Harry nodded before the two of them stood up and left the room of requirement together.
It is now Friday, the eleven students that are going to be moved have been excused from class for the day so that they can get settled and prepare for the tutoring. "This is amazing." Hermione exclaimed. The group had just reached the common room entrance which was guarded by a suit of armour. The common room was a fairly large room, big enough to fit at least fifty people. It was a circular room with each quarter of the wall representing the house colours. There are fifteen armchairs and five three person couches. There is a large fire place in one of the walls and off beside the stairs to the dorms is a large bay window, overlooking the quidditch pitch.
There are bookshelves along the Ravenclaw part of the wall. There is a hallway along the Slytherin part of the wall which leads to the training rooms and workout room. There is a single stairway which leads up to a landing which has an overlooking view of the common room. Then there are two halls, the one on the left leads to the boy's dorm where Ron, Neville, Harry, and Alvar will stay. The one on the right leads to the girl's dorm which is slightly larger than the boys because the room has more beds. The boys and girls split and went to their respective dorms to check on their belongings before going back down to meet in the common room.
"Here, I'll show you all around to the training rooms and the workout room." Alvar said as he began to lead everyone out into the hallway from the common room.
It is a long hallway, around the midpoint of the hallway, there is a door on the right and left. The one on the left has a sign above it saying Muggle training room and the one on the right says magic training room. They enter the muggle training room first. The room itself is a long rectangular room. There is a boxing ring along the far back wall. On the wall to the right is shelves filled with weapons such as swords and knives. The wall to the left has many bookshelves with books on sword fighting styles and hand to hand combat. In the middle of the room is a whole bunch of mats laid down on the ground and a couple training dummies.
The group spent a few minutes looking around this room before retreating into the hallway and going to the magic training room. The room is also a long rectangular room. It has a long dueling platform in the middle of the room. Along the left wall are many bookshelves with books on spells and specialty areas such as Occlumency. On the right wall there are training dummies and targets. On the back wall there is a small meditation area. The group once again looks around for a bit before heading back out into the hallway.
They walk down the hall to the far end where there is a large wooden door. Inside is a large square room. On the left side of the room is a bunch of muggle workout equipment such as treadmills and stair climbers. The right side of the room has weights and punching bags. Down the center of the room, from the door to the back wall, there is some chalk drawn on the ground for sprints. Ron, Tracey, and Daphne were especially amazed with some of the muggle equipment they saw and were asking many questions. They soon went back to the common room.
"All right guys and girls, Starting tomorrow we will be training every day, the first things that we are going to be working on are Occlumency and physical fitness. During school days we will spend one hour in the morning working out and then three hours after classes studying and practicing. On weekends we will have a three hour workout followed by five hours of studying and practice." Alvar stated.
"Now we will be doing some very advanced things so one thing that I would recommend that you all do is learn Legilimency if you can. If you are able to I will allow you to see into part of my mind where you can absorb knowledge on magic. If you can't do Legilimency then you will have to work much harder, not that this will be easy. Now I suggest that we all get changed into workout clothes because we are going to be spending most of today working out."
And with that everyone got up and got changed and went to get started on what will be a difficult but rewarding journey.
