Yikes! It's almost Christmas and I still have to wrap gifts! And how incredibly minor does that appear next to the people who are taking SAT's now? Ha ha, I laugh at you poor fools. My 93'd percentile kicks your ass. Story time.
Time, as it had a habit of doing, passed on. After a month at Hogwarts, Harry and his friends found themselves falling into a pattern of living akin to those of years gone by. Part of the pattern was the biweekly painfulness of Defense Against the Dark Arts, which had become every students' nightmare. Krum took no pleasure in torturing them, but he seemed to think it necessary.
Dumbledore seemed to think it necessary as well. In an interview in the Daily Prophet, he'd talked about the militaristic changes at Hogwarts. The two corps of magical soldiers to be garrisoned at Hogwarts had dominated the first few paragraphs. But after that, Dumbledore had talked about the necessary evil of subjecting students to dark magic in order to teach it to them.
He'd also made several allusions to encouraging students to take up their studies now more than ever, and to practice in their spare time. So it was that Harry Potter found himself back in the Room of Requirement.
The DA had been risen to almost legendary status the year before, when it had been an illegal sign of defiance against the Ministry. Now, when given the chance to live the legend as DA sign-ups were made public, the people flocked to listen to Harry.
However, Harry had only accepted thirty people into the core group of the defense group. Anyone who had participated last year was welcomed to come back; even thus, several didn't, Cho included. Harry barely noticed her absence.
He looked out at his peers. There was so much still that they didn't know...so much he couldn't put into words. He wondered briefly if what Krum was doing was the right approach; giving them the necessary experiences in order to help them understand what they were up against. He discarded the idea; Krum lacked the essential ingredient of hatred.
"Its good to see so many of you back for another year here at the DA," he began, quoting from the speech Hermione had gone over with him. "As you know, we've had a torrent of people trying to get into the DA, but I haven't allowed them to. I wanted to get a consensus from you all before I started accepting new members."
Before Harry could continue, the door swung open. "Craig?" Harry asked. He hadn't expected to see the American here, of all places. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard that there was a defense group meeting here tonight," he said. "The best in England, or something like that. I wanted to test you."
"Test us?" Harry asked.
Craig smiled. "That's right," he continued. His teeth bore slightly. "I want a fight. Show me what you've got."
Harry looked around at his fellow members of the DA. Ginny nodded; she had been itching to show off some of the training she'd done with Faith and Robin and the other newly risen Slayers who had already arrived at Hogwarts. Ron, too, nodded. Hermione seemed unsure, obviously believing that Craig could do little without a wand. Eventually, she nodded as well.
"Okay," Harry said. "Who amongst us do you want to fight?"
Craig's vicious smile deepened. He'd always been fiery, but he was beginning to scare Harry with the intensity of his gaze. "All of you," he said.
"Now wait a moment," Hermione said. "You don't have a wand on you; how could you manage to fight even one of us, let alone all of us?"
Craig didn't answer. "Shall we begin?" The question was for Harry. Instead of answering the question, Harry raised his wand and yelled, "Stupify!"
Craig dodged the spell quickly, turning a back handspring that carried him into a crowd of people. He swept a bent hapkido through them that removed each of his wand; the slender wooden objects went airborne, followed closely by Craig.
Getting the idea that he was serious, the other members of the DA began their own attacks. Craig was too fast for them.
He ducked under Seamus' stunner, allowing it to fly into Zacharias Smith. Craig used his forward, low thrust figure to uppercut viciously, hitting Seamus' wand and sending it into the air.
Luna came at him quickly, trying to jinx him. Her jinx's rebounded off the stone floor at his feet, bouncing around the room. Craig leapt into the air in front of Luna, delivering a flip kick to her wand hand. Her wand was quickly dislodged, and she stumbled backwards.
Neville was waiting for Craig when he landed. It looked as though Neville might overpower Craig with a Flipendo charm, but Craig crouched under it and swept Neville's feet out from under him. Craig caught Neville's wand as it fell.
Ron and Hermione attacked together, coming at Craig from different angles. Feeling their presence behind him, Craig pushed violently off from the ground, twisted in mid air, and landed on Ron's hands. Clutching Ron's wand between his hands, Craig pushed off again, sending Ron halfway across the room. Craig closed the distance between himself and Hermione before the girl could think. He swept his leg around behind her head and, pressing against the wall, pushed her down. Craig knocked her wand away as she fell.
