Disclaimer: All rights to this magical world goes to J.K Rowling
Chapter 6: practice makes perfect.
The next day after Harry, Gabby and Hermione finished eating breakfast they went to go to their lessons and they stood by the stairs.
"I have potions now, what about you two?" Hermione asked.
"Defence against dark arts," Harry said while Gabby was getting her timetable out.
"How can you be so sure?" Gabby asked him curiously as she checked her timetable.
"huh, he's right," she said curiously.
"I took the time to study the timetable and memorise our similar classes," he said with a smirk.
As Harry, Gabby and Hermione got to the first floor they said goodbye to Hermione as she went to her potions class and continued up to the fifth floor and entered the classroom.
"Welcome class I am professor, Edgar Gardet" he introduced looking around.
"We are going to learn two spells today, the shield charm and the stunning charm," Gardet explained.
"We will start with the shield charm, Protego, this casts a shield reflecting spells and stopping physical objects, for example, someone throw that stone there at me," Gardet said to the class.
When a silver-haired boy got up, walking over to the stone on the table he picked it up and threw it at Gardet who stopped the rock destroying it with the shield charm, then went on to explain the theory and the practical applications.
"Now this second one I will use a dummy to show, this is the stunning charm, Stupefy," Gardet said as he cast the spell onto a dummy opposite him, sending it backwards.
Doing it a few more times to show it does not matter about the wand movement.
"Now I want you all to go to a dummy and practice stupefy after you will be paired off and get three attempts each" Gardet explained to the class as they all went off to find a dummy.
"I would rather not be paired against you Gabby as I don't want to hurt you," Harry said with a smile.
"I understand Harry," Gabby said and kissed his cheek. This caused most of the class to try harder so they got paired against Harry.
After 30 minutes of practising the charm, Harry feels as if he has a decent understanding of it then thinks about how he can improve it.
"Right, Everyone to the centre, time to practice Protego, and what better way than to have the stunning charm heading your way" Gardet explained to the class as they looked nervous.
"First up, Alfonzo Tancred and Joanne D'Larc" Gardet called and they went in front and faced each other.
"Before you begin both of you bow to each other, it is common courtesy" Gardet said to them as they bowed to each other.
"begin" Gardet called.
Tancred was the first to use stupefy causing Joanne to use Protego reflecting the spell away from her, then cast stupefy back at Tancred who manages to barely cast Protego in time, before Tancred could recover, he is hit with another stupefy spell sending him flying backwards.
"Tancred is down, 2 merits to Joanne for speed and understanding" Gardet called.
Going through one by one, Joanne being the only one to receive two merits, some got one merit from only being able to cast stupefy but not Protego.
"Gabrielle Delacour and Phillip Jordan" Gardet called.
"Good luck," Harry said, giving her hand a squeeze as she goes up.
After bowing Gabby is the first to cast stupefy, Phillip was able to use Protego, but he was not prepared for two more in succession to each other to be sent flying towards him defending one but letting the third one through due to a mere second delay he went flying backwards without even casting one stupefy.
"Phillip is down, 2 merits to Gabrielle" Gardet called, "Harry Potter and Eric Caballero" Gabby gave Harry a hug and went to the centre when the silver-haired boy from earlier stood Infront of Harry.
"a runaway like you does not deserve a beauty like señorita Gabrielle" the boy spat at Harry then bowed.
Harry does not respond instead just bowed at him and got ready when suddenly his wand let out a hiss for Harry to hear as Eric cast stupefy Harry use Protego, once again as Eric used stupefy there was a hiss from his wand, understanding the correlation he used Protego reflecting the charm back towards Eric who used Protego sending it into a wall and Harry then cast stupefy.
Eric used Protego though he could have sworn he saw a crack in the shield charm and decided to get ready to go on the offence but before he could he saw a spell going towards him, using Protego again to shield himself he saw the cracks in his shield and cast stupefy but Harry easily reflected it back towards him and cast stupefy himself, this meant he had two to defend against casting Protego Eric's spell hit his shield only reflecting it but weakened the shield in the process and Harry's spell broke through the Shield charm sending Eric flying across the room.
"two points for Harry, excellent use of the Protego spell" Gardet praised him.
Harry started walking to Gabby when Eric stood up and cast stupefy behind his back, sensing the malice from behind Harry, his wand hissed as he cast the spell giving Harry enough time to spin on the spot and cast Protego reflecting the spell back towards Eric who was able to duck in time.
