Snape crept onto the chair in his classroom like it was a slide, tapping his wand as his Defense Against The Dark Arts class sat back in their seats, waiting for the day's instructions. It was sometimes a full theory lecture about the Dark Arts or the defenses against them but rarely mixed together with practicing sessions with charms and other protective spells.
"Sir," Hermione raised her hand, wondering why Snape wasn't doing anything.
"We are waiting for my assistant for today," Snape rattled his fingers on the desk. "He is late, and this is getting annoying…."
Cadmus fell into the candlelit room flat on his back, a steady trail of clearness on the otherwise dusty stairwell being proof of his misfortune. He found himself staring right up at Snape, who sighed and pulled him up.
"We are going to help you defend in the way that matters," Snape cracked his knuckles. So I want everyone to pair up today and show Professor Pendragon what you've been learning in his nonverbal magic lessons."
"Nonverbal and wandless," Cadmus rubbed his head but nodded at Snape.
"What does this have to do with Defense Against The Dark Arts? It feels more like a dance…" Ron squared up to Harry but limply waved his wand with no magic coming out.
"I would like all of you to try jinx the other without so much as a word. The other has to counter the jinx, also without a word. Words are power, but strength! Strength is something beyond words!" Snape made a fist with his free hand, waving for the mini-duels to continue. "Remember, only jinxes! We don't want anyone losing their limbs or senses today…it's too long to climb up those steps to the hospital wing."
The professors stood back on the teaching stage as the students began zapping each other without speaking. All that could be heard, aside from footfalls and spell noises were the muffled breaths of the students. They had tried to cheat the first time Snape tried teaching them non-verbally, and he was forced to get a new desk after Potter used a spoken Shield Charm as a reflex and destroyed the old one. Now things were a bit better, though the odd half-word escaped their lips.
"Longbottom, mind your breath! You shouldn't speak, but breathe!" Cadmus slapped the boy on the back and he let his nervous breath out, muttering some sort of counter to Hermione's Cross-Legged Jinx.
"Weasley, you are supposed to curse your partner, not merely give him evil looks!" Snape hit Ron on the back of the head with his wand, shaking his head ruefully. Ron's partner Luna Lovegood was, by contrast at the ready, in the pose that Harry had taught her a year before in the Room of Requirement. "Look at Lovegood; if she was a Death Eater she would have torn you to pieces. Twenty points to Ravenclaw."
Everyone stopped at the words 'Death Eater', but wands swung down as Severus Snape, probably for the first time in his career awarded someone other than a Slytherin a House Point. Snape raised his wand and everyone started dueling again before he could unleash something. He stood next to Pendragon, who was eyeing Potter and a nervous Hufflepuff boy who was nonetheless holding on bravely. Potter kept on mouthing spells, which allowed the boy to counter him easily.
"You're not very good at keeping mum, are you Potter?" Cadmus moved Harry's opponent aside and pointed his finger at Harry's mouth.
"That's why I didn't join your class, Professor," Harry shrugged. Cadmus closed his eyes and gave him a knowing wink; he knew that Harry wouldn't bother with non-verbal magic and did not do so when fighting Voldemort himself, so it was practically a lost cause anyway. He jerked his head up at Snape, who Harry never called Professor.
"Judging by your O.W.L results as well as the last test I'm slightly impressed by your progress," Snape pointed his wand at Pendragon, "but to truly fight things like those," he pointed to the creepy illustrations of the Dark Arts on the wall with his free hand, "you should remember that they are used by people who do not stop to think. Professor Pendragon and I will therefore have to demonstrate how to fight non-verbally in an effective manner."
"You're challenging me to a duel?" Pendragon answered in a manner that hinted that this was planned all along. He raised his silver gauntleted hand and shunted it forward, revealing a glimmering, silver wand that was lined with rubies at the handle, virtually throbbing with energy. "Well sir, I accept," he weaved himself into battle pose. This was the first time any of the students had seen his wand. It looked truly dangerous, especially when one student spotted that a smiling skull was at the bottom of the handle, two blood rubies for its eyes. Traditional wand-makers like Ollivander frowned upon these American or German-made things, but Aurors and Wizarding celebrities found them fashionable and practical.
Snape immediately went on the offensive, firing a silent Sectumsempra at his opponent, who deflected it easily with a wordless Shield Charm. Cadmus' reply was a Full Body Bind, which Snape escaped with a last-second dive behind his table. The students slowly crept backwards as the teachers began to move around more, feinting and ducking as silent spells shot across the room. Snape weaved a yellow-colored jinx that locked Cadmus' legs together, though Cadmus responded with a quick untangle of the Leg- Lock Curse, sliding his wand between his knees and immediately shooting a bolt of what looked like Expelliarmus at Snape' s hand. The Defense teacher simply tossed his wand towards his left hand, nullifying the Disarming Charm and sent a silent Stunning Spell at Cadmus, who dropped his wand as it hit him on the wrist. Instead of yielding, Pendragon leapt onto Snape's desk and swung his fist as if to punch his opponent, who stood several feet away. The nonverbal magic professor snapped his fingers, resulting in a powerful explosion of air .Snape flew backwards, dropping his wand and tearing the poster of the Cruciatus Curse in the process. Pendragon raised his other arm in victory, only to see that it was stuck to his side, along with his leg. He fell on his side as Snape slid onto the floor, pleased that his Full Body Bind Curse had taken full effect.
