Just found out for the first time there's a limit of 15 chapters uploaded at once, never knew that.
Apologies for no updates yesterday, I've used all the pre-written chapters, though hopefully I'll remedy that today, and was out all of the afternoon with friends (it happens occasionally, lol) having much yaoi banter. Very good night.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HP franchise, or anything associated with it. If I did, Harry wouldn't be so damn thick a lot of the time, and that hero complex would most definitely not exist.
Chapter Thirteen - Eagle Eye
Harry wasn't all that bothered about going to watch the Quidditch game that weekend, however Draco absolutely insisted that he come and cheer for Slytherin, even having the audacity to steal one of his new books on alchemy.
Sure he had given it back quickly when he had fallen deathly silent and glared at Draco until he was shivering and sweating with nerves, but he wasn't quite willing to forget the incident yet.
And that was how he found himself surrounded by cheering Slytherin's with his book open in his lap as he tried, and failed, to read a paragraph. Seeing another of Draco and Theo's frustrated glance – though neither dared touch the tome - he gave up on his pursuit of intellectual knowledge and stood up, giving a half-hearted 'whoop' as Slytherin scored again.
The two boys rolled their eyes, simultaneously, giving the impression they had practised their timing, however they didn't complain more as he was at least making an effort to look interested in the proceedings.
He had been rather surprised that Quirrell was in attendance, sitting just in front of a superior looking Snape, and to the side of a rather grim McGonagall. He had been certain Voldemort would've taken the opportunity to scope out the defences of the Philosopher's Stone.
Oh, he had found out what it was now, and it was just as he had thought. It had seemed too good to be true to Harry, as he had contemplated all that he could learn without any limit on time. However he soon realised that, whilst drinking the Elixir of Life granted you immortality, it was an immortality with the condition you kept on drinking the elixir. You became completely reliant on the Philosopher's Stone and – whilst it hadn't happened yet in the six centuries Nicholas Flamel had been using it – who was to say the power of the stone was infinite? Oh it may last several centuries and millennia, but past that, who knew?
But Harry found the idea of immortality was still revolving in his mind. He decided to find some other means of eternal life, however the stone would be a good means to sustain his life if that took longer than expected.
He had realised, however, than taking the stone would be much more risky than he had thought. For some reason, originally – and maybe still now – Dumbledore had wanted Harry to go after the stone, or so he theorized with what he and Quirrell had observed. And that meant the protections surrounding it were not all together hugely challenging.
But having observed Quirrell, and Voldemort's, actions so far to get the stone, he wasn't too sure he wanted to go against the man. Voldemort was the Dark Lord after all, and Harry didn't think it would be in his best interests to try and steal something the man was after himself, not just now anyway. That's not to say he wouldn't still try, if the opportunity came along, and he was confident that he could get in and out with the stone with no one any the wiser. However caution was key if he wanted to succeed, the man had no qualms about setting a mountain troll loose in a school, and he had the vague impression the man had been rather pleased with the girl's death – she was a muggleborn after all.
His mind continued to wander in such a manner, even as his eye followed the fast-paced game before him, until all the students around him burst into even more raucous cheers than usual, and Harry realised the game had finished: Slytherin winning by one hundred and ninety points. He wondered if that meant he could go back to reading his book in peace now?
Harry made his way to an empty classroom on the fourth floor that Flitwick had given him directions to last night during dinner with a small smile. He was dressed in comfortable slacks and a light-weight button up shirt under his robes – it was the closest he could find to work out clothes in the wizarding world, they didn't seem to do much physical exercise anyway.
He knocked and entered when Flitwick's voice echoed through the door. Turning around after closing the door, he watched as Flitwick completed a series of wards that Harry could see pulsing slowly around the room. It was always amazing to him when he got an opportunity to study the whole wards – whilst he could see the ones surrounding Hogwarts, he couldn't ever see them in full to get a complete grasp over their structure – where he could see the main strands of magic and the mesh like pattern linking them all. His first impression was that they looked weak, fragile, but reaching out with his own magic, he was surprised to find it instantly absorbed into the webbing, redirected to the focal point of the wards then released into Hogwarts itself: a clever and simple ward.
