"Welcome back, students," Professor Grubbs greeted. The man was missing half an ear, and had a metal leg, along with dozens of scars along his arms and legs. "Come in, come in."
The students got settled down, Harry and Katerina taking seats at the very back. At the front of the class, there was a cabinet, wobbling tenaciously as something inside struggled violently. Several students whimpered when the professor merely smacked the cabinet annoyed. "Today, we are going to have a live exercise. I have been very fortunate in finding this nasty critter lurking in an abandoned classroom. Can anyone guess what it is?"
"A haggar?" one of the students guessed.
"A good guess, but no," the professor shook his head.
"A doxy?" another student theorised. Several more guesses were all wielded, though none correct.
"No, it is a boggart," the professor answered grimly, eliciting several nervous whispers. "Quiet! However, we have a distinct advantage against it. Can anyone tell me why?"
"There are many of us, it does not know which form to take," Katerina whispered to Harry, who nodded approvingly, causing the girl to smother a smile. It took the rest of the students several tries for a correct answer to be provided to the professor.
"Excellent, mister Perkins. For a point, what is the spell to counter a boggart?" the professor encouraged.
"Riddikulus," the boy answered. He raised an eyebrow, and beside him, Katerina observed Harry curiously. Harry merely shook his head, indicating there was nothing for her to worry about.
"Very well done, mister Perkins. Take a point. Now everyone, form a line, we're going to be confronting your boggart." The class obeyed, with several individuals pushing and shoving to be at the front while others moved at a more sedate pace. Harry and Katerina near the back.
"This class seems quite small," Harry mused, causing her to nod.
"Many consider creatures a pointless class and don't even sign up for first year, or otherwise drop it soon after," she explained, causing him to hum curiously. "I sense a question."
"Why are you here, then?"
"Having a basic knowledge of creatures is useful. Boggarts are not uncommon in less clean environments, and other creatures such as doxies and haggars come up regularly in most homes, so knowing how to deal with them can save a lot of headaches." She blushed at his faint smile, "What?"
"Very few people are quite as practical as you," he appraised, "it is a good trait to have."
"Thank you?" His smile grew as he patted her on the shoulder gently.
"You will do great things one day, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
A scream of terror at the front caused the students near the back of the line to all shuffle to the left or right trying to see what was happening. Harry looked through some gaps, and would have rolled his eyes if he weren't so controlled. Many others weren't as polite, and outright laughed at the poor girl's misfortune.
The boggart had turned into professor Ivarin, scowling and with a superior sneer. "Ri-riddikulus."
The boggart was flung back slightly, but did not change. The professor tutted. "Ah, Isard always did come up often. Come on, miss Telough, think of something funny."
"Riddikulus!," she cast more confidently at the encouraging look of the professor, And just like that, the boggart Ivarin was sporting a rainbow afro with heavy makeup like those in Chinese opera and wearing a frilly skirt. Many in the class guffawed, though Harry wondered, perhaps quite cynically, how much tougher the student's dark arts lessons were going to get.
The students in front were called up one by one. Several had to be rescued by the professor, with common fears being spiders, parents, clowns, werewolves and vampires. There were a few standouts: one student seemed terrified of fairies, which drew many jeers; another student feared fire burning books, which produced a very interesting looking boggart. However, soon the line had thinned out, until it was Harry's turn.
Curious, he stepped forward, watching as the boggart shifted from an assassin dressed in a white mask and black robes. It varied through several forms, brief flashes of the Dursleys, his time chained up on a wall in Kolyma, him as an infant, before settling for a young Harry, keeled over in the snow as hundreds of hands tore him apart while he struggled in vain. He heard several whimpers from others observing. The professor looked ready to intervene, though Harry waved the man off.
"Is this all," he asked softly, chuckling. "Is this all you can bring against me? Pathetic. Go back to scaring little children."
Without even bothering to cast the spell, he stepped aside, noting the looks of fear and awe he received from much of the room. Katerina stepped up next, and Harry subtly positioned two steps behind and two steps across, watching her boggart slowly shift between several forms, that of whom he suspected were her parents, that of herself, before shifting to a mirror like version of himself.
"Oh Katerina, poor, innocent, little Katerina," his doppleganger cooed mockingly, a slender hand reaching out to caress a frozen Katerina's jaw, "You failed me, and that has consequences. You truly are a disappointment."
"R-r-riddikulus!" she cast shakily, though the boggart didn't even flinch.
"Do you think I really care about you? You're not special...you're nothing. You just amuse me...once I'm done with you, you'll be all alone, just like before."
Harry fought hard to contain the smile that formed on his lips, waving off the professor who looked to intervene as he stepped up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Katerina," he whispered softly, "so long as you stand with me, you will never be alone."
"Riddikulus!" she cast with renewed vigour, and this time the boggart was knocked back.
"Yes, Katerina, I believe in you. Finish it off," he encouraged.
"Riddikulus!" she cast again, and Harry became a cute little baby gurgling happily. Many in the class laughed, though a disturbingly high minority of girls cooed at how cute the baby was. Harry shook his head in bemusement when Katerina shot him an apologetic smile.