Craig landed and surveyed the only two people in the room who were still armed - Harry and Ginny. They didn't speak -they simply attacked. Harry was a good deal quicker than his friends, and Craig had to work to dodge the curses and jinxes. Seeing that it was no use to sit and fire at him, a silent message passed between Harry and Ginny.
The young Slayer moved in to attack Craig at close range. She swung at him, and he blocked. He hit her with a quick sweep kick that smashed her face towards the ground. She rebounded quickly, ducking down low to try and separate Craig's feet from the ground.
Craig leapt slightly, reversing his vertical status. He supported himself with his hand as he swept his right leg downward in a powerful kick that caught Ginny in the neck. Disoriented by the blow, she stumbled and fell. Harry charged in and aimed a quick Stunner at Craig, but Craig caught Harry's arm and twisted upward, sending the Stunner into the ceiling. The spell damaged the chamber wall with its force, raining debris down on the combatants.
Craig, still holding Harry's arm, leaned downward, flipping Harry painfully by the joint in his shoulder. He landed hard, and moaned in pain.
Craig took a step back and surveyed the room. Not a single member of the DA was still on his or her feet; and in his pocket, Craig had a large collection of the their wands. In his hand, he held Harry's wand.
His grin, this time, was less vicious and calmer. He seemed sated. "So much for the best defense group in England."
He turned to go. Harry, though in some pain, rose himself up. "Please don't leave yet," he said.
Craig turned back. "Was there something you wanted?"
Harry nodded. "That was amazing," he said. "Could you teach us to do that?"
Craig hid his excitement with practiced ease. He had hoped for something like this. He knew that Potter could put his embarrassment aside and ask for this; he'd grown up enough to know that.
"Sure," the American boy said.
Possibly my shortest chapter ever, but oh well, right? I'm terribly sorry about the shortness, but my computer crashed and destroyed about half the chapter. ERGGG!!! Blame Steve Jobs, not me. Anyway, read and review and help poor little me write the next chapter quicker. BUNKER SHORTS WILL RULE THE EARTH!
Time, as it had a habit of doing, passed on. After a month at Hogwarts, Harry and his friends found themselves falling into a pattern of living akin to those of years gone by. Part of the pattern was the biweekly painfulness of Defense Against the Dark Arts, which had become every students' nightmare. Krum took no pleasure in torturing them, but he seemed to think it necessary.
Dumbledore seemed to think it necessary as well. In an interview in the Daily Prophet, he'd talked about the militaristic changes at Hogwarts. The two corps of magical soldiers to be garrisoned at Hogwarts had dominated the first few paragraphs. But after that, Dumbledore had talked about the necessary evil of subjecting students to dark magic in order to teach it to them.
He'd also made several allusions to encouraging students to take up their studies now more than ever, and to practice in their spare time. So it was that Harry Potter found himself back in the Room of Requirement.
The DA had been risen to almost legendary status the year before, when it had been an illegal sign of defiance against the Ministry. Now, when given the chance to live the legend as DA sign-ups were made public, the people flocked to listen to Harry.
However, Harry had only accepted thirty people into the core group of the defense group. Anyone who had participated last year was welcomed to come back; even thus, several didn't, Cho included. Harry barely noticed her absence.
He looked out at his peers. There was so much still that they didn't know...so much he couldn't put into words. He wondered briefly if what Krum was doing was the right approach; giving them the necessary experiences in order to help them understand what they were up against. He discarded the idea; Krum lacked the essential ingredient of hatred.
"Its good to see so many of you back for another year here at the DA," he began, quoting from the speech Hermione had gone over with him. "As you know, we've had a torrent of people trying to get into the DA, but I haven't allowed them to. I wanted to get a consensus from you all before I started accepting new members."
Before Harry could continue, the door swung open. "Craig?" Harry asked. He hadn't expected to see the American here, of all places. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard that there was a defense group meeting here tonight," he said. "The best in England, or something like that. I wanted to test you."
"Test us?" Harry asked.
Craig smiled. "That's right," he continued. His teeth bore slightly. "I want a fight. Show me what you've got."
