Hey Everyone, hope you are doing alright wherever you are! Like Harry promised last time we are dueling today. Fight scenes have never been my strong suit so I am interested to hear what you guys think.
So without further ado chapter 4: Dueling Prowess
"Expelliarmus." The crimson spell shot out of the short, chestnut wand and raced towards the wand in the mannequin's hand. As it struck its target, the wand shot up in the air and towards Susan. The redhead reached out but grasped a second too soon. It bounced against her closed fist, dropping to the ground with a hollow thud.
"Almost." Susan groaned at Hannah's jovial tone as the blond walked over to pick up her Asper wand. "I'm going to need to polish my wand tonight with how much you are dropping it."
"I'm trying." The girl sighed out. Sweat dripped down Susan's forehead. Once again, the duo had made their way to the Come and Go room ahead of a D.A session. The room was basked in a warm yellow light and the fireplace seemed to burn just a little brighter than before. The mirror Harry had hit last time was still hung broken on the wall. Apparently, the elves couldn't fix everything.
After Susan's lesson with Harry, the girl had immediately told the rest of the Hufflepuff 5th year girls that the next session would involve dueling. Their reactions made it clear that it might not have been the best idea to share that bit of information after all.
"You're sure he didn't tell anyone else?" Hannah's Cheshire grin immediately put Susan on edge. This could only mean that the blond was cooking up some devious plan or a new joke. At Susan's reluctant nod, the prefect's grin grew larger. "That's perfect."
Leanne leaned forward on her bed in excitement. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Of their group, she was always the most willing to go along with one of Hannah's stunts. Ernie and Justin used to complain that it was because she spent too much time with Gryffindors.
"Nobody tell this to anyone else. Not even the boys." Hannah could hardly suppress her giddiness. "If we are the only ones to know, there is no way we are going to lose."
"Lose what? The D.A. might be illegal but it's still just a class" Megan rolled her eyes at the blond. Only to get a pillow thrown at her in response.
"Like the twins aren't going to set up a betting pool as soon as they hear about this." Hannah ducked as the pillow was thrown back at her and quickly made her way to Susan's bed to take cover behind the girl. "One where everyone will underestimate the puffs, especially us girls. Think about it. Wouldn't you want some more gold before the next Hogsmeade trip?"
"But isn't cheating if only we know?" Susan looked over to the girl behind her. She was truly starting to regret telling the others about this.
"Well... we aren't going to cheat during the duels." The blond's conviction wavered slightly but she pushed through. "We are just going to practice some more."
"Cedric knew about the dragons before the first task." Leanne spoke up confidently. "That wasn't cheating, was it?"
The entire house had been confused when a year ago the Hogwarts champion had started spending all his time in the common room reading about dragons. But once they found themselves in the spectator area for the first task of the triwizard tournament, the pieces quickly fell into place.
The memory of their former housemate dampened the mood as it always did. But as the girls looked each other in the eyes they knew what they were going to do. After last year's events the phrase 'What would Cedric do.' had become the badger's unofficial motto. It was Megan who gave the word. "So when are we going to practice?"
The group of four girls spent the rest of their week tugged in the come-and-go room practicing their dueling skills throughout the night. Two days in they were joined by Ernie after Susan had let it slip what they had been doing for the previous nights. Her friends weren't mad, they expected it from the start. Frankly, Hannah was surprised that her friend managed to keep quiet to him for so long. For her part, the redhead was just glad that she told her boyfriend that she figured it out by chance instead of that Harry told her. It stopped him from getting too protective of her again.
They met up daily to practice their aim, casting speed, and accuracy. Susan, however, stayed to the side, choosing to instead focus on the strength of her spells. Following Harry's advice, she made sure to speak her intentions out loud while she fired spells at a relentless pace. At first, her friends had looked on in confusion as they watched her narrate her spells in dramatic fashion. That was until they saw the results.
Every spell she cast, even those they had only recently learned, did exactly what she asked of them. The more detailed her announcements, the more control she had and the more power she could add. Four days in, actively thinking about what she wanted her spells to do had become a habit to Susan. It had gotten to the point that she didn't even have to make those announcements for simple disarming and stunning spells anymore. The group was ecstatic with her progress. Where before they had seen her struggle to make small cuts on wood, she was now blasting branches apart with each hit.
But Susan couldn't shake the image of Harry blasting the mannequin against the wall. The cracked mirror looked over her as she continued to practice. Taunting her as she worked herself to exhaustion each day. It wasn't enough.
"Come on let's take a break." Hannah said bringing Susan back to the Come and Go room. Seeing the exhaustion on her friend the blond guided her to take a seat on the dueling stage. "We need you fresh if we are going to win this."
"Win what?" Ron asked, announcing the arrival of the golden trio. They walked over to the Hufflepuffs, not seeming too surprised to not be the first ones there as the stone doors closed behind them.
"Oh nothing." Hannah, putting up her most innocent act, slowly sauntered over to meet them halfway. Susan turned away embarrassed. She knew exactly how ridiculous her friend looked right now. The blond wouldn't be able to put on an innocent smile to save her life. "Just excited for the duels today."
"Duels?" Ron looked confused by the Hufflepuff's statement. "We aren't dueling today. Are we?" The boy shot Hermione a questioning look.
"No, we aren't." The bushy-haired girl spoke up while aiming a piercing stare at the puffs. "We are working on shield charms today. First Reducto and then how to block it remember?"