"Well done," he congratulated, squeezing her on the shoulder and leading her to the side.
"Yes...very well done, miss Zakharov," the professor congratulated distractedly, waving the next student forward.
"Thank you," she whispered softly to him once they found a spot amongst the watching crowd of students.
"Anytime, Katerina," he promised with a smile, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to his side. He smothered another predatory smile threatening to form as she visibly basked in his touch.
The lesson ended soon after, though neither felt the need to let go of each others' hands as they ascended two steps of stairs, reaching the main floor and stepping inside through two large wooden doors to emerge in the duelling arena. There were several dozen standard regulation pits, each with several descending rings consisting of audience space, though the central pit where most of the students were fit into had eleven rings, the most of any in the room. Professor Petrov was standing at the button in the pit, beaming up at all of them.
"Come in, come in," he encouraged, waiting for several more minutes before closing the wooden doors with a flourish of his wand. There were easily nearly a thousand students here. "Welcome back everyone. Hopefully everyone is ready to practise some more duelling."
A loud cheer erupted from the students, and several sparks were sent up.
"Excellent! I'm sure you're all eager to get back to duelling, so I won't take much time, I promise. A reminder that we're duelling with 2b regulations by standard, anyone who breaches the rules severely will be dealt with harshly. Listen to the commands of your pit bosses as if they were my own. But most importantly have fun. Does everyone understand?"
"Yes professor," most in the room chorused out loud, causing the man to beam.
"But before I send you off to your own pits, I have a very special treat for all of you. Miss Ivarin has agreed to duel with me using the type 3 rules. As you are no doubt all aware, miss Ivarin is quite the prodigy in duelling as well as the dark arts, so hopefully you will all learn something in addition to enjoying the watching experience."
Ivarin stepped down to the duelling pit, bowing to the professor. After returning the motion, he waved for her to begin, and she did so, leaping into action and slashing her wand, a purple arc of magic hurtling towards the professor, who leapt to the side with grace while answering with several blasting curses, which she shielded against easily, landing gracefully and blasting a torrent of flames towards him.
He returned with a stream of water, the two jets meeting in the middle and mist covering the entire arena. After several moments, and a couple of flashes of light, the mist was dispelled to reveal that the professor had been disarmed and bound in ropes. Rather than appear troubled, the professor was beaming, while many in the crowds let out a cheer for Ivarin, who released the man before both bowed to each other and then the crowd.
"Well that was a fantastic performance from miss Ivarin. Take fifty points for your efforts. Hopefully you learnt a thing or two, everyone. Now head off to your duelling pits." The congregated students began dispersing. Harry naturally followed Katerina towards a pit with the label '4'.
"You're an impressive dueller, I take it?" he mused.
"You could say so," she nodded proudly. "Duels are king of the hill style, you duel until you're defeated. The record is twelve rounds, by Ivarin, naturally. As a newcomer to the pit, it's tradition for you to go first.
"I see," he nodded, descending down the steps towards the centre of the pit, where a tall, stocky boy was conversing with the bubbly Simmons girl from charms. They turned hearing his entry into the pit, and the boy smiled while the girl scowled at him.
"Ah, the transfer, right? You sure you want to join such an advanced pit? Perhaps you should try the low thirties and work your way up."
"I assure you, I am more than capable," Harry responded with an easy smile, causing the boy to shrug as he added Harry's name to the list.
"Very well, as tradition dictates, you'll be king of the hill until someone defeats you. After that, you're automatically at the bottom of the list. Let's not waste any time, you'll be duelling Simmons here as she's the queen from last time.
"I look forward to seeing your prowess, miss Simmons," Harry nodded. The girl merely sniffed disdainfully. The two stepped to either side of the ring as the pit boss left the ring and the protective wards flared up.
-Break-
Katerina watched nervously at the edge of the ring as Harry stood relaxedly at one end of the duelling pit, while Simmons adopted an extremely aggressive dueller's pose, a prominent scowl on her face.
As soon as the call to begin was given, Simmon leapt forward, her wand a blur of motion as she fired an assortment of blasting and cutting curses. It seemed the girl was sparing no punches, though Harry merely batted the spells away, sending them back to the girl and forcing her to abandon her charge, shielding against the barrage.
"Most impressive," he mused out loud. Katerina's eyes bulged. Was he being sarcastic? She honestly couldn't tell. "Perhaps you might get me to move."
Okay he was definitely being sarcastic. The whispers were increasing as he deflected several rather nasty curses lazily. "Better. At least you're doing damage...to my ears with that shrill voice of yours."
Katerina would have burst out laughing had she not been so shocked. There were a few uneasy chuckles from the crowd, though most were simply incredulous at how the boy was deflecting such powerful spells.
"Fordio!" Simmons cast in a rage, eliciting several gasps. Katerina cringed. The thunderhammer spell, her signature spell, one that would force even Ivarin to dodge. Harry lazily flicked his wand, and the spell impacted the dome, blowing up a large amount of dust from the ground. When it cleared, Harry was standing their lazily, his wand pointed towards the ground. "I-i-impossible!"