"ERIC CABALLERO, MY OFFICE NOW!" Gardet shouted as Eric rose to his feet.
"that Is all for today's class next time will be the disarming spell which will be the signal of a duel ending" Gardet explained and dismissed the class.
As they walked towards the door Harry looked at Gabby.
"You're a princess?" he asked, making her blush.
"No, I'm not, he seemed too infatuated from the Veela blood" Gabby said annoyed, Harry looked up and down.
"I think you're a princess" Harry whispers so she can hear and goes red like crimson.
As everyone walks outside shouting can be heard from the classroom for anyone who is walking past to hear, when Hermione walks up to them after seeing them leave.
"In potions class you will receive a textbook on potions, standard I believe but I have the recipe for Skele-gro" Hermione stated as she passed Harry a small Potion.
"do not and I mean do not cause harm again," Hermione said just as Fleur appears.
"Arry? Gabby? What is wrong, what did she mean?" Fleur asked looking between the two leaving them no choice but to explain what happened.
-time skip, Beauxbatons, dining chamber, Halloween night-
Everyone is enjoying a nice evening in the dining chamber spending Halloween with their friends Harry, Gabby, Fleur and Hermione all sitting at their house table, Harry showing off his wingardium leviosa charm by levitating food from his plate to Gabby's mouth.
Harrys wand sensing malice around him basically screeching a hiss but nothing like in defence against the dark arts, suddenly owls come flying in launching papers everywhere.
-daily prophet-
Troll in the dungeon, Troll in the bathroom.
Breaking news from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, a troll got into the dungeon of the school, how is still a mystery their groundskeeper has not seen any points of forced entry but the troll moved from the dungeon to a girls bathroom.
Unfortunately there has been one reported death and two seriously injured before the teachers arrived on the scene, the girl who died was a first-year from Gryffindor house, named Parvati Patil, her parents have been informed it is unfortunate to see someone go so young.
The two injured are Padma Patil, Parvati's twin sister who is in critical condition and Cho Chang, a second-year student who is not in as bad of condition but still serious.
How did the troll get into the dungeon? Was it brought in by someone or has it broken a wall somewhere and the groundskeeper is too dumb to see?
The professor who reported the troll was their defence against dark arts professor, professor Quirrell, instead of dealing with the troll he fainted causing the situation to escalate, how does this bode for Hogwarts and its teachers.
Report by
Rita Skeeter
Harry read the article over again and looked in at Gabby.
"I am glad I did not go to Hogwarts now, Jesus" Hermione commented
"I feel sorry for the girls, the teacher needs changing if that's how he reacts," Harry said looking at the paper.
Suddenly an owl with a scroll landed in front of Madam Maxime.
"everyone" Maxime called and stood up.
"the wizard duel will still take place, the date has been confirmed to take place in four weeks, we will be taking three students from each year to Hogwarts to compete, the students will be decided by professor Gardet, professor Havet and myself" Maxime announced and everyone looked around.
"The results will be announced in three weeks' time," Maxime said.
After everyone went to bed Harry got up and went for a walk to a practice room to practice magic.
While practicing stupefy he noticed that at the last second if he adjusts his wand slightly it goes in an arc and can hit the target from behind.
"That's different, never seen one arc before, also students should not be out of bed" Harry jumped and looked round to see the female prefect for Bellefeuille leaning on the wall behind him.
"i-i-I'm sorry I couldn't sleep so I came to practice," Harry said as he put his wand away.
"you didn't run away, did you?" the girl asked, pulling out her wand.
"I'm sorry?" Harry asked confused.
"There is an exception to the rule, you are allowed out after lights out if you are with a prefect, duel me" the girl bowed and Harry pulled out his wand and bowed.
"By the way, my name is Audrey Abras," she said walking a few steps away.
"Harry Potter, but you knew that," Harry said, walking back a couple of steps.
Audrey cast stupefy three times one after another each cast Harry's wand hissed, he cast Protego reflecting the spells around the room, casting stupefy he does not arc them but each cast was deflected, as they both cast stupefy at the same time Harrys arced slightly to go around her spell.
Deflecting the spell Harry casted two stupefies one arcing one going in a line, Audrey cast Protego defending the spell from the front and hardly defending the one from behind, just as she turns back to facing Harry, she is hit by expelliarmus sending her wand flying behind her.
"your win, your good Harry. I think you are the best first-year" Audrey said breathlessly as she picked up her wand.
