Ch. 10 Moody
When they met back in the common room to discuss their experiences Harry greeted Hermione with a huge smile.
"What will Ron say when you transform into a bear?" Harry teased.
"I don't know. I feel kind of bad that he isn't here getting to do this with us. It's kind of odd to be able to do something that we know he can't."
"Hasn't that always been the case?" Harry joked. "I mean you have always been able to kick our butts on the tests and I'm sure you know a load more hexes and charms than we do."
"Sure, I guess, but this is so big. I wonder what his animagus self is like." Hermione's face paled. "What if he isn't able to do it or if he doesn't have an animal? He will be so devastated."
"Don't worry, I have a feeling he has an animal; with a wife like you he will be able to transfigure" Harry winked at her.
"I'm not his wife!...Not yet at least" Hermione's shriek mellowed into a contemplative statement.
"We have two hours before we usually hit the hay," Harry said trying to change to subject before Hermione asked him about what he and Ginny had been doing. "What do you want to study?"
"How about we work on shielding charms? We should see if a professor will work with us though because I am not sure of all of the counter curses and I know you know barely any of them. I don't want to be jelly-legged all night!"
"Maybe professor Flitwick would work with us?" Harry suggested.
"He won't have to because I will" said a man's voice behind them.
Harry spun around wand at the ready to meet the voice.
"Nice form Potter" Moody said as he approached them. "You would already be dead if I were going to kill you."
"Unless you are like Voldermort, then you would have to play with me. I think that's his weakness, he has to gloat in his power."
"Improving Potter, nicely done spotting the weakness. The one thing that Barty Crouch got right last year, from what I hear, is my catch phrase: CONSTANT VIGILANCE" the aging Auror bellowed causing Hermione to almost jump out of her skin.
"How did you know we were here?" Hermione asked trembling.
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE GRANGER" bellowed their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"So you are going to help us with shielding charms?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Sure thing Potter, I was coming up to see you two so I figure I can actually get to know the two of you. Although you will answer me as to why you want to know these shielding charms."
"I know that I will face Voldermort again. It may even fall to me to kill him in the end. I can't be left against him ill-equipped now can I?"
"Got some spunk in you Potter eh? I like that. You have the vigilance and the spunk. Between those two you will survive until lunch, but not much longer. You will definitely need shielding charms as well as other training to survive your life."
"Where do we start?" Harry and Hermione asked.
"We will start with the basic rebounding shielding charm. This particular charm, as you may have guessed will send the curse right back at them faster than they can duck. With a swish and a flick and a reboundium you are almost untouchable.
Hermione walked across the room and pointed her wand at Harry.
"Petrificus Totalus" she said as a jet of purple exploded from her wand.
Harry cast the charm but it didn't quite work. Half rebounded toward Hermione but didn't quite make it the whole way while the other half hit Harry. He moved in slow motion until Moody released him.
"Petrificus Totalus" shouted Harry and another jet zoomed across the room toward Hermione. She blocked it expertly and Harry only escaped because he knew it would be coming back.
"Nice work Granger" Mood rasped. "Potter you need more work."
They worked for the next hour until Harry's charm was just as strong as the next wizard's.
"I want to shift focus now" Moody said. "Voldermort and his followers use the unforgivables. Crouch taught you to fight the Imperious curse which you would be good to continue practicing fighting. As you know Harry, there is no blocking Avada Kadarva that we know of. Any research is a little hard to come by because someone dies if they aren't right."
"The Cruciatus curse however can be rendered ineffective. I say ineffective because those casting it usually don't warn you so you can't generally block them, no time to. You can however build up a tolerance by chanting eros storge and thinking of a loved one. As you know the magical vocabulary was standardized into Latin around 2000 years ago. Ruddy Romans thought they would run everything. This spell however goes back a lot longer than that, back to the Greeks who discovered it. With enough practice you will be immune to the pain caused by the curse, which is a formidable weapon."
"If I catch your meaning" Harry said "then you want to put me and her under the curse until we are immune to it?"
"Only her if she would like, but definitely you. You understand this is for your own protection don't you?"
"Of course I want to learn how to do this" Hermione said indignantly.
"Good lady, might not have THE VIGILANCE, but wants the ability; smart girl."
Harry went first repeating eros storge over and over while thinking of Ginny. He felt the pain spread over his body but it felt like a hot burn rather than the fierce stabbing pains he had experienced with Voldermort.
"Good work Potter" Moody said approvingly. "You will need a lot more practice but you are coming along a nicely. Miss Granger you are next."
The results were about the same while Hermione was under the curse.
"I will leave you to sleep now, no more than once a day or you could be permanently damaged" Moody said.
Harry and Hermione thanked Moody and promised him that they would visit him the next day for more training. After he left they went up to their dormitories to dream their respective dreams about Ron and Ginny.