"I know twelve year olds who cast better than that, let me show you how to cast a spell," Harry chided mockingly, flourishing his wand and sending forward a torrent of water. She shielded, and Katerina instantly knew it was a mistake, as the water, rather than fall to the ground, began to circle her, cocooning around her and lifting her in the air. Her shield cracked an angry red, before collapsing, and she began struggling in the water, desperately trying to claw her way out. As she emerged near unconscious, Harry released the water, causing her to tumble to the ground. She was then knocked out by a simple stunner.
There was complete silence, and it took a full minute before the pit boss called out weakly, "Winner...White."
And suddenly there was an eruption of chaos as name were being taken off the list in a scramble. Harry merely conjured himself a chair and sat down lazily. Katerina could feel a headache coming.
The next eight duels had been eye opening for all of them, as Harry didn't bother leaving his chair, merely intercepting every spell midair and redirecting it back at the caster while lazily rocking back and forth. It was humiliating. It was frustrating. Yet no one could do a thing about it. Harry simply looked bored.
Twenty one duels, that's how long it lasted until her name was called. He had shattered the record, looking bored as he did so, and by now the stirrings had attracted audiences from other pits.
"Katerina Zakharov," the pit boss called, and reluctantly she stepped up. To her surprise, he dispelled the chair and stood up when he saw her descending down the steps. As she entered the pit, swallowing nervously, he merely shot her an encouraging smile.
"You will fare no worse than the others." Somehow, with just a single line, he made her feel far more confident in herself. She would lose, of no doubt, yet the reassurance somehow gave her heart in going all out.
As the two bowed to each other, and perhaps childishly she noted how he bowed deeper compared to facing his prior opponents, she prepared herself, lashing out with a barrage of blasting curses towards the floor around him, causing rubble to blast into the air and pepper him. He swirled his wand, and the rubble began swirling around him like a tornado, causing her to still and watch simply in awe.
"Pay attention," he chided, drawing a blush from her as she cast a shield just as he directed the flow of rubble towards, peppering her shield aggressively as the chunks of rock turned into dust with the velocity they impacted her shield. Katerina grimaced as she saw fractures begin to form on her shield, and let out a sigh of relief when the flow slowed.
Her relief, however, was short lived, when the remaining pieces of rubble were transfigured into ravens, which let out screeches diving towards her shield and pecking and clawing violently, trying to lash out at her.
"Never allow yourself to go on the defensive, especially not when you're at a disadvantage," Harry chided, untransfiguring the birds back into chunks of stone that clattered uselessly around her. Flicking her wand, she cast a variety of cutting curses and other quick spells. He flicked most of the away, dodging one or two and retaliating with an occasional hex, though she knew he was just toying with her. It was humbling...the way he merely observed her attacks like a parent would their child gurgling in an attempt to produce words. Katerina cast, and cast, and cast, until finally she was too tired to continue, and yielded, throwing her wand to the floor in surrender.
"You did well," he mused. Was he being sarcastic? Katerina was honestly too tired to care, accepting his help in moving back to her seat. "Some of your curses might have hurt if they hit me."
Yep he was definitely being sarcastic. The bastard hadn't even broken a sweat. He turned to talk to the pit boss, their conversation beyond her hearing's periphery, though she frowned when he went up to her and sat beside her.
"You're not going to continue?"
"There is no point," he shrugged. "I will find little challenge here. The only reason I bothered to keep up for so long was to make a point."
"And what was that?"
"That your concepts of duelling are completely off. That to thrive, you must unlearn everything you have learnt."
"And you'll teach me?" she queried, almost excitedly.
"Who else?" he smiled. The slight fear she felt was overwhelmed by a surge of gratitude as she hugged him, while they watched two other students step in the duelling pit, having a far fairer fight than Harry had offered any of his opponents.
Author Note:
Right, I did it. It's 5am and I'm finally finished with the second chapter of the day, late as it may be. Is it shorter than usual? Absolutely. Can it be improved? Absolutely. Am I happy with the story delivered? Absolutely. While shorter than usual, I felt it was a natural place to end the chapter. So let's start with the author comments.
On the boggarts, I definitely spent a long time considering this. Let's get Harry's out of the way first. His fear isn't so much as any single event or person, but rather he fears being powerless. While the Dursleys could have definitely fit the bill, I felt this was best exemplified by his first time at Kolyma. For Katerina's, her fear is of isolation, as Harry correctly identified and exploited in previous chapters. She has been alone and friendless for most of her life, and now that Harry has created a bond with her, she fears losing it. We see it shift between several individuals before landing on Harry because he's the first person outside her family to show her any genuine compassion.
On duelling, Harry is awesome, yes. The thing you have to remember is, these are schoolyard fights for a soldier. He's not going to have trouble except with a few standouts. There are three purposes to his display: one, to assert himself over other students and cultivate a reputation for himself, two, to demonstrate and lure Katerina and others in with the promise of power by following him, and the third reason will be revealed soon. Now I'm bloody exhausted, so I'm going to sign off. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter, it was definitely a fun one to write, even if I'm going to touch up on a few of the details in a revisit.
As always, favourite, follow, share and leave a comment. Toodles!