The students peeked out from behind their desks, arranged like a makeshift fortress. Ron found himself draping his whole arm around Hermione, who was too excited and terrified to notice him removing it immediately. Harry adjusted his glasses, staggering to the floor from underneath a desk. They had rarely seen teachers duel; even Lockhart's Dueling Club was tame by comparison. Hermione noted that some of the walls had little fires coming out of them and that some of the candles had melted completely. There was more than typical cursing going on, she reasoned.
"Professor Pendragon and I are good friends, but we do not pretend to fight when we do," Snape pulled his colleague off the floor and applied the counter-curse to release him.
"I am schooled in the Dark Arts, which I did not use today," Pendragon said to various gasps among the class, "but I will use them if necessary. Some of you know I prefer alternative forms of combat," he turned to Ron, who nervously nodded, remembering the lightning demonstration Cadmus showed his Elemental class.
"Professor Pendragon was what they called a 'high potential' at the Durmstrang Academy," Snape tapped his friend on the shoulder, "something very few of you seem to be right now."
"Some of you have dueled before," Pendragon cast an eye on Harry and Luna, "when it comes to true combat, you never step back after that," he sheathed his silver wand into his gauntlet. "These are dark times with You Know Who being on the loose and things going wrong all over the place. In a better world…" he sighed, looking ruefully at Snape, "in a better world I would rather have you all fighting over who to take to the next ball or whose broom was the niftiest, instead of learning how to fight Death Eaters." Snape said nothing, but closed his eyes and wished the same thing, thanking the stars that Dumbledore took Cadmus in; he was always the more eloquent of the two and more importantly at least Pendragon could openly tell the students how he felt. At least Slytherin House had a new Head as well, though Slughorn seemed to simply resume the post the moment he walked in without so much as a polite request.
"Since today's presentation was an overwhelming success –thank you Professor Pendragon- I want each of you to write a seven-step method to counter all the spells I used today. In fact, I want you to write an essay on the counter-spells I used today."
"That's not fair, you didn't say anything!" someone bawled from the back of the room.
"Then pay attention, Finch-Fletchley!" Snape thumped his wand on the class textbook, "you should have noticed by seeing what I was doing. I want the 1000-word essay in by next week, and no handing in on the day."
"Oh no, come on sirs!" Hannah Abbott was rubbing her Divination homework on her head, hoping for answers or some sort of solution.
"This is Professor Snape's class," Pendragon shrugged, "I never give homework, so I guess this balances it all out?"
Harry hung his head in exhaustion but nodded alongside everyone. Pendragon took Snape to one side, grinning as he whispered into the other man's ear.
"Five hundred words but with illustrations," Snape gravely announced, with Pendragon beaming and giving a thumbs up.
"For being a good audience, ten House points each," Pendragon clapped his hands as the students' hunched backs suddenly shot up in relief. Harry and Ron staggered out of the class as Neville Longbottom followed with everyone else squeezing through the door and trying to avoid the places where Cadmus had tripped.
"1000 words, no wonder no one likes you, Sev," Cadmus punched him in the shoulder.
"That is standard N.E.W.T level grade- don't you teach an N.E.W.T level class yourself? Outdoors where you will eventually destroy the Solo Hill and drain the lake away with some backfiring earth magic?"
"Dumbledore will stop me if it ever gets out of control. He put a Probationary Charm on me, that old fart. He didn't put one on the Slug!" Cadmus reached out to the door and closed it as the two men walked up the dark steps.
"The Slug had taught here for over fifty years before we were ever here, Caddy," Snape lit up the entire corridor with his wand, exposing a couple clearly locked in embrace that quickly ran up the stairwell and out of identification range. "Knowing him, he'd probably brew a potion to counter it anyway. I am befuddled as to why the Headmaster brought him back. They're almost the same age."
"Maybe the Old Man needs company of other Old Men," Cadmus shrugged, squinting as the light of Hogwarts' ground floor shone in his face, the familiar sight of children scurrying about, now faster than before as the notorious Snape had appeared. It was about three in the afternoon and Snape had a free period while Cadmus had a non-verbal class coming up.
"Let's do it properly next time," Snape crooked his lips, giving the hint of a grin.
"I can't guarantee your safety," Cadmus more openly smiled as he turned round to walk the other way, both wizards looking at their hands, imagining what spells to use next time.
"Few can," Snape began walking the other way.
