Chapter 20: The Spell Challenge

It was decided in the tutor period on Monday morning that Harry's first proper lesson of the new week should be Curses, but when Harry, Ron, Rudolf, Lizzy and Hannah arrived in Room 3, they found Kingsley Shacklebolt in outdoor clothes. "What are we doing, professor?" asked Hannah.

"We will be in the Spell Challenge Arena today," Kingsley told them all in his deep voice. "If you'd like to go to the changing rooms and get your sports robes on, I'll see you there in five minutes."

"Vair is it, sir?" asked Rudolf.

"Behind the pavilion," replied Kingsley. "You were all very good in the game on Saturday, especially Harry."

"He disappeared after der game," said Rudolf. "Vair did you go, Harry?"

"I – er – I went for a walk," replied Harry. "You know – around the stables."

"Oh," said Rudolf. "Ve'd better get going." They left to the changing rooms.

The Spell Challenge Arena turned out to be a large circle of land, about an acre, covered in gravel. Everyone's thoughts were voiced by Hannah, who said loudly, "Is this all?"

Kingsley smiled. "No," he answered. "This is merely the arena surface. I can turn it into nearly anything I like with a simple spell. Today you will be trying to get through a jungle complete with hidden traps and enemies. Don't worry. You can't be hurt. Just behave as you would in a real situation, and use all of your knowledge. Everyone step into the circle, please. First to finish receives a prize."

Harry and the others stepped into the circle. Kingsley muttered something inaudible, and Harry found himself standing in a clearing, with huge trees towering up on every side. There was no sign of any of the other students. Harry took a deep breath, and walked forward a step.

Nothing happened. He took another step. Still nothing. And another. And another. And another. Nothing.

He put his wand back into his belt, and immediately regretted it. A beam of light hit him squarely on the chest, knocking him backwards. How stupid could you get? Any enemies he had were bound to attack him when he was defenceless.

Harry got to his feet, took his wand back out of his belt, and looked around. The spell had come from in front of him. "Stupefy!" he yelled, sending a beam of red light in that direction. There was a yell, a thud, and silence. Harry walked forwards. A figure of a man lay on the floor, but on closer inspection it turned out to be merely a dummy.

As he was bending down, Harry felt himself being encompassed by pain. He turned, his body aching, to see two dummies behind him. He needed something that could 'kill' both of them – maybe a kind of magical grenade. As the pain built up, it was getting harder and harder for him to think. What spell could he use? What spell could he use? OW! What spell could he use? ARGH! What spell …?

The answer came to him in a flash. It was a spell Voldemort had used in the final battle at Hogwarts. Harry could just remember the incantation: Omnisnecare. The pain was building. Harry raised his wand, and concentrated on the effect he wanted and the point between the two dummies. "Omnisnecare!" he shouted. Nothing happened. The pain was almost unbearable. "Omnisnecare! Omnisnecare!" Still nothing. Harry fell to the floor and shouted one last time: "Omnisnecare!" There was an instantaneous explosion. Harry was flung backwards, and he could see the two dummies falling to the floor. The pain had stopped.

Harry checked his watch. He had been in the jungle for five minutes. "Protego," he muttered, bringing up an invisible barrier to shield him. He wasn't sure if it was the right thing. It would take a lot of effort to keep up.

The Shield Charm came in useful after just a few minutes. Harry found himself surrounded on all sides by a group of dummies, all firing spells at him relentlessly. Harry turned, and yelled the first spell that came to his head – Expelliarmus. One of the dummies dropped its wand, and Harry ran forwards to pick it up. It was flimsy, and snapped easily in two.

As soon as he snapped the wand, Harry was attacked even harder. There were five dummies left armed. Harry finished off two with Stunning Spells, two more with Expelliarmus, the Disarming Charm, and the last with a well-aimed Severing Charm to the head: Diffindo. He wondered vaguely if he'd ever have to do this in real life. Checking his watch again, he saw that there was just over an hour left in the lesson.

He walked on until he came into another clearing, where a huge dummy, at least twenty feet high, stood: a moving model of a giant. As soon as it 'saw' Harry it came striding at him, and its huge feet threatened to crush the wizard. Harry had little time to think: what could he do? The giant's skin and crude clothing would repel most spells. With a flick of his wand he conjured up huge, heavy chains, which wrapped themselves around the giant who stumbled and fell over, before starting to pick and the chains. Harry ran, and was glad of his speediness: it looked like the giant could escape in a few minutes.

He stopped when he came to a small stream, and knelt down to drink, taking the crystal-clear water in his palms. He sipped, and immediately felt his mouth burn – the liquid obviously wasn't water. It appeared to be eating at his tongue, but Harry managed to gabble "Wyni inanatem," to stop the spell. He created some real, or at least magically real, water from his wand and drank that instead, before leaping over the stream and carrying on.

A band of dummies mobbed him a few minutes later, but he repelled them easily with a few simple charms. Continuing, Harry came across a monstrous sight: a huge, fire-breathing cloth model of a dragon. He ducked behind the nearest tree, hoped the dragon wouldn't see him, and began to think.

When he had fought a dragon four years ago he had used his broomstick to get past. He was too far from his broomstick to access it now, even with a spell, but he could, if he was quick, make a broom. He cut off a branch from the tree and swiftly charmed it so that it would fly. Then he jumped onto it, and spurted forwards. The 'broom' was even slower than Hogwarts' old Shooting Stars, but allowed him to fly into the air and away from the dragon, which gave up chasing him after about fifty feet. This was lucky, because at that point the log gave way and Harry fell to the floor.

Whenever he looked back Harry had no idea of how he managed to escape that fall. In the few split-seconds he had, he Conjured a magical trampoline below, and when he hit it he bounced up again, and again, and again, until coming finally to a stop.

Harry clambered off the trampoline and walked on. He was attacked three more times by the dummy-enemies, some by their own, some in large groups, until he came to the largest clearing yet. A black shape on the floor was advancing towards him: a Lethifold.

Harry remembered reading about these terrifying creatures in Fantastic Beasts and Wear To Find Them. They would suffocate you and devour you without trace, and the only way to defeat them was with the Patronus Charm.

The cloak-like animal was drawing closer. Harry raised his wand and bellowed "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A huge silver stag appeared, galloped forward and threw the Lethifold into the air. As the murderous beast landed, the stag trampled it to the floor, turned to face Harry, and was gone.

Harry walked forward, taking care to avoid the crushed Lethifold on the floor, walked through the trees and came out into bright sunlight. Kingsley Shacklebolt was standing there holding a piece of parchment. "Well done, Harry," he congratulated. "You're first to finish. You can have ten reward points and the rest of the lesson off. Ask the house-elves for a chocolate bar. You are free to go."