He turned his attention back to Flitwick who was watching him with curiosity. "I suppose being able to see wards is rather fascinating. How about at the end of the lesson you have a go to see if you can figure out how to unwind it?"
Harry almost let his shock show on his face, 'he's actually going to let me teach myself how to undo wards as well? Doesn't he think that's a bit dangerous in the hands of a student? The places this can get me!'
"Well, let's get started then. Firstly, I want you to tell me what you think the most important part of duelling is?"
Harry thought to himself for barely three seconds before answering, "Agility. If your opponent can't hit you but you can hit him, it doesn't matter how good your spell work is, you're bound to win."
Flitwick gave him an approving look. "You're half right. There's actually two things that are important to duelling. The first is agility, the second is endurance. If you have the agility but not the endurance, then your opponent can simply hold out until you've tired yourself out and then hit you with one spell to end it."
Harry nodded to that, it made sense. "Don't worry too much about that though. I won't set you running laps of the school or anything, endurance will come as we practise, and believe me, you will be sweating by the end of our lessons."
Flitwick walked over to stand beside him and his wand shot into his hand from a hidden wand holder on his wrist. "The most important three spells to know to even have a chance of winning a duel are Expelliarmus, Protego and Stupefy. I believe Professor Quirrell has already taught your class Expelliarmus and its counter. The counter is practically useless; it's much safer and easier to just use Protego. Protego is a good, all-round shield that will block most medium strength curses. There's a stronger version that will block higher level curses as well but I'll teach you that later. However if a curse has enough power behind it, it can simply break through your shield – that's why agility is important. Finally Stupefy simply knocks out your opponent. We'll be practising these three spells today."
Harry had known all of what Flitwick had just told him, however he figured it would be a good idea to listen to the explanations, especially in the future when the spells became more advanced. He watched the minute professor perform the spells, then replicated them himself perfectly and receiving glowing praise.
"Well Harry, if you're confident you can do them, shall we have a small duel to see how your reflexes are and to let you practise the spells against a real opponent?"
Flitwick moved to the other side of the room, shrugging off his outer robes to reveal tailored duelling robes underneath. Eyeing the overlapping layers of what he presumed to be dragon hide, Harry decided to buy himself some for their future lessons. The dragon hide would lessen the effects of any spells that hit him, was surprisingly easy to move in, and would be good practise for real duels in the future.
He was taken completely by surprise when his wand flew from his hand without any warning. A second later it was thrown back at him and Flitwick gave him a stern glare, "Focus Harry!" he threw another curse at him, this time not one of the ones he'd just practiced, and Harry quickly dodged the golden blast, feeling the hairs on his neck raise from the lack of distance between the two. He quickly cast the shielding charm, just managing to erect it in time to block the next blue curse.
"Good! Now you need to be decide whether to maintain it or recast it each time you need it!"
Harry held the shield to deflect the next spell before allowing it to drop and casting stunners whilst dodging the incoming spells. He hadn't expected Flitwick to be using non-verbal spells, but it made sense if they were making this as real as possible.
He was taken completely unaware when Flitwick suddenly began moving from where he had taken his stance several minutes ago, his tiny legs carrying him around the room with speed Harry didn't think even he could match! The next curse, bright yellow in colour, hit him cleanly in the side, knocking him to the floor, the breath clean out of him and a nasty stinging spreading up from his waist to his shoulder.
"Get up Harry!"
He began to pull himself to his feet, shocked by the same curse hitting him again whilst he tried to regain himself.
"No opponent is going to wait for you to get back up!" He threw his shields up to stop the next spell, having to recast it to adapt as Flitwick moved around him again.
