13

Sarah POV

That night, Harry had a strange dream, well, almost a premonition that made him feel that Voldemort was very happy. And, the next morning, we found out the news, the news that Azkaban had been broken into and the most dangerous Death Eaters had escaped. To add insult to injury, the Ministry blamed it on Harry's godfather. "I don't understand," I said as Harry glared at the paper, his hands in fists, "how can they print something like this? He's not even a Death Eater." I said, clearly meaning Sirius, disgust coloring my tone. If I didn't believe Harry, Ron, and Hermione before about Sirius' innocence, I did now. That was horrible, framing a man for a crime he didn't commit.

"Exactly," Hermione sighed, as Harry folded the paper angrily, nearly ripping it in half. The day only got worse after that. Danielle and Luke stuck to me like a Permanent Sticking Charm, even being bold enough to walk directly behind us, making me angry enough to hex them. As we were walking to Transfiguration, we passed new notices proclaiming the passing of Educational Decree No. 26, which forbid teachers telling us anything unrelated to their subject. The sight of it made Hermione and I hiss, "That's outrageous!" together.

"That's it," Ron said in an undertone as we passed it, once Danielle and Luke had backed off a bit. "We need to have another D.A. meeting." Hermione was happy to oblige, and we had one that very evening, a direct backlash to the Educational Decrees. I was partnered with Neville again, and this time, I actually had to focus on him. Apparently, the outbreak of Death Eaters was personal to him, and he was pale, working harder than anyone. Halfway through the meeting Harry stopped everyone.

"I figure, now that we know a lot of jinxes that we should know how to duel, especially now that this breakout has happened." He looked at me, so I went over to him. "Sarah, would you show us how to duel?" He asked, and I couldn't help but grin.

"Of course," I said, then took a breath, thinking about where to begin. "Ok, well, just for purposes of being in here, teaching ourselves… don't mess around with this. We're all pretty mature in here, but in reality, dueling is only used to kill people." I finished, and Zacharias Smith snorted in the back, then went 'ow' as someone smacked him. "Also, if people feel as if they can't solidly Disarm or produce a Shield Charm, I don't want them dueling. They should know how to protect themselves first."

"Can everyone do that?" Harry asked, and there were general nods of assent.

"Duels are based mostly on intuition and skill, not theory. However, the very first moments of a duel are broken down into sections that help you direct the duel the way you want it to go. If you master that first, quick technique, you should have a structured duel. The first part to a duel is the identification of if you want to be offensive or defensive. You usually don't have much time to decide this, so you should be good at both. That split second decision can decide if live or die." People glanced at each other somewhat nervously, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry for that depressing bit, but I had to say it. Now, um, it's best if in a duel, you can cast your spells silently. That way, your opponent won't have an advantage. It would be a good idea to practice that on your own." I thought ahead, realizing that I could lecture on this for days- and members would have to practice for homework. "I just want you all to be able to practice without an instructor- we don't meet often enough." I explained, sensing that I was losing some people in the wordiness of my lecture. "As for some theory, a good dueler uses things in their environment while dueling. It's not just about the spells. If you can transfigure something into maybe, let's say, a weapon, then you can have your wand, and that. I just wish I could show you a demonstration." I said, frustrated. I was basically ranting like an idiot, not at all like how I'd planned to do this. People were nodding though, so maybe I didn't confuse all of them.

"Why don't you just keep telling us everything you can, and then we can start actually dueling next time." Hermione called from the back, saving my broomstick.

"Right," I said, trying to get a hold of myself, "well, also, once we get to Patronus', you can actually use them in a duel. It takes a lot of concentration, but it'll work."

"I thought Patronus' only defended against Dark creatures." called a Ravenclaw girl from the back.

"Your Patronus is unique to you; it takes on a different animal form for each wizard, and are like you said, their guardian. They will protect you and aid you in any situation. Their most common form is defense against a Dementor. But as you study spells and how they work further, you will find that you can bend spells to your liking. At least in dueling, anyway." I said, and I felt myself flush at my own nerdy-ness. "Also, in a duel, it's important to analyze your opponent. If you see flaws in how the duel or in their confidence, you can use that to your advantage. Like, ummm…" I felt my gaze quickly scan the crowd and found George Weasley. "George, would you come here?" I asked, and grinning like an idiot, he came over. "Ok. Tell me what you notice about George." I said. This was a classic dueling exercise. You sized up your opponent, looking for weaknesses.

"He's slouching." said a girl.

"He's smiling like a fool." Someone said, and I had strong suspicions that it was Hermione.

"He's standing with his legs apart,"

"He's a ginger,"

"His wand is in his back pocket-"

"Ok, ok," I said, raising a hand, stopping the chorus of voices. "I heard one that was really good, about how he's standing. Now, I know that testing the Skiving Snackboxes hasn't been kind to you or your twin," I said to him, trying not to laugh, and all the girls in the room giggled, while the twins flushed and Lee Jordan bowed his head, making me grin. I'd heard a conversation between the twins and Harry about using essence of murtlap to cure boils that they had in weird places… "So, no offense, but I'd probably aim there first if we were dueling. If anything helps you take out your opponent faster, do it." I said, trying not to laugh at the obvious looks of discomfort on George's face.

"Anything else?" Harry asked, letting George meld back into the crowd, and I thought about it for a second.