Hannah's eyes widened as she quickly looked back to her friend in surprise. Susan lowered her head, feeling like she was just punched in the side. Harry told her to practice for duels specifically. Did he get the lesson order wrong? Or did he mislead her on purpose? Was this one of the pranks he enjoyed so much? If so, she couldn't say that she was a fan.
"Hermione I uhm... I might have made some changes to the lesson." Harry's voice caused Susan to quickly look up. Unfortunately, his announcement also brought Hermione's wrath upon the boy.
"You changed my plan?" The bushy-haired girl stepped right up to the boy. "We agreed to do shields today. You can't just change things without talking to me." Everyone, especially Ron, decided not to comment on the fact that the girl just left him out of the planning entirely or that she referred to the schedule as 'hers'.
With a conflict hanging in the air, Hannah fled to the dueling podium and out of the line of fire. "She is even scarier up close like that." Susan could only nod along as they watched the studious girl continue to lay it onto the raven-haired boy. Hermione's rants were renowned and feared all around the castle. Both puffs had even heard Madam Pince talk about how fewer books got damaged since the Gryffindor had made her second home in the school's library.
Even after having faced this rage many times before, Harry knew that he needed a way out. But when his eyes landed on the still cracked mirror he paled further. If Hermione found out he had damaged school property it would be all over. "Sorry Mione. I just thought this would work better." Shrugging he gave the girl a sheepish grin. His ability to talk to people, outside of teaching, still left a lot to be desired. "Besides we can practice our shields during the duels."
Before the Gryffindor could further berate the boy, the stone doors opened again as the rest of the D.A slowly trickled in. Harry fully embraced this distraction as he darted away from Hermione under the excuse of greeting the others.
With the fight over for now Hannah grabbed Susan's arm, turning towards the girl in a wave of excitement. "Did you hear that?"
"Uhm we are still going to duel?" The redhead for her part was just confused by what happened. Why didn't Harry tell the others that he wanted to change the lesson? When did he get the ideas for duels, and why would he even change the lesson in the first place? Dueling couldn't be the best way to practice shielding charms.
"Ron and Hermione didn't know about the duels." The blond continued. "Don't you see what this means?"
Seeing that her friend had no idea, Hannah leaned in closer and whispered. "He only told you. We are dueling for you."
Susan jumped up in her seat as the heat rose to her cheeks. With a glance towards Harry, she saw that the boy was too distracted in his conversation with the Gryffindor chasers to notice her reaction. Already dreading where this was going, she turned back to a grinning Hannah. "Why would he do that?"
This didn't make any sense. There were so many people here who wanted to learn, he couldn't change the lesson just to help one of them. Just to help her. Besides he had already done so much for her, this would be too much. No there had to be something else. Yet she didn't know how to even start talking a grinning Hannah out of this. As Susan kept going over the situation in her mind, again and again, the rest of their group joined the duo by the stage.
Ernie took a seat next to his girlfriend and threw his arm around her shoulders. "How did the warm-up go?" He said with a charming smile.
Only to go unnoticed by the distracted girl much to the amusement of the rest of the group. The blond boy shot them a glare before giving Susan a quick kiss on the cheek, finally startling the girl out of her thoughts. "Ernie? When did you get here?"
"Susan, we have been talking to you for the last five minutes." Leanne could barely contain her laughter as the redhead started to apologize to her friends.
"Ignore them. We just got here." Ernie quickly cut off the apologies and took Susan's hands in his own. "What were you thinking about? You were kind of up in the clouds."
The redhead sputtered as she tried to find a good way to answer that. There was no way that Ernie would react well to Harry doing so much for her. Luckily her friend came to the rescue. "She was probably daydreaming about everything we are buying with the money we are going to win with these duels." Hannah said as she winked towards both Leanne and Megan.
"We are dueling today?" Justin questioned. But when he looked around the group it became clear that he was the only one surprised by this. "You all knew?"
"Harry let it slip to Susan and she told us." Megan smirked towards the boy. Susan once again counted her blessings with how great her friends were. "It was supposed to be just us girls but-"
"We don't keep secrets from each other." Ernie scooted a little bit closer to Susan but didn't notice that the redhead adverted her gaze from him. "Sorry Justin."
"It gets better though. Not even Weasley or Granger knew about it." Shock rippled through the group as they all gaped at Hannah's revelation. Harry Potter keeping a secret from the rest of the trio was simply unheard-of. Susan could feel the hold of her boyfriend on her tighten. He was getting protective.
Before the group could recover, Harry stepped up to the dueling podium and called for the start of the meeting. Hannah quickly grabbed her friend's arm. "Come on Susie. We need to get a spot near the twins. I want to get our bets in early." She tried to lead her friend away, but Ernie kept his hold on Susan tight.
The rest of the group remained silent as the tension rose around them. Hannah and Ernie continued to glare at one another, both daring the other to say something. Susan shrank back in her spot as she was caught in between the two puffs once again. It had become an almost regular occurrence during their time at Hogwarts. But after all these years she still didn't know how to deal with it.
The first time this had happened was back in their second year. Tensions had been high all year and it was close to reaching its boiling point. It was Harry Potter who became the target of the students' anger and fear once his abilities as a parseltongue were revealed. The masses needed a scapegoat, and he was the first one to appear.
But after Penelope Clearwater and Hermione Granger had become the heir's latest targets house Hufflepuff knew they had been wrong. Even if he could talk to snakes Harry would never have hurt one of his best friends. They wouldn't need another lecture from Professor Sprout to understand that they needed to apologize. None of them did.