Harry looked around at his fellow members of the DA. Ginny nodded; she had been itching to show off some of the training she'd done with Faith and Robin and the other newly risen Slayers who had already arrived at Hogwarts. Ron, too, nodded. Hermione seemed unsure, obviously believing that Craig could do little without a wand. Eventually, she nodded as well.
"Okay," Harry said. "Who amongst us do you want to fight?"
Craig's vicious smile deepened. He'd always been fiery, but he was beginning to scare Harry with the intensity of his gaze. "All of you," he said.
"Now wait a moment," Hermione said. "You don't have a wand on you; how could you manage to fight even one of us, let alone all of us?"
Craig didn't answer. "Shall we begin?" The question was for Harry. Instead of answering the question, Harry raised his wand and yelled, "Stupify!"
Craig dodged the spell quickly, turning a back handspring that carried him into a crowd of people. He swept a bent hapkido through them that removed each of his wand; the slender wooden objects went airborne, followed closely by Craig.
Getting the idea that he was serious, the other members of the DA began their own attacks. Craig was too fast for them.
He ducked under Seamus' stunner, allowing it to fly into Zacharias Smith. Craig used his forward, low thrust figure to uppercut viciously, hitting Seamus' wand and sending it into the air.
Luna came at him quickly, trying to jinx him. Her jinx's rebounded off the stone floor at his feet, bouncing around the room. Craig leapt into the air in front of Luna, delivering a flip kick to her wand hand. Her wand was quickly dislodged, and she stumbled backwards.
Neville was waiting for Craig when he landed. It looked as though Neville might overpower Craig with a Flipendo charm, but Craig crouched under it and swept Neville's feet out from under him. Craig caught Neville's wand as it fell.
Ron and Hermione attacked together, coming at Craig from different angles. Feeling their presence behind him, Craig pushed violently off from the ground, twisted in mid air, and landed on Ron's hands. Clutching Ron's wand between his hands, Craig pushed off again, sending Ron halfway across the room. Craig closed the distance between himself and Hermione before the girl could think. He swept his leg around behind her head and, pressing against the wall, pushed her down. Craig knocked her wand away as she fell.
Craig landed and surveyed the only two people in the room who were still armed - Harry and Ginny. They didn't speak -they simply attacked. Harry was a good deal quicker than his friends, and Craig had to work to dodge the curses and jinxes. Seeing that it was no use to sit and fire at him, a silent message passed between Harry and Ginny.
The young Slayer moved in to attack Craig at close range. She swung at him, and he blocked. He hit her with a quick sweep kick that smashed her face towards the ground. She rebounded quickly, ducking down low to try and separate Craig's feet from the ground.
Craig leapt slightly, reversing his vertical status. He supported himself with his hand as he swept his right leg downward in a powerful kick that caught Ginny in the neck. Disoriented by the blow, she stumbled and fell. Harry charged in and aimed a quick Stunner at Craig, but Craig caught Harry's arm and twisted upward, sending the Stunner into the ceiling. The spell damaged the chamber wall with its force, raining debris down on the combatants.
Craig, still holding Harry's arm, leaned downward, flipping Harry painfully by the joint in his shoulder. He landed hard, and moaned in pain.
Craig took a step back and surveyed the room. Not a single member of the DA was still on his or her feet; and in his pocket, Craig had a large collection of the their wands. In his hand, he held Harry's wand.
His grin, this time, was less vicious and calmer. He seemed sated. "So much for the best defense group in England."
He turned to go. Harry, though in some pain, rose himself up. "Please don't leave yet," he said.
Craig turned back. "Was there something you wanted?"
Harry nodded. "That was amazing," he said. "Could you teach us to do that?"
Craig hid his excitement with practiced ease. He had hoped for something like this. He knew that Potter could put his embarrassment aside and ask for this; he'd grown up enough to know that.
"Sure," the American boy said.
Possibly my shortest chapter ever, but oh well, right? I'm terribly sorry about the shortness, but my computer crashed and destroyed about half the chapter. ERGGG!!! Blame Steve Jobs, not me. Anyway, read and review and help poor little me write the next chapter quicker. BUNKER SHORTS WILL RULE THE EARTH!