"th-thank you, though you are better than me," Harry said, sitting on a bench to regain his breath.
"as I said earlier, you didn't run away, I know Rita, she's a distant cousin removed three or four times can't remember, she always tells lies," Audrey says and sits on a bench next to Harry.
"You're right, I didn't run away but, I would rather not say," Harry said defensively.
"Ok fair enough, if you need help duelling let me know, I will also put a word in towards you for being part of the first years, now go to bed it's late" Audrey said and looked at Harry again.
Looking at him as he walks out of the room, she notices something is wrong but does not press the issue.
"Just because I can see magic on people doesn't mean I should pry, even if I am curious why his magic stops at his left wrist," Audrey says to herself and goes off to continue her patrol.
As time went by the three weeks seemed like days, though learning a lot it did not seem like enough time was spent practicing the spells, everyone gathered in the dining chamber for dinner.
"Before we start tonight's feast, I would like to announce the students that will be participating in the tournament" Maxime announced and picked up a paper.
"The first year, house Ombrelune, Eric Caballero, house, Papillonlisse Joanne D'Larc and house Bellefeuille, Harry Potter," Maxime said some of the Bellefeuille cheered for harry mostly Hermione, Fleur and Gabby while all the other tables were congratulating their own.
"second year, house Ombrelune, Eliza Minekus, house Papillonlisse Sander Oems and house Bellefeuille, Danièle Popelin" Maxime announced as more students cheered.
Because of all the cheering, Harry lost track of the names being called.
"and that is everyone, everyone else will be there to watch, the format has been chosen for the tournament it will be in three stages, the first stage one on one and the winner of each year will be against each other no matter what school they are from, second stage team duel three vs three where the winner will face someone else who has won and the last stage is a mixed year, partners for the mixed year won't be decided till the day of that stage," Madam Maxime announced and everyone started eating as she sat down.
"I can't believe I got picked, I know iv earned a few merits but I didn't think I was that good at it," Harry said astonished.
"really after you sent most of the class flying each time you have to duel with them? And you still don't get why you got picked" Gabby said as she shook her head and leaned into him.
"idiot, why wouldn't you get picked," she said and kissed his cheek.
"mind if I join you here?" a blushing Audrey asked as she sat down next to Fleur.
"After our little mock duel, the other night I went to professor Havet the next morning and expressed that you should be the one to go" Audrey says and Harry realised that was the reason he was having more duels.
"wait, mock duel? What mock duel? Harry," Gabby asked looking annoyed at him that he didn't tell her.
As Harry explained the night, they had a battle, Harry went red as he got a rough talking to from Gabby about being out of a night and the risks that could have happened.
"are the two of them dating?" Audrey asked.
"no," they both said in unison and blushed at the same time.
"Might as well be, they are like a married couple at times" Fleur teases them.
"though I don't think Harry would make a move yet, even if it would make maman and pere happy with them both" Fleur said giggling and left after she had finished.
"well, uh, oh yeah I was going to say tomorrow we are holding a mock battle in a proper setting with obstacles on the field, also we will be doing one on one practice and team practice," Audrey said to Harry.
"you're all welcome to watch if you would like" Audrey said turning to Hermione and Gabby who agreed to be there.
Back in Harry's room, he was unable to sleep so he started going over his notes that he made.
"ok, so I can arc my stupefy spell which will come in handy, from what I have observed the Protego spell can redirect spells by the angle you are facing and the way it hits" Harry stated looking at the book.
Harry looked over to black who was toying and hunting with a rat he gave him earlier, watching him use the obstacles to slither around and hunt when Harry gets ideas on how to use his spells with objects in the way.
The next morning as harry, Gabby and Fleur went to get something to eat when another flock of owls launched newspapers at them, reading the paper Fleur could not tell who was more annoyed and upset, herself who had a look of astonishment, Gabby who was scrunching the paper into a ball, Hermione who tore hers to pieces using the Diffindo spell or Harry whose paper spontaneously caught fire while he was holding it and burnt to nothing.
Authors notes: I would like to thank everyone for reading this chapter, it took me a while to write(a day and a half) due to not knowing what to do with the dam troll, it needed to happy because I want to follow the line of the first book and thinking about it Hermione did not die because harry saved her, unfortunately, Parvati will not be joining us later on.
I know I constantly say it but each day I see I am getting more and more Favourites which means a lot to me thank you, leave a review of what you think about it so far or if you think I could take this in a different direction, just note the story will not end after the wizard duel, can promise you all that much.