At the time Slytherin's monster hadn't been slain yet and the mandrakes still needed time to mature. Even if they now knew Harry wasn't the heir, whoever it ended up being was still out there. Fear ran rampant in the Hufflepuff common room, and no one wanted to stick their neck out and possibly become the next victim. Every year made sure that everyone was accounted for while walking through the halls and the first and second years were always accompanied by either the sixth or seventh years.
It was only Ernie whose sense of fair play was strong enough to overcome his fears. While the rest of his house huddled together in fear, he admitted his mistakes and apologized to Harry. The Gryffindor easily forgave him. But if it was because the boy was so forgiving or that he was still in shock by what happened to his friend, Ernie didn't know.
While his consciousness was cleared, it still wasn't enough for the blond boy. He couldn't speak for all of Hufflepuff, so he tried to convince his housemates to do the same. Even offering to go with them and help them overcome any animosity the Gryffindors might throw at them. None made any inclination to take up his offer.
Throwing out his final hope. Susan sat on one of the couches in between Hannah and Megan when Ernie turned to her "We have all been pricks to him. Don't you think it would be better if more than one Hufflepuff apologizes? We don't want him to hate our entire house."
Susan knew, despite her fears and uncertainty, that the boy was right. Besides she had a lot to apologize for herself. But when she tried to get up from the couch, Hannah held her firmly in place. Her best friend's face had gone pale, her eyes wide in fear, and she kept Susan's arm in an iron lock. Her grip only tightening as her friends tried to calm her down. The redhead carried the bruises on her arm for weeks after that.
When Ernie tried the forcefully pry Susan loose, a loud shouting match broke out between the two. Wands were drawn. It took all the prefects and Professor Sprout to prevent spells from being cast and finally stop Hannah's panicked screams. The blond wouldn't let go of Susan until she fell into a restless sleep hours later. By then the redhead had already decided to sleep at her friend's side.
As the house of Badgers woke up the following morning Hogwarts' halls were filled with stories about how Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had found the chamber of secrets and had killed the monster hidden within.
Ever since that day, these types of fights between Ernie and Hannah became commonplace in house Hufflepuff. And each time Susan was in the center of it all. Now with them all hidden away in the come and go room there were no professors around to stop a fight from escalating.
As more and more of the D.A members started to convene around the scene Justin stepped up to try and break the stalemate. "Come on guys, we should clear the stage."
Keeping his glare focused on Hannah, Ernie slowly stood up pulling Susan along with him. They made their way through the crowd and towards the Gryffindor section. The people around them instinctively stepped aside to get out of harm's way and even their friends followed at a distance. In the corner of her eye, Susan could see Harry look at the trio with hesitation. The redhead burned a bright scarlet at having everyone see them like this.
Perhaps spotting the girl's unease, Harry cleared his throat drawing everyone's attention back to him. Never again would Susan be so grateful for the boy's fame. "Alright everyone. Let's get started. We have been working quite a bit on our spells these last few weeks."
As the crowd listened to the lesson plan, Susan and her group took their place next to the Weasley twins. One of them, Susan guessed it was Fred, cocked an eyebrow at their arrival and elbowed his brother in the side. "Hello Gred. Forge." Hannah whispered to the boys with a wicked smile. Not wanting any part in her friend's plans or to know why she was using those names Susan turned her attention back to Harry.
"So, I thought it was a good time to show each other what we can do now." The leader of the D.A paced around the podium, clearly excited about what the day's lesson entailed. The class couldn't help but lean in with a glimmer of curiosity. Whatever got Harry Potter this excited had to be better than mastering simple base spells. "Lockhart might have been the worst Defense teacher in Hogwarts history, but he had one good idea. Dueling."
Whispers broke out all around the room. Some excited about seeing the action or the prospect of dueling some of their schoolmates, others nervous about getting injured or dreading the prospect of possibly having to face their instructor.
"Hermione if you would so kindly?" The girl scoffed at Harry's polite words. She clearly had not forgiven him just yet for changing her precious lesson plan. The raven-haired boy chuckled like a man on death's row as the girl passed him with her nose held high. Much to the amusement of the rest of house Gryffindor who wasted no time heckling the boy who lived.
Glaring at his housemates the boy decided to jest back. "Please show us what the strongest Gryffindor can do Mione." His response was immediately met with booing from the rest of Gryffindor. Smelling blood, the Puffs and Claws jumped in at a chance to take their rival house down a peg. Around half of the D.A joined Harry's praising of Hermione or started issuing their ow. challenges to show which house is the strongest.
Susan's friends got swept up in the excitement the same as everyone. Discussing whoever could win this duel or the various matchups they would like to see. Even Hannah and Ernie had seemingly forgotten the tension with the former having already integrated herself in the rapidly expanding Weasley betting circle and the latter throwing his own challenge towards the Gryffs.
If one were to listen in on the crowd, they would be forgiven to think that what they were hearing was a group of quidditch fans discussing an upcoming championship game, not a group of students in the middle of a study session. Not even professor Lupin and his wireless were able to create such a jovial and electric atmosphere in his lessons. For the first time that year, for the first time since Cedric, Hogwarts castle felt alive.
Looking up to the stage Susan saw Harry taking great joy in trading barbs with an annoyed Hermione. "Harry you can't just call someone the strongest. That is unfair to the rest"
"How so? It's exactly what you and Ron did in the Hog's Head to start this little club." He shot back with a large grin. The jest was devoid of any bite but the memory of how she might have forced her friend to lead the D.A. was enough to leave Hermione flustered. The bushy-haired girl turned her back to the boy with a humph much to his enjoyment.
