"Ice Shard!"

"Smog!"

The thick gas spread, obscuring everyone's view, and the sound of shattering ice erupted from within.

"Ingrain!"

"Flamethrower!"

"Brutal Swing! Icy Wind!"

An arctic breeze swept across the field, revealing Stumper the Phantump clinging to his new roots and Ludwig tumbling wick-over-rump from a hard blow.

Snow shook out her tails, favoring a foreleg, and Squishie stomped his paws on the packed dirt, daring the Ghosts to have another go.

"Hold!"

All four Pokemon relaxed as Nasrin stepped up, kneeling to press a kiss to her Pokemon's heads before crossing to give Ludwig and Stumper the same treatment.

"That was great." She praised, echoing the words Ron was shouting from where he was working with Emolga and Squeakers. "How about we take a break for food, and do a few more practice matches?"

Harry and Neville agreed with tired relief, heading towards the picnic blanket Hermione was sitting on, trying to entertain Togepi.

The baby scowled and whined until Snow curled around her and Ludwig started to fuss, and only smiled when Squeakers ran over, squeaking worriedly at his friend's distress.

Luna was bottle-feeding Flora her pain medicine, Mickey clamped onto her sleeve and Linus perched on her head like a hat, Star napping curled around the Bulbasaur, while Ginny kept watch over the mad game of Catch The Tail that her Rattata and Pachirisu were playing with Eevee and Scooby.

Cubchoo and Sam were comparing their skills against nearby trees, laughing when a poor Pidgey accidentally got nipped tailfeathers from their Powder Snow, and Squishie waddled off to yank Magikarp away from Filch's forgotten pruning shears while the trio sat down with bottles of chilled water.

"We're learning a lot more with you here than in Battle class." Harry noted with a touch of sass, pointedly ignoring Hermione's glare.

"Lockheart does seem to like the sound of his own voice." Nasrin agreed lightly, taking a sip of water and apparently unaware of Hermione's little huff. "But it's nice of our teammates to help out. I didn't know Fred and George were so good at Tag Team Battles."

"It makes sense." Neville voiced, watching Stumper study some wildflowers as Ron approached with Emolga. "They've probably been training with each other since the beginning, being twins, and have matching Pokemon that work well together."

Ralts and Snorunt looked over from where they were picking flowers when Nasrin pulled out subs from a cooler bag, handing them out as everyone converged.

"Who wants popsicles?"

Even Flora perked up at this, and the half-Gem handed out fruit-flavored pops to each Pokemon, pulling down the wrappers for them.

"Maybe we could use History of Avalon to come up with more strategies." Harry suggested, taking a deep bite of his overflowing ham-and-cheese sub.

"You're supposed to be listening to the lecture." Hermione scolded as Nasrin watched Squishie drag an unresponsive Magikarp around like a toddler would a teddy bear, popsicle in paw.

"B.I.N.N.I.S. isn't going to notice." Ron reminded her, patting Cubchoo. "It's not like we even get homework for that class."

This was true: while the Binary Interface Network-Nodule Interactive Sentient hologram could lecture, it had both an ability to put students to sleep and inability to give out work, which was much more boring than Environmental Survival with Professor Hooch.

"Besides, we need to come up with a list of counters for types with advantages against Grass, Fire, Ghost and Normal-types." Nasrin agreed, pulling Togepi and Squeakers into her lap so the pair could suck on their popsicles and chatter more comfortably. "We only know two of Chang and Edgecombe's Pokemon, but they know Neville's a Grass-type user and that Harry has Ludwig and Eevee."

"But not about Emolga or Stumper." Ginny finished, smiling as her Rattata and Pachirisu began to wrestle playfully in mimicry of Eevee and Scooby.

"Exactly. So depending on their secondary Pokemon, we'll need different strategies to catch them off-guard."

"What about a bilgesnipe?" Luna asked dreamily, Linus humming as he held Mickey's popsicle still.

"We'll have a plan for that, too." Nasrin replied as Robin swooped in to land on Harry's shoulder, accepting her popsicle with a happy chirp.

"In the meantime, let's review their practice battle." Hermione decided, whipping out her Pokedex as Crookshanks blinked sleepily from her lap. "Snow and Squishie simulated what Cho's Mienfoo and Marietta's Sneasel can do. Now, Harry, using Smog like Smokescreen is a very good idea, since it can also cause poisoning…"