"Expelliarmus!" I wore a satisfied smile as the fellow fifth-year I was dueling with fell backwards. I caught his wand with my free hand, which had gone soaring towards me.
Neville Longbottom got to his feet and dusted himself off. "You've not even practiced casting spells for a full year yet, and you're already better than me!" he said laughingly.
I glanced around the Room of Requirement. We had been having our Dueling Club meetings there for the past few weeks. Harry had suggested the idea when people started complaining that they wanted to more about Defense Against the Dark Arts than what we were being taught in class. We suspected that Dumbledore knew something was going on, but hadn't confronted us with it. Yet.
But as far as we knew, no-one else that wasn't part of the Dueling Club knew about our secret meetings twice a week in the Room of Requirement..and we wanted to keep it that way. We all knew that if Professor Snape ever found our about our meetings, there would be trouble, and alot of it.
I looked forward to our meetings. It gave me the opportunity to learn new spells, not to mention spend time with Harry.
I was surprised at how well I fit in with his group of friends. I had actually become close to some of them in the short three months I'd been at Hogwarts.
"Move over Neville, I'll take her." boasted a confident George Weasley, Ron's older brother. Neville obediently moved away to give us space.
"Okay, on 'three', begin casting." said Neville. He looked at me nervously. "One.."
"Stupefy!" George yelled on two.
"Protego!" I casted a micro-second after, reflecting his own spell back at him. George fell backwards. My heart raced as it did every time I cast a spell.
Harry a few other students had gathered around and were watching.
George slowly rose to his feet, shaking his head. "Unbelievable." he muttered under his breath.
Harry looked at me proudly. "She's something, isn't she George?"My face lit up as I smiled brightly at him.
"She's something, alright." George replied crossly, then gave me a tiny smile to show that he was only joking.
"My turn." said Fred, George's twin, as he pushed George out of the way. "Neville, fetch the Boggart."
We had borrowed..or, stolen...whichever you prefer, a Boggart from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to practice with. I had only practiced with it a few times, and honestly, didn't care for it too much, but it was good to know how to defeat them in case we ever had to.
Neville carried the oversized chest the Boggart was being held in over to where Fred and I stood.
"You ready?" He asked me, his hand on the latch.I nodded, sure I could handle it. He opened the chest, and the Boggart came flying out. At first, it was just a hooded figure, then changed into my worst nightmare..