Susan chuckled at the interaction seemingly loud enough to catch the boy's attention as green eyes met amber ones. The boy smiled towards her and gave a quick nod towards the other end of the stage. Her hitched breath was missed in the crowd as she slowly shook her head towards the boy. He couldn't be serious about that. Yet he continued to smile at her.
Distracted by their excitement nobody noticed how the redhead slowly moved towards the stage. All the way her eyes were begging Harry to choose someone else. He was relentless. and there was no way he was letting her get out of this. Offering his hand, he pulled Susan up to the stage. "Don't worry. It's just a friendly duel." He assured.
"Susan?" Ernie's voice cut through the sounds of the crowd. The students went quiet as they took notice of the appearance of a second dueler. All eyes locked on the Hufflepuff with surprise and confusion openly displayed behind their gazes. Slowly the silence was driven out by whispers of Susan's chance at beating Hermione. None of them sounded confident about her.
Especially the reaction of the Gryffindors sent shivers up her spine. The boisterous cheering and show boasting had vanished. Instead, all eyes of the house of the brave were focused on her with downright intimidating intensity.
"10 sickles says that Susie will kick some Griffin butt." Hannah loudly spoke up as she slapped the silver coins into the hands of the closest twin. The girl's bravado shook the crowd awake and re-ignited the room's energy as more people threw in their own bets. The twins quickly became overwhelmed, and Lee Jordan had to jump in to help write down all the of the bets favored the Gryffindor.
Susan felt a comforting squeeze on her hand. Looking back, she saw Harry giving her a soft smile. "Ignore them. Just focus on your spells and Hermione will be in for a tough match." He spoke softly. His words meant for nobody but her. Reassuring but not enough to still her doubts. With a small nod, she took back her hand and walked to her end of the stage.
"Alright, I am sure you all remember how this works. First to disarm or bind their opponent wins." Harry called out as he stepped aside to clear the field.
The two girls raised their hands and gave one another a slow bow. Susan glanced to the side where she spotted her friends. It wasn't hard to see that they felt the same nervousness as she did at that moment. Ernie looked like he was forcing himself to keep watching. Even Hannah, despite sending her friend a thumbs up, was nervously tapping her foot on the ground.
Rising from her bow, Susan looked towards Hermione. The Gryffindor had her gaze focused on her opponent and was slowly shifting from her left to her right foot. Her posture was confident and calm as if she was about to head into an exam instead of a duel.
Focus on your spells. With Harry's advice echoing through her mind, Susan took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The noise around her slowly died down as she tuned out everything but the vision of a wand flying towards her hand. Come to me, come to me, come to me.
"Begin." As soon as Harry gave the signal, Susan's eyes shot open. The words of her spell already upon her lips. "Expelliarmus!"
The crimson beam struck Hermione's wand before its owner was ready. It shot out of the girl's grasp and flew high into the air. Susan put too much power in the spell, forcing her to look away from her opponent to follow the wand's trajectory. Taking two steps back she jumped up to snatch the wand out of the air.
Her first wand. She had finally caught her first wand. "I caught it! Hannah, Ernie look. I caught one!" Jumping in the air with joy, Susan was completely caught up in her success. Finally, after all those extra hours of practicing she did it.
She knew that she was able to put more power into her spells. But her struggles with the disarming spell had always been on the forefront in Hogwarts. Now she showed them all that she could do it. Not even her aunt would have been able to find any large errors in her spell.
"We have a winner." Harry called the match with a smile. Susan spun around to face him with a bright smile. If it wasn't for his help, she doubted she would have gotten this far. But as she was about to express her gratitude to the boy with a smile or maybe a hug, he continued. "Nice catch Susan." His green eyes were twinkling with mischief to watch his teasing grin.
The blood rushed to Susan's cheeks as the girl looked around the room. Around her, the members of the D.A were staring at her with a mix of shock, confusion, and a sense of awkwardness.
All except for Hannah who, while struggling to hold in her laughter, held her hand out to the Weasley twins for her winnings. The redhead was sure that any comparisons to a tomato weren't misplaced at that moment.
Before Susan could think of something to salvage the situation, Hermione's coughs drew her attention. The bushy-haired girl had walked over with her hand held out and a slightly strained smile. "That was amazing Susan. I didn't stand a chance."
"I was just lucky to cast first." Susan said as she shakes Hermione's outstretched hand.
"I don't think so." The Gryffindor cast a quick glance towards Harry but continued. "You won fair and square."
"Thank you, Hermione." She wasn't sure if the praise was earned, but she chose to just accept it. Because all she wanted to do at the moment was to sink through the ground. Or maybe get off that stage as quickly as possible, either would be fine. But her opponent just stood there, her hand still stretched out. "Uhm..."
"My wand." The Gryffindor stated with a small smirk. Susan's eyes widened, of course, the wand. She fumbled with the wooden stick for a second, nearly dropping it in the process before giving it back to her opponent.
"Now who can tell me what we could learn from this duel?" Luckily for the Hufflepuff, Harry stepped in to continue the lesson and hopefully take away some attention from her clumsiness.