Harry hardly noticed the effects the stinging hexes had on him, nor when they faded barely a minute later, he was so focused on watching and countering every move his Head of House made. It was much harder than he had expected, especially as he just had three spells to use to counter Flitwick's enormous arsenal – though he knew the professor was using only low strength spells against him.
He was shocked when Flitwick stopped firing spells at him and called him to a halt, saying that an hour long duel was much more than he had meant to spend on their first lesson.
Harry only just managed to take that in, having only just realised how out of breath he was – had they really been sparring for an hour? It seemed like only a quarter of that time at most and he hadn't managed to land even a single hit on Flitwick, whilst he could feel the ache in his muscles from where multiple spells had got passed his guards.
A goblet of water appeared next to his face and he gratefully took it, ignoring the directions to sip rather than gulp in his thirst.
"You did well Harry, your endurance is much better than I'd expected, though I hadn't meant to have you last that long on your first attempt. I'd guess it's due to your rather impressive magic reserves, much like your father."
Harry scowled at the mention of his father, he had already told Flitwick he'd rather not be compared to the man, however he didn't mention it this time, the man had just spent a Sunday evening training him after all.
"I think next week I'll teach you some curses and hexes and we'll work from there. Now, do you feel up to having a go at the wards or shall we leave that for another time?"
Despite his slowly returning breath, Harry straightened up and nodded, turning his attention to the wards still flowing across the walls. He examined the focal point of the ward, then the opposite side which he was shocked to find just as strong as the origin of the wards. Surprised, he worked his way back from one to the other, finding it weakest half way between. Logically, it made sense – the main strands of the wards were most divided there, whilst they combined at the two ends, but with the weakest point so diverse, he couldn't simply tear that one spot to shreds, he would have to sever all the strands of magic simultaneously, otherwise they would just reform whilst he cut the rest.
His slightly taxed expression drew a smile from Flitwick who stood beside him. "They're not designed to be easily taken apart. Explain what you're thinking and maybe I can direct you from there."
Harry explained his thoughts on the weak spot divergence and the problems that caused. "Well, if the problem is severing them all at once, then how about if they were closer together? How does this 'meshing'" he used Harry's terms for it as he couldn't see the wards himself, "react when magic is introduced?"
Harry tried it by pushing a small amount of his own power into the wards, watching as the mesh in the area contracted to absorbed it as fast as possible.
"The meshing contracts, so if I put enough magic into it, the mesh would contract enough, bringing all the main strands into one area, not only making them easier to cut, but leaving the rest of the room protected by only a very thin layer, meaning someone else could destroy that part if they were strong enough."
Flitwick smiled, "very good Harry, completely correct as well. However I don't think having you try would be a very good idea, it takes a lot of power to focus then break the wards. However this sort of ward is both very simple, and very effective in both the way it works and the way it is broken but most wards used required runes and rituals to break, rather than just pure magic. We won't be looking much at wards though; it was just a curiosity of mine to see if you could figure it out."
Harry nodded, disappointed not to be learning more about them, though he supposed he could raise the subject later on, saying his curiosity had been raised and see if Flitwick would teach him more. He watched as the wards retracted themselves back into Flitwick's wand as it pressed once more into where it had first been cast.
The Charms professor bid him farewell, confirming another lesson at the same time next week before along the corridor to his office while Harry headed up the flight of stairs, slipping through the common room and straight to the showers to get rid of the sweat Flitwick had promised he would finish each night with. The lessons had been much more than he had expected, and he couldn't wait for his next one.
Just to clear up, the spell they were learning in defence the other day was a direct counter to the disarming spell, not Protego.
Also, sorry if people can't imagine Flitwick as a task master, however I think, if he were going to teach someone duelling, he would do it full on, not gently, and I was rather happy with how he turned out!
Also, I'm running out of chapter titles, though there's still a few but I don't know if they'll match up with chapters, so if anyone has any 'eye' phrases or plays on words, please tell me! I'll appreciate each one people give me, though please don't take offense if I don't use them instantly, they have to match up to the chapters. I know it's not hugely important, just something I like to do!
Let me know what you think!