A/N: Sorry this has been a while (okay, I'm saying that a lot. This'll be the last time). This is exam term for us, dunno about you guys in America and places, so I've got heaps of work to do and its holding me up. Plus I've run out of the prewritten stuff, so I'm writing as I go along. My recommendation for this chapter is 'Seasons of Healing' by Dien Alcyone. I also meant to get it up earlier, but my beta's computer is completely bust, so she's stuck in an Internet Cafe at the moment - better her than me. This means that you can't blame me for any blatantly obvious mistakes, I hope.
Marc followed Tiddy back upstairs, past a door he thought led to his own room, although he was feeling rather confused by the endless corridors of dark wooden doors. They stopped at the end of a corridor in front of another one."This is the lesson room, Master Marc," Tiddy said, gesturing at the door. "Master Galahad is in here."
"Thank you Tiddy."
She beamed at him, seemingly overjoyed at the simple thanks, and vanished. Marc sighed and went in. Galahad was sitting at a desk, quill in hand, staring out of the window. His blue eyes were distant, vacant and his blond hair flopped languidly into his face. Marc could see that the parchment spread out in front of him was completely blank.
"Need a hand?" he asked quietly. The younger boy spun around guiltily, flushed.
"I can't think of anything to write."
"Okay, so you've got to think about ways of stopping your opponent casting spells in a duel, right?"
"Yes, but I can't think of anything."
"Is there somewhere we can duel? You do know some basic dueling, don't you?"
"Yes, of course."
"If we can, it might make things easier for you. One of my friends learns best that way."
"If you say so," Galahad said doubtfully, standing up and walking over to a bare wall on the other side of the room. Then he announced clearly, to no one in particular, "I'd like a dueling area please."
There was a quiet pop, rather like the sound an experienced wizard makes when apparating, and the wall vanished. An area had appeared beyond its location perfectly set up for a beginners' dueling area, with padded sides and floor and what looked like wards up around it to control any stray spells. Marc stared at it in amazement, and Galahad smirked slightly, looking shy.
"I'd forgotten you wouldn't know, sorry. It's a wizarding castle, of course, so it changes itself to suit us."
"Uh, right. Come and stand opposite me, then," Marc directed, hoping desperately that he was taking the right approach.
Galahad walked slowly into the centre of the area and stopped, looking uncertainly at Marc for further instructions.
"That's it, now cast a spell at me, anything will do."
"Impedimenta!"
"Protego!"
The charm bounced harmlessly off Marc's shield and was absorbed by the shimmering wards. When the flash died down, Marc looked back at Galahad.
"Now, what did you need to do to cast that spell?"
"Well, say the charm and do the correct wand movement, I guess. That's what I was taught to do, at any rate."
"And if you couldn't do those, could you cast the spell?"
"Course not."
"So, let's start with the wand. What could you do to stop someone using their wand?"
"Disarm them?"
"And what's the charm for that?"
"Expelliarmus."
"Without their wand, they might have problems casting spells at you, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Galahad said, grinning. "So all I need to do is work out what you need to be able to do to cast a spell and work out how to stop it. That means, uh, I could cast 'Silencio' on you, couldn't I?"
"Almost right. Some people can do a few charms silently, but its much harder. I'd put it down though. What else?"
"Uh, if you can't move your wand, so 'Petrificus Totalus'."
"Yes, or even 'stupefy'. Tying someone up would probably have the same effect, but I've never tried it. Do you want to try some of them out?"
"With me on the receiving end?"
"Take it in turns, you can go first."
"Stupefy!"
Marc didn't try to do anything this time, although he could have easily, just let himself be hit and fall to the ground. Galahad woke him up and helped him to his feet.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Galahad's arms snapped tightly to his sides and he toppled stiffly to the floor.
"Finite Incantem."
"Silencio!" the younger boy shouted when Marc had helped him up. Marc concentrated hard and gave his wand a flick. Red sparks showered from the end.
"You see," he explained, removing the charm on himself. "It is possible, just difficult. I can't do much stuff, but I can end the charm. I've been told before that I'm powerful, I don't think many people could do that. Do you want to try writing all of this down now? Father won't be pleased if you aren't finished."
"Nor will Mum."
"I'll stay here," Marc said encouragingly. "I'd like to try a few things out, I'm out of shape, haven't had a proper work out since school ended."
Galahad sat down, somewhat reluctantly, it must be admitted, and began to write. Marc watched him start, noting the neat, slightly calligraphic handwriting. A few minutes later, after trying to change the layout of the duelling area himself multiple times, Marc spoke again, slightly embarrassed.
"How did you say you change things again? I can't seem to manage it."
"But it's easy, and you're of the Snape blood. Just step out of the area and ask the house nicely, aloud if you want, and it appears."
"Just ask it?" Marc muttered to himself, irritated. Then he continued aloud. "That's it? Thanks. Okay, uh, I'd like a bare advanced duelling area with heavy shielding and a simulated duelling opponent please, with restricted Dark Magic and injury spells."
There was a flash as the padding vanished and the warding became even clearer. A shadowlike opponent appeared in the area, wearing what appeared to be a Death Eater cloak and mask, wand held ready. Marc stepped in, raised his own and began.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Protego! Impedimenta!"
"Finite Incantem!"
The pace gradually got faster and faster, with more and more complex spells being used. The magically animated opponent matched Marc's pace and skill level. After a few minutes, Galahad put down his quill and stared open- mouthed at the sixteen year old tumbling about in the area like a duelling champion.
About half an hour later, Severus and Altair appeared in the doorway, come to check on how things were going. Severus didn't even stop to rebuke his youngest son for not working, he just stopped and stared himself.
Another ten minutes on, the animated opponent was lying on the floor, looking more like a slug than anything else. Marc looked at it critically and grinned, his face flushed.
"Doesn't look like I can use that one again, does it?" he said, stepping out again. "Thank you, would you remove it now?"
The heap vanished and he turned to look at his audience, only just noticing that they were there.
"Sorry, I was a bit tied up. Do you need me for anything?"
"Nothing in particular. We have an appointment with Gringotts tomorrow at ten. At least that puts off your experiments a little bit longer," Severus said, still looking stunned.
"Thank you Father, I'd almost forgotten," Marc said sweetly. Altair and Galahad grinned and the expression on Severus' face, despite not knowing what 'experiments' they were talking about. The man swiftly changed the subject.
"Galahad, how are you getting on?"
"Okay thanks, I'm almost done."
"Excellent. Do you need Marcus any more?"
"I think I'm okay, thanks."
"We'll leave you to it then. I'll give you the grand tour of the house, Marc."
"Sure."
After the two men had left, Altair read Galahad's essay critically.
"I never thought of using 'silencio' as a defence," she admitted. "Was it Marc who suggested that?"
"Sort of. He asked me what I needed to do to cast a spell, and I told him."
"So what's the answer?"
"Wand movement and spoken incantation."
"Than what did he do?"
"He told me to think of ways of stopping someone from doing each of them. I thought of 'silencio'."
"You do know that it isn't one hundred percent effective, don't you?"
"Oh yes, Marc told me that as well. He showed me something, but he said that you had to be pretty powerful to do anything wandlessly, and hardly anyone could do anything useful."
"He was a good teacher then? It certainly sounds like it."
"Yes, he sounded like he'd taught people before, but I guess he's only sixteen, so he can't be a professor."
"Really? We'll have to ask him about that, or Dad. All right then, that's good enough. You can go and play now, or join Dad and Marc if you want."