"How not to do a victory lap." One of the twins shouted out, causing the room to erupt into laughter. Susan glared towards the two twins in a hopeless effort to figure out which one of them said it. Next to her, she heard Harry's muffled snickers. The raven-haired boy was covering his mouth, desperate to stifle his laughter. Susan's embarrassment grew twofold, and she decided that it was George who said it. She always liked him the least of the two.
"Besides that." Once Harry got himself back under control, he continued his teaching while purposefully avoiding the redhead's glare. "Why do you think Susan won that match?"
"She was faster." As always, it was one of the always eager Ravenclaws who shouted the answer first. Seeing no issue with the reasoning the rest of the room nodded along.
"She did cast the first spell. Anyone else?" Once more she couldn't get the image of Harry as Professor Sprout out of her head as the boy looked around the room. Daring the rest of the crowd to speak up with a gentle smile. "Alright then. Angelina are you up for a duel? I could use the fastest Gryffindor chaser for a demonstration." The last part was said with a smirk that was easily matched by his quidditch captain. Susan only felt her nerves skyrocket. She needed to duel again?
His choice of dueler was met with heckling once again. This time specifically from the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team. "Harry you misspoke. The name you are looking for is Katie." "No, no he totally meant to say Alicia. Didn't you Potter." "All of you are crazy. Everyone knows beaters have better reflexes than chasers." "Well said George. What's the deal Harrikins?"
Angelina's smirk only grew at the complaints of her teammates. As she took her spot on the dueling stage, she shot a wicked look back to the crowd. "His deal is that he needs Hogwarts' fastest chaser to put on a show."
This, of course, dragged the rest of the audience into the argument for a second time. Angelina seemed to relish in the jeering of the crowd while Harry simply stood back shaking his head with a large grin. Feeling Susan's gaze on him, he looked back and their eyes locked. Taking a deep breath in and out he shot a quick wink towards the girl. The message was clear, stay calm.
Following his example, she took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. Looking to her side she saw that Ernie was looking directly at her with a clenched fist. She guessed that must have been how she looked when she first stepped onto the stage. Around him though, the rest of her friends were all placing bets with the twins and guessing by Hannah's hand gestures they were betting big.
Judging by the sounds of the room, Gryffindor was still the favored to win this duel even if the margin had shrunk down a bit since the last one. But that didn't matter. Her friends believed in her. Harry believed in her. Maybe she could believe in herself.
Looking back to her opponent, who was still trading barbs with the crowd, Susan palmed her wand. Her grip was strong but flexible. She looked over to Harry and gave a quick nod before focusing back on her opponent.
"Again, first to disarm or bind the other wins." The crowd was brought to silence as Harry spoke up and Angelina took her place. The two duelers brought their wands to their faces and gave a deep bow. Rising back up Susan fell into a dueling stance, her wand held low before her stomach. Across from her, the Gryffindor chaser held her wand high and ready to strike while her eyes were searching for any openings to exploit. "Begin."
"Expelliarmus" "Stop it. Protego" Angelina's crimson spell crashed into Susan's translucent shield. The dark-skinned Gryffindor looked on in surprise as her spell was completely stopped by the small translucent shield which shattered on impact.
Susan's shield was about the size of a large dinner plate. Smaller than any Protego the D.A had seen before. But what it lacked in size it made up by its sheer casting speed. When she cast the spell, the shield spread out to its small size and harder faster than a full-body shield otherwise could. A speed that the Hufflepuff was desperately going to need.
As the shock of her spell being blocked subsided, Angelina backed up Harry's boast of being the fastest chaser with a continuing onslaught of jinxes and curses. But what was even more impressive than the sheer speed of the spells was their accuracy. Using her experience facing the various Hogwarts Keepers, she made sure that no two spells ever targeted the same place in a row. If the first spell hit high, the second would hit low. Combined with the small area of Susan's shields, meant that the Hufflepuff had to cast new shields across her body at the same rapid pace.
As the duel progressed Susan was slowly being pushed back and she even had to choose to let some of the weaker hexes through. A stinger hex hit the girl in the shoulder, pushing her to the edge of the stage. One more good hit and she would surely be sent flying off the stage.
She needed something to turn this match around and fast. Another leg locking jinx hit one of her shields. But instead of simply being blocked the jinx bounced off and struck the ceiling. Susan's eyes widened. None of the spells bounced off before nor was it her intention when she cast the shield. Which could only mean that either her shield was suddenly stronger, or the jinx was weaker.
Observing her opponent, she saw sweat drip down the Gryffindor's face as her arms moved slower with every spell cast. Instead of the high stance, she started with Angelina had lowered her wand to chest level. She was getting tired. But simply going on the offensive wouldn't be enough. If her spell didn't hit she would be left wide open. Susan needed a guaranteed hit. She needed a distraction.
A weakened disarming hex shot towards her and seeing that the spell moved slower than the ones before the Hufflepuff took her chance. Ducking underneath the spell she saw Angelina already adjusting her aim ready to fire. "Be blinding. Lumos. Nox" Her voice boomed through the room as a large, blinding light erupted from her wand before quickly receding again. Creating a bright flash that blinded most of the audience as well as the Gryffindor whose spell shot wide.
"Give me her wand. Expelliarmus" The crimson spell hit Angelina before she could recover her senses. Her wand shot out of her hand before it was easily caught by Susan.
This time Harry didn't need to announce a winner. Susan's friends alongside a few other Puffs and Claws burst out into cheering for her victory. Next to them the rest of the group gave more subdued applause and encouragement to both duelers. Susan was sure it was because they just lost money during the betting, at least that's why she hoped some of her housemates seemed so disappointed.
