"I look better naked you know," Malfoy said, turning back to his books, Harry snapped out of his daze and turned a shocked face towards the blonde.
"Wh-what?"
"If we brew a batch of Anijuice then we can transform into animals, we should also study the manual way of becoming an Animgus and include that in the project. It'll get us a higher mark," Malfoy said offhandedly.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Harry nodded and started taking down notes. The entire morning he felt himself attempting to drift his attention back to the picture. When class ended and they left for lunch.
Harry ate silently while Ron talked about how cool Professor Tains was and how much Harry would like her. Harry just nodded along with his friend. Lunch ended quickly and they nearly ran to where Tains had said to meet. It was a wide, low-ceiling room with a polished stone floor and walls covered in fighting materials, mats for wrestling, foils for fencing, bows and arrows for archery, gloves for boxing and some whips.
Tains was standing in the middle of the room in a fencing uniform with her helmet under her arm and a foil at her side. She smiled and motioned them all in.
"Drop your bags and cloaks and things, we'll be starting fairly simply today. Now, these combat classes are all about physical combat, not magical. So wands aren't needed. We'll work with fencing and archery and we'll spend a few minutes of everyday doing tai chi to stretch out as well as some yoga once a week. There are working outfits in there, change and come back out so we can warm up," she pointed to a door and the class filtered away. Harry chose an outfit in his size and pulled closed the curtain on his stall.
"I heard Tains is a fairly good fencer, did you hear that Drake?" Blaise Zambini asked.
"I heard but I doubt it, she was at the Competition a year or so ago, one of many that I attended, and she was acceptable, still a beginner though," Malfoy's slow draw sounded. They were in the curtained stalls to one side of Harry's.
Blaise made no comment.
"Really, I feel terrible for her. There are people in this class who fence on an International Competitive level and here she is trying to teach us fencing. Poor Knott, he's better than you are Blaise, and that's saying something," Malfoy said.
Blaise laughed shortly. "When you said a competition you attended, you meant a competition you won right?"
"Of course," Malfoy said as if it was obvious.
Blaise laughed again shortly and Harry emerged just as they did. Malfoy was rolling up his shorts and smirking while Blaise was pulling his shorts down a bit. Harry felt eternally self conscious as he walked out, he found Ron and they stood together in the mess of boys.
"So, who knows how to fence?" Tains asked. Knott, Malfoy, Zambini, Boot, three other Slytherin Seventh Years, and surprisingly Neville raised their hands.
"Good, let's all split up into pairs, experience with non experience and we'll try thrusts for the day," Tains set down her helmet. "A thrust is a simple attack maneuver where you hold your sword palm down on the hilt and simply thrust the foil towards the opponent, sound good?"
The class nodded and split up, foils appeared out of the air. Harry was paired with Neville, who seemed uncomfortable.
"So, w-why don't you try a thrust," Neville said, standing with his foil down and his hands at his sides. Harry held the sword the way he was told to and thrust out. "Well, you need to have a proper stance first, put your feet apart, like this, and raise one hand for balance. Here," Neville seemed to know what he was doing as he taught Harry how to stand. There was suddenly a loud bellow from Ron he was cupping his eyes with his hand and yelling profanities at Blaise Zambini.
"You stabbed me in the eye you wanker!" Ron bellowed. Harry turned to see what the commotion was all about. Zambini was standing with a hand on his hip turned slightly away from Ron with his foil to the floor.
"I thrust and you tripped into my foil," Blaise said casually. The Slytherins snickered evilly. Ron growled and clenched his fists.
"Now, Mr. Zambini, why don't you work with Mr. Malfoy, Weasley, come her and work with Mr. Thomas. Draco, Blaise, work over in the open area, I'd like to see you two fence full on," Tains led them away. Harry and Neville worked for a few minutes before everyone stopped at the clash of metal on metal. They looked over and saw Malfoy and Zambini fencing with real swords, they were both extremely good. Harry stopped dead and watched them. Neither wore suits or helmets or shoes even, but they moved effortlessly across the floor and neither was nicked in the least. Finally the broad side of Malfoy's sword tapped against Blaise's temple.