"Yes," I said slowly, trying to figure out how to put what I wanted to say. "For awhile, I'll be coaching you, telling you what to do. The pace will be slow, and you'll have time to think everything through. But dueling isn't a set pattern of spells you memorize, and it's not always safe. You have to think independently all the time. It's hard. But I know we can do it." I said, and a chorus of agreement went around, and it raised my spirits. I might have sucked in trying to explain a lot of dueling theory in a short amount of time, but I hoped that if I coached everyone individually they'd understand what I was trying to tell them.

"Next meeting, we'll be dueling," Harry said. "And we'll learn how to do Patronus' eventually too. Thanks for listening. See you next time." He dismissed them, and as people were leaving, Hermione came over to me and immediately started squealing.

"Oh my gosh, that was great, really informative, I can't wait until next time! It'll be really exciting!" Hermione bubbled eagerly. Apparently, in her opinion, I hadn't just blathered on like an idiot.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," I said, laughing.

As we left, we made sure to take an obscure way back to the Common Room, but I still kept a careful eye out for Luke and Danielle, even checking the Foe Glass before leaving. Things were going great, and I didn't want them to mess things up. Luckily, thanks to the Foe Glass, the Room of Requirement and the Marauders' Map, I evaded them most of the time.

OoOoOoO

I went with Hermione to Hogsmade two days later after she insisted. At first, I was stupid enough to think that she wanted to spy on Harry on his date with Cho Chang. But when we went to the Three Broomsticks, he wasn't there. Instead, she led me to a table where Rita Skeeter, ex-journalist, was sitting. She glared at Hermione as we sat down. "Well, well, Little Miss Perfect and her friend Braids." She sneered, and reflexively, I reached up and touched my hair, which was in two long braids today with a frown.

"Rita," Hermione greeted her icily, ordering a drink for herself and for me.

"I came, now what do you want?" Rita barked meanly. Her hair was mousy, jewels were missing from her glasses, and her fingernails were chipped. Being out of a job obviously didn't suit her. She took a big sip of the sherry in her glass.

"Patience, Ms. Skeeter," Hermione said with a hint of a smirk. "I'm expecting two more people, and then we can begin." Rita huffed, sending us into awkward and tense silence. Finally, Luna Lovegood came over, sitting next to Hermione. Rita looked at her, muttered something and drank another large gulp from her drink. Hermione passed me a drink and I stirred it aimlessly, wondering where Harry was. This was going to get awkward fast if he didn't show up soon. Ten minutes later, he came in, soaking wet, scowling. He sloshed over and sat next to me. "You're early! I thought you'd be with Cho!" Hermione said.

"Cho?" Rita asked, and I saw her look at me hard. "A girl?" She reached into her crocodile skin hand bag and groped around wildly. I raised my eyebrows. How the hell did she get to the conclusion that I was Cho so quickly? That didn't even make sense!

"It's none of your business if Harry's been with hundreds of girls, so you can put that away right now." Hermione said in a flinty voice as Rita was just about to pull a quill out of her bag. With a scowl, she snapped her purse shut again. Remembering how Hermione had explained why she had such power over her, I resisted the urge to smile.

"What are you up to?" Harry asked, looking from me, to Hermione, to Luna, to Rita.

"Little Miss Perfect, her sidekick Braids, and Blondie over here were going to tell me when you arrived." She said nastily. "I suppose that I'm allowed to talk to him, am I?" she shot at Hermione.

"Yes, I suppose you are." Said Hermione coldly.

"Pretty girl, isn't she, Harry?" Rita asked him out of the corner of her mouth, eyeing me up, looking from me to him suggestively. To my surprise, Harry flushed slightly.

"For Merlin's sake, I'm not Cho." I snapped after Rita waggled her eyebrows. She glared at me, and Luna giggled into her drink.

"And one more word about Harry's love life and the deal's off and that's a promise." Hermione said irritably.

"What deal?" Rita barked a laugh. "You haven't mentioned a deal yet, Miss Prissy, you just told me to turn up. Oh, one of these days…" She took a deep shuddering breath, tightening her grip on her purse.

"Yes, yes, one of these days you'll write more horrible stories about Sarah," she stressed, pointing to me, "Harry and I. Find someone who cares, why don't you?"

"They've run plenty of horrible stories about Harry this year without my help," said Rita, shooting a sideways look at Harry over her glass. "How has that made you feel Harry? Betrayed? Misunderstood? Distraught?"

"He feels angry of course," said Hermione in a clear, hard voice. "He's told the Ministry the truth and they are too idiotic to listen."

"So you actually stick to it- that He Who Must Not Be Named is back? You stand by all this garbage Dumbledore's been telling everybody about You Know Who returning and that you were the sole witness-"

"I wasn't the sole witness," Harry snarled, his fiery temper bubbling over, "there were a dozen or so Death Eaters there as well. Want their names?"

"I'd love them," breathed Rita, now snatching the quill from her bag. "A bold headline, Potter Names Death Eaters Still Among Us, Harry Potter Accuses: Disturbed teenager Harry Potter, four time survivor of You Know Who…" The Quill was halfway to her face in a dreamy stupor before she snapped out of it. "But of course," she said, lowering it and shooting daggers at Hermione, "Little Miss Perfect and Braids wouldn't want that story out there, would they?"

"Actually," I said sweetly, stirring my drink, "That's exactly what we want."