Standing tall, Susan brushed a few sweat drops away while trying to catch her breath. Across from her Angelina was breathing heavily, bend over and with her hands on her knees. That was an exhausting duel compared to the against Hermione and much to close for comfort. She wasn't even sure just how she had won but Harry apparently was.
Not giving the audience or the duelers a minute to recover, their teacher eagerly took his place at the center of the stage. "So why did Susan win this time?"
This time none spoke up. Not even with a joke answer so that was at least some improvement. Susan decided that Hannah's loud whispering of "Because Susie is the best witch here." was best left ignored. And luckily for her, Harry chooses to do so too. Though based on his twitching lips she narrowly escaped that one.
As his class remained silent, he decided to give them a handout. "Susan mostly used shielding spells which are often more draining than the simple offensive spells Angelina used." This was one of the raven-haired boy's biggest strengths. He could break down any spell or scenario into simple steps and results without giving you the feeling of being talked down to. "Yet, Susan can still fight another duel, while my esteemed captain over here looks like she just played a four-hour quidditch match." Even if his sarcastic remarks did slip into said explanations more and more lately.
"You're going to pay for that Potter." Angelina's words fell flat as she was still struggling to catch her breath. "Just you wait until training next week."
Harry brushed off the threat with a chuckle, but Susan was sure she saw him take a few steps away from the quidditch captain. "Susan was more efficient with her magic. Did anyone notice anything about the shields she cast?"
"They were kinda... small." Leanne called out with an apologetic smile towards her friend.
"Correct." Susan chose to focus on the wall as Harry so gracelessly explained her spell's uniqueness. "While it makes it harder to block spells as you have to know where your opponent is aiming it also makes them easier and less draining to cast."
"Which is how she could keep up with Angelina." Hermione word's caught Susan's attention. Turning back towards the crowd, instead of the expected sea of mocking grins, she expected she saw them look on in wonder and curiosity. Wait what was happening?
"Exactly." Harry proudly called out Hermione's observation. He picked up the pace of his explanation as the excitement once again took hold of him. "She used her control to keep up with a stronger opponent until they were too tired to fight back. Now that we are learning more spells and how to put more power behind them it is also important that we know how to control that power." The crowd leaned in as Harry started to reveal the true plan for the day's session "So besides getting started on our shield charms, I also want you to focus on how much power you put into your spells. Try to use just enough to shatter your opponent's shields."
"And what better way to practice that than by dueling. Pair up and try breaking each other's shields." The boy didn't have to say anything else as immediately people started to pair up. Angelina quickly pulled Alicia up the dueling stage to secure her as a partner. "Let's keep it to Expelliarmus and stinging hexes for now. We will work on blocking more dangerous spells later on."
Around her, the students quickly partnered up. Susan hoped Megan was still free as she made her way to her friends. The quiet puff was always gentler during practice than the rest. "Once you have a steady shield going try to get it as small as possible." Harry continued his explanation of the assignment. "This is something I need to practice as well but if you need help feel free to ask me or Susan for pointers."
Wait what? Susan froze in her step. She needed to help teach. Turning back towards Harry she tried to dispute that point but most of the D.A members already got to work, and the raven-haired boy had wandered off to hand out advice.
Rescue was in sight as she saw Ernie make his way towards the stage to hopefully save her from having to teach. But before the boy could reach her, she was grabbed by a rapidly talking Hermione. "Susan, you have to tell me where you learned how to do that protego spell. We were practicing it with Harry for months last year and he isn't even that quick. Also why did you announce your spells? Was it to distract us?"
Caught in Hermione's clutches, the Hufflepuff found herself surrounded by a group of Gryffindors, including most of the fifth years and the quidditch team. She had hardly a chance to respond to anything the bushy-haired girl said before she was dragged away to an empty corner of the room. Looking over her shoulder she spotted her friends frozen in place as they looked towards the scene confused. Only Hannah seemingly regained her senses as a wide grin overtook the blond before, she followed behind the group with a slight skip in her step. "Oh this is going to be fun."
Over the next hour and a half, the members of houses Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw dueled and practiced their shield charms diligently. While Harry spent his time going between groups answering questions, correcting wand movements, and testing out shields, Susan wasn't so lucky. The Gryffindors spent their hour and a half less diligently and they certainly weren't sharing their instructor.
While it was Hermione that had claimed Susan as her partner, the rest of the Gryffs took every chance they had to steal the redhead away. Katie wanted to test her casting speed against hers, the twins tried out every prank spell they knew against her shields (luckily only a weak color changing spell managed to slip past turning her robes a bright Hufflepuff yellow for the night) and Lavender told her a new Hogwarts rumor in between each spell cast. And if she ever had a moment to catch her breath Hermione was sure to pop up by her side, with another new batch of questions and theories to share.
Susan had hoped that this was the lesson she could focus on getting stronger. Instead of practicing along with the rest, she had to spend all her time trying to keep up with the abundant energy and chaos of a Gryffindor practice session. She tried to escape a few times under the excuse of helping some of her friends. Each time Hannah would foil her plan by challenging her to a duel or by pointing out that Harry was already helping the Hufflepuffs.
The raven-haired boy for his part seemed content with letting his housemates continue as they were. Only intervening a few times when the group was spending more time playing around than practicing. Even then he looked more ready to join in on the fun than actually getting them to work.