"Touch! A head point no less, my win," Malfoy smirked and then Blaise lunged at the blonde. The Slytherin Prince drew back his sword, slid it along the edge of Blaise's chipped under his sword and sent it flying into the air. All in a second, as he jumped back as well. The other Slytherin's sword went flying into the air and landed in Malfoy's free hand. Zambini looked stunned for a second before he broke into a smile.
"Excellent match boys, that was a very impressive move Mr. Malfoy, splendid work. Would anyone else like to try fencing with broad swords?" Knott raised his hand and Blaise grinned and moved back to the crowd. Malfoy handed him the sword and took stance.
It started in a second and they flew across the floor, swords clashing and spinning and they were doing the most spectacular things. In less than two minutes Knott's sword went flying from his hand, straight up in the air and Malfoy reached out and caught it.
"My win, nice try Theo," Malfoy smirked and shook some hair from his eyes. Harry felt him mouth drop open.
The whole class buzzed about it, some people still watched Malfoy and Blaise practice with foils. Gliding across the better part of the room. Harry turned just in time to see Malfoy's foil fly into the air. Malfoy sprang through the air and snatched it from Blaise's outstretched hand. The Slytherin sumersaulted in midair and landed perfectly, he turned and poked Blaise in the back.
"My win," Malfoy said, smirking.
"Gods, even when I disarm you, you manage to win," Blaise turned and shot his friend an amused glare.
"Well, I've spent my life fencing, I should be able to recover from being disarmed. Even if it is unorthodox," Malfoy said.
"Everything about you when you fence is unorthodox. From your stance to your attacks to you recoveries. That's why you always win, no one knows how to counter what's never been seen," Blaise countered.
Malfoy laughed shortly, bitterly, as if only to prove he could or reward someone with a show of amusement.
Zambini nodded and they both smirked, falling back into fencing position and starting again. Neville gave a small sigh. In just a moment Blaise was lying on the ground with the foil poking his neck.
"Hey, Zambini, mind if I try fencing you?" Neville asked. He walked nervously over to the Slytherins. Harry was stunned. Blaise stood and brushed himself off.
"Sure Longbottom, I've heard good things about you, Draco here can work with your partner. Go on Blondie, work with Potter," Zambini smirked and took up his foil once again. Malfoy rolled his eyes and walked over.
"Okay, let's see what you can do," Malfoy crossed his arms and stood there. Harry felt very stupid as he demonstrated what Neville had taught him. "You're doing fairly well though it's obvious you don't have a natural talent for this. Don't worry, I don't either," Malfoy smirked and corrected Harry's stance.
"But, you're so good," Harry said, adjusting as he was told.
"I know, I took my first steps with a sword in my hand. Lucius knew I couldn't fence worth my life, even then, so he had me practice for two hours a day everyday, still does. That's why I have an alternative style, I couldn't do the perfect motions my instructors wanted, so I made up my own versions. They've worked for me so far," Malfoy said. "Part of the reason I'm used to be so awkward with a sword, is that I'm left-handed. But my instructors taught me to fence right-handed. So that's how I fence, but I have to move to counter the imbalance it creates. See, if you try to do something with your off-hand it usually throws off your balance because it's against what you're used to. So I had to counter my own balance, it takes a long time to learn that, but if you get it, it works fairly well. You may be right handed, but you're also off balance by nature it seems, here, if you are going to lunge, throw back your shoulder and flip your wrist, it helps," Malfoy showed him, Harry copied and found he was more comfortable than before.
"See?" Malfoy raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Yeah, it really helps, thanks," Harry ran a hand through his hair and stood squared with Malfoy. They fell silent.
Across the room, Neville and Blaise were flying around, clashing swords and shouting compliments at each other. Neville spun and deflected a lunge from the Slytherin.
"Nice work Longbottom, counter this you lard butted ofe!" Blaise lunged again and poked Neville's arm.
"Touch two, it's tied you frumpy, over-grown cat," Neville said, it was in jest it seemