"You're fighting with Percy?" one of the twins asked, sitting down next to Oliver and across from me at the lunch table. I decided to assume the first one to begin a new conversation was Fred.
"How'd you pull that off?" asked George, sitting down next to me and across from his brother. "He's usually pretty afraid of confrontation."
"Well, I mean Percy's 'fighting' by sitting across the room and glaring, so pretty non-confrontational," elaborated Oliver.
"Why is this news?" I asked, trying to make a sandwich. "And how did you find out so quickly?"
"Sources," said Fred, as if that explained everything.
I raised an eyebrow at Oliver and he shook his head. So I just stared at George until he added, "The Slytherin girls in your Runes class must have told their common room after class. The Slytherin guys on the quidditch team hassled us about it on the way to lunch."
"Why would the quidditch team bother you about me and Percy having a disagreement?" I asked, genuinely confused.
Both shrugged, and Fred said, "Trying to sow discord among our house, maybe?"
George considered, "Maybe they think we'll try to defend our brother and make it easier for them to get back at you."
"But he was probably being a ponce," Fred allowed, cheerfully.
"So what did he do?" George asked.
"Got mad at me for answering the professor's question more thoroughly than he and his friend had, basically," I explained, then, after a second, admitted, "I guess I did kind of trick him into getting the wrong answer on a thought experiment in front of the class."
"That would definitely do it," Oliver nodded. "Our Percy doesn't like to be wrong."
"Then he should probably learn more about the material than what's written in the textbook," I groused.
"Oooh!" Fred grinned. "Percy the Ponce is no longer the smartest Gryffindor in his year."
"His quest to be the swotty Weasley has ended before it had even begun," mock-lamented George.
"What did Percy do now?" asked Ron, just arriving.
Listening to the three younger Weasleys spend the rest of lunch tearing down their brother wasn't as vindicating as I'd expected. Oliver was happy to chime in from time to time, mostly about pretty minor issues with him being an aloof roommate for several years. While a lot of their complaints were exaggerations, the undercurrent was mostly that Percy had a hard time standing out in a family with seven children, and that they'd teased and pranked him mercilessly for it for a decade.
I kept half an eye on Percy at the other end of the table, where I thought I saw him periodically sneak glances our way. He didn't really look mad at me, as much as he looked sad.
It was still bugging me all throughout history class after lunch, which was just as boring as I expected, but the rest of the afternoon was double-length defense class, and Quirrell threw another distracting curve at me first thing.
"Since it's OWL year, and I am aware your d-d-defense instruction has been… uneven, we will c-c-concentrate this year on areas of the exams that have b-been missed p-previously. P-P-Perhaps most significant: c-c-curses." The purple-turbaned professor gazed across the class of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and asked, "Who knows the three most n-notorious of such spells, the Unforgivables?"
As expected in a class of kids that were old enough at the end of the war to have foggy memories of it, we didn't have much difficulty filling the board with the imperius, cruciatus, and killing curses. They were dutifully added to the top of the chalkboard. Thankfully, demonstrations were not forthcoming.
"Who knows some other c-c-curses that are n-not Unforgivable?" the professor asked, clearly going somewhere with this.
Perhaps a bit more slowly in a class of people not inclined to use darker spells, the lower part of the board filled up with curses. I didn't add anything, because I didn't trust where Quirrell was going with this, or how he looked at me.
"This is a large list," Quirrell gestured at the board. "C-C-Can anyone t-tell me… why are these three Unforgivable?"
Perhaps still stinging from this morning, Percy didn't raise his hand even though he clearly thought he knew the answer. Finally, Rose Wax, one of the girls in my house, raised her hand and, after Quirrell pointed at her, answered, "Because they carry an automatic sentence to Azkaban if you're caught using them, while the others involve a trial."
"That statement is t-true," Quirrell allowed, "b-b-but not what I was asking for. Why d-do these three spells c-c-carry such an automatic sentence? What makes them d-d-different from, say, the b-body b-bind c-c-curse?"
The class thought for a moment, and a Hufflepuff boy ventured, "They don't have any purpose other than to hurt or kill the target, while the others can be used for legitimate purposes?"
Quirrell pointed at another curse on the board, "What is, then, the legitimate p-purpose of the entrail-expelling c-c-curse?"
A Hufflepuff girl ventured, "Has that one just not been added to the law yet?"
"Mr. Weasley," called the professor, "when was the entrail-expelling c-curse c-created?"
The professor was obviously familiar with Percy, because, on the spot, he explained in great detail that, "It was created by Urquhart Rackharrow, who lived in the 1600s. So it had been in use for up to a century before the Unforgivables were classified that way in 1717."
"That is, of c-course, c-c-correct. Three p-points t-to G-G-Gryffindor. Mr. D-D-Dresden, I suspect you have an answer," the jerk sprung the trap on me.
I sighed and answered, "You can't stop them with a shield."
"Indeed, thank you Mr. D-Dresden. Another three p-points t-to G-Gryffindor," Quirrell acknowledged, as he wrote "Can't Shield" on the board under the three curses. "Mr. D-Dresden p-presents an interesting opportunity for our c-class. You have, p-p-perhaps, noticed that he d-doesn't c-c-carry a wand?" I'd been carrying my newly-carved oak staff to classes all day, so it was probably pretty common knowledge by now. "Would you c-care t-to explain your style, in a historical c-context?"