Instead, the boy put all his attention to helping the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs with their spells. Especially the Claws seemed abuzz from the chance at more one-on-one time with their teacher and were bombarding him with questions and requests for demonstrations. Susan was certain she saw him demonstrate about a dozen different spells that weren't Protego to Cho Chang.
By the end of the session, Susan was exhausted to the point of collapsing. "Okay everyone good session. We will continue with our shields and control next week so try to practice whenever you can. Just be careful not to get caught." At Harry's announcement, the spell fire around the room was replaced by the usual sighs of relief. Susan herself took a seat on the dueling podium, to try and catch her breath. Who knew teaching could be so much more exhausting then practicing?
"That was so helpful Susan." Looking up she saw a sweating Hermione grinning towards her. "Thank you so much." All around the bushy-haired girl the rest of the Gryffindors were also smiling and nodding towards the redhead.
"Yeah, great lesson Bones." "Don't think I'll let you win our next duel." "Enjoy the new robes Puff." Sending the flabbergasted girl a wave the group of Gryffindors moved out of the room back towards the Gryffindor tower, while Ron and Hermione retreated to Harry.
"That was great Susie. You won against two of Gryffindor's best." Hannah excitedly plopped down next to Susan and took the girl into a hug. "But you bet I am going to get through those shields of yours next time." Throughout the lesson, the blond kept trying to break through Susan's shields with a stunner. So far, each spell was completely blocked by the redhead's defenses.
"I got lucky." Susan replied with a small smile. She just hoped that her exertion hid some of her blushing. She liked all the compliments she was getting but wasn't sure she would ever get used to them.
"You know it wasn't just luck. We trained all week for this." Hannah said with a frown. "Even Potter made a big deal about how you did it."
"And it was so embarrassing." Falling on her back, Susan covers her face with her hands. "Then he told them I would teach them how to do that."
"So what? You did great. Maybe this could be the career you're looking for?" "How can I teach someone about magic?" "You did tonight. Almost all of the Gryffs managed a decent shield at the end."
"I think Hannah is right. You did really well Susan." The redhead shot back into a seated position, coming face to face with Harry. The boy held out two towels for the girls. "Even if you guys were playing around a bit too much."
"Blame the twins. They just wanted to test out their pranks." Hannah snatched one of the towels out of the boy's hands. "Nice. You wouldn't have some pumpkin juice to drink, would you?"
"Uhm no... I can get some next week if you want." The boy rubbed the back of his head in discomfort as he gave Susan a bashful look.
"You don't have to do that Harry. Thanks." As she grabbed the towel Susan scanned the room. Most of the members had already left for the night and only a few Ravenclaws were hanging around to talk. "Is everyone already gone?"
"Yeah uhm... Ernie was really tired. He and Justin left early. I think the rest of your friends went to check up on him." Harry said. Ernie left early? He seemed fine at the start of the session. But before she could ask further, the boy continued. "I think you did great during the duels. Especially against Angelina."
"Oh, we got that." Hannah tosses her towel to the side while giving a large teasing grin. "With how you kept gushing about Susie on stage and all."
A beet-red Harry sputtered to find a response. "Well I... I was just explaining what happened."
"You exaggerated a bit much Harry. You made me sound like some brilliant and powerful witch." Susan looked down and away from the two people beside her. She was sure her blush was just as bad as Harry's and if Hannah saw that the teasing would be as bad as when she and Ernie first started dating.
"I think you are a great witch." The boy's response forced Susan to look back into his eyes. His cheeks were still a bit flushed, but he forced himself to hold her gaze. "I trained my shield charms for months but yours seemed even stronger than mine."
"My auntie taught it to me before our third year." A small smile slipped through the cracks. Her aunt Amelia had given her access to her office flu for the summer and the two spent every lunch break together practicing the spell. It was one of her favorite summers ever. "With Sirius Black on the loose, she wanted me to be able to protect myself."
She knew she had hit a sensitive topic the moment she saw Harry flinch at the mention of the escaped convict. Of all his adventures there were two that he struggled the most to talk about. His duel with Voldemort and the confrontation with Black.
"Did you know the spell back then?" Hannah piqued in. Both girls had seen enough of Aunt Amelia's near obsession with the case of Sirius Black that they couldn't help but be curious about the man. "During your fight with Black?"
"No. I only learned it last year. It wouldn't have helped against the dementors anyway." Shaking his head Harry moved to change the topic. "What about that Lumos spell? I doubt your aunt taught you that trick and I noticed how you wouldn't answer Hermione's question about that one."
The Gryffindor had indeed asked about that very spell on numerous occasions, but Susan managed to find ways to evade them. Most of them by saying she had to check up on the twins. But she could already see Hannah lean forward in anticipation as well. She wouldn't get out of it this time. "No she didn't." Susan relented.
Please don't ask further. Please don't ask further. "How did you come up with that idea?" Harry asked. Just why couldn't this boy ever make these things easy for her?
"When a Phoenix apparats they create a large flash." From the corner of her eye, she caught the teasing grin forming on Hannah's face. "I needed an opening to hit Angelina and thought something like that would be distracting."
"You really like Phoenixes, don't you?" Harry shyly smiled at her. "First the tears and now this. I've seen Fawkes fight a Basilisk and didn't know any of that."
"Susie is brilliant when it comes to Magical Creatures." Hannah immediately seized the chance to tease her friend for a bit. "She is probably the only person alive who read Fantastic Beasts more times than Granger."
Before Susan could stop them, Harry turned towards the blond. "Really now?" He challenged. "Hermione finished her fifth read-through this summer."
"Susie?" Hannah's honey-sweet tone did little to mask the malice behind the words. The redhead wanted to plainly refuse to answer her friend. But when Harry turned his gaze back to her with that small smile of his, she knew that it was a lost cause. He and Hannah made a surprisingly dangerous pair.
"Nine times." She mumbled under her breath. Just because she was admitting to it didn't mean she had to do so loudly. Unfortunately, her audience still heard her.
"Nine times? You were only at eight during the summer." Her friend gaped at the number. But when she pried about when the redhead had read that book again over the last two months, Susan refused to answer. Hannah would have been furious if she admitted to sneaking the book into their classes and homework session. A little transfiguration work to make the cover look like the defense textbooks and she could finally enjoy those classes without Umbridge suspecting anything.
Harry's laughter broke through the bickering of the two girls. "See you are brilliant. Now I know who to go to for help with Care homework." Before Susan could interject, he quickly pushed on. "But I don't think it's just Magical Creatures. You really helped me out today. One teacher for all of us might not be enough after all. I'm sure that everyone else appreciated you helping them too."
A steady blush had formed on his cheeks that Susan knew for sure was mirrored on her own. It was bad already when the Gryffindor seemed determine to compliment her spell work whenever he had the chance, but to do it with such kindness and sincerity was completely unexpected to the girl. Not even Hannah could bring herself to jump in with a joke.
The mood was deep and intense and the redhead wasn't ready to handle it. The lingering note of hope in his green eyes was the final stroke. She grabbed onto Hannah's arm and adverted her eyes. "It's getting late. We should probably go or Umbridge might catch us."
"Right, of course. Let me check if the coast is clear." The hope in his eyes was shattered on impact. With downcast eyes he turned around and walked towards a corner of the room to take something out of his back pocket.
"Why did you do that Susie?" Hannah asked her friend. "He was being really nice. You could have at least thanked him."
"I know it's just. He is always saying those sweet things and it's a bit much. I don't think Ernie would like it if he knew." The boy wouldn't like it at all and they both knew it. Hannah's brow furrowed at the mention of her friend's boyfriend. But before the blond could say anything, the pair heard a soft mumbling. "...swear to be up to no good."
Both girls immediately seized their conversation and turned towards Harry. There have been many rumors about how the boy was able to sneak through the castle without consequences for as long as they have been at Hogwarts. A secret Animagus form, hidden passages, the ability to travel through the halls' many paintings? Nothing was too crazy for the Hogwarts rumor mill.
The pair had mostly written it off as nothing more than luck and favoritism, but could it be that he truly had a way to track teachers? Was this another one of Harry Potter's secrets?
Hannah elbowed Susan in the side, excited as the possible solution to this mystery presented itself to them. Their previous argument was left completely abandoned. The redhead couldn't lie, her curiosity was certainly peaked as well and both girls stood on the tips of their toes to try and catch a glimpse of what the boy was doing.
When Harry turned around again, they quickly pretended to be in conversation. She did, however, see him slip a piece of parchment back into his pocket. "She is on watch around the great hall. You should be fine if you take the side stairs."
"You can tell us how you-" Susan cut the blond off by returning the elbow in the side to her friend before Hannah could scare the boy away. Smiling sweetly, she tried to hide her friend's whimpers of pain.
"No thank you Harry. We should be fine." The redhead said as she took Hannah by the arm, and she rose from the stage. "But I think we need to go now, or I think we might not make it before curfew."
"Yeah... of course." Harry stepped aside, clearing the way for the girls. "Good night."
"See you in class Potter." "Good night Harry." The stone door slowly swung opened before them. As the two girls walked through the boy called back after them.
"Susan?" Glancing back over her shoulder she spotted him looking bashfully to the ground. Refusing or unable to meet her gaze. "Thank you. For helping me tonight."
She froze at how honest his words sounded but before she could answer the doors closed in front of her. Stuck in place, Hannah took it upon herself to grab her friend and started to drag her along to their common room. Caught in her thoughts the redhead didn't notice that they were descending downstairs until the soft giggling of her friend shook her out of it. "What's so funny?"
"Ohh it's nothing Susie." The blond turned towards her with a wicked grin that sent cold shivers down Susan's spine. "I was just thinking that someone finally caught the fancy of the boy who lived."
It took a few seconds for the statement to set in. But once it did, she forgot that they needed to stay hidden for a second too long and her voice bellowed through the castle. "Hannah!"
Our brave little badger managed to come out on top but it seems that the D.A leader's interest in her is more than it seems.
With these duels I tried to show my take on Susan's abilities as a witch. Hermione definitely underestimated her but even when Angelina took her serious she was still able to keep up and fight the good fight. She isn't a powerhouse who can overwhelm people with their strength nor is she the fastest caster of all time. Instead she gets creative during fights and is able to outlast nearly everyone. My take on the duels was heavily structured by old wild west duels with longer, tense build ups resulting in a lightning fast climax. But man that is so much harder to do in the written word instead of film. If anyone knows any great western books or stories that does this well I would love to hear it.
The plot will soon pick up a few notches. Susan has fully shown herself to the D.A members and her relation to them (especially the Gryffindors) will definitely evolve from here. The next chapter will make a big impact on the status quo but will mostly be a hanging out chapter focused on the relation between the two main characters. So if there hasn't been enough romance or fluff for your taste there is salvation in sight.
As always let me know what you thought and hope you have a great day!