My urge to make things harder for whatever Quirrell was planning to surprise me with wound up at odds with my love of talking about my magic, so I gave in and explained, "Most historical wizards probably used a staff rather than a wand, with other focus items to cast any spells that wouldn't work with the staff. Wand only became popular in the last few hundred years. It's similar to how rapiers replaced swords and armor."
"Extremely similar," acknowledged Quirrell. "As I t-t-taught some of you in muggle studies, as muggles b-became more c-c-cosmopolitan, they switched t-to weapons easier t-to c-c-carry in a city. Similarly, with the lead up t-to the statute of secrecy, wizards and witches needed a versatile focus that would be easy t-to hide from muggles. You have a concern, Mr. Weasley?"
Surprised to be called out for the expression he was making, Percy explained, "I thought the muggles stopped using armor not because it was impolite in a city, but because it was no longer very effective against crossbows and firearms."
"Five p-p-points t-to G-G-Gryffindor!" Quirrell said, giving the closest thing to a smile of appreciation I'd seen from him. "I thought we'd have to c-come t-to that the long way around. He's c-c-correct. Just as firearms made a knight's armor obsolete, the Unforgivable c-c-curses drove wizards t-to styles that emphasized mobility, so they c-could d-dodge these spells instead of t-t-trying t-to shield against them.
"And, just as the muggles are looking to b-b-ban firearms, wizards b-banned these c-c-curses. The muggles are only about three centuries b-b-behind us."
Oliver raised a hand and was acknowledged, asking, "But if we banned the Unforgivables, why don't more people use Harry's style?"
Quirrell shrugged, "The exact reasons may be lost t-to history, but likely b-b-because the p-process had already started. Wands are easier t-to hide and more c-c-convenient to carry. They b-b-became easier t-to make as woodworking t-t-technology and spells improved. B-But… p-p-perhaps Mr. D-D-Dresden would like to d-d-demonstrate for us why his style still has holdouts?"
There it went. He'd put me front and center, so I couldn't refuse without looking like a coward. "You want me to put up a shield and see how strong it is?" I asked?
"Indeed, b-b-but we'll also need a c-c-control. Who has a strong shield charm?" The boy with the Hufflepuff prefect badge reluctantly raised a hand, after all his classmates clearly wanted him to get credit for it. "Mr. Flinton, yes? Excellent. Let's have the three other p-p-prefects on offense." He positioned a suddenly worried Flinton on one side of the front of the classroom, and Percy, Alexis, and the girl Hufflepuff prefect on the other side. "Now, Mr. Flinton will shield, and you three will use strong stunners. Stop as soon as his shield falls. Ready? B-B-Begin!"
Flinton's protego looked solid, but it started to flicker after the first barrage of three shouts of "stupefy" and fell to the second, with Percy's punching through. Flinton narrowly dodged out of the way.
"An excellent showing. Three p-p-points t-to Hufflepuff. Mr. Dresden, if you'd replace Mr. Flinton?" I grimaced and slouched to the front of the room as the clearly winded prefect sat back down. "Same rules. B-B-Begin!"
I shook my shield bracelet out of the sleeve of my robe and focused my will on generating a protego with it. I could get it to produce more versatile shields, but the basic one would be more efficient. I noticed most of the class look shocked both at how I was producing it and how it was larger than Flinton's, providing total coverage from the ground to above my head.
The other three prefects started flinging stunners, and they splashed onto my shield without much issue. After the first salvo, I made some subtle adjustments to the shape of my shield so more of the energy got diverted into the ground. By the third salvo, I could tell that Percy, in particular, was putting a lot of power into his stunners, trying to break through. I was definitely getting tired, but I was too stubborn to tap out before I passed out. I was curious whether I could keep this up longer than they could.
After the sixth salvo, when it was clear just how much longer I'd be able to shield than Flinton, Quirrell suggested, "Mr. D-D-Dresden. Show them why you're using the b-bracelet and not your staff."
I smirked, finally feeling like the guy was letting me in on the joke, and flung my own stunner around the edge of my shield without dropping it. It wasn't very powerful, because that's not what my staff was optimized for, and my aim was off due to having to go around my own shield, but I was pleased that Alexis had to break off her own next stunner to shield against mine.
"Stop!" the professor insisted. "That is an excellent d-demonstration." The three stopped firing, and I lowered my shield with a tired sigh a moment later. "As you can see, t-to c-c-continue the analogy, it's the difference b-between attacking another unarmored swordfighter and attacking a knight in p-plate armor and a shield.
"You may wonder then, why we don't all learn to fight this way? If the Unforgivables are no longer a factor, and focus-making has evolved like his b-b-bracelet so it c-c-can b-be easily c-carried and c-concealed, why d-do we t-teach you t-to shield with a wand?" The professor looked around for an answer as I ambled back to my seat, only to hear him answer his own question. "B-because wands are fast. Stupefy!"
I finally realized where the real trap was too late, and my shield did, indeed, take a little longer to put up than a wanded charm. I only had it half raised before the professor's stunner knocked me out.
This was only my second run-in with the guy and I was already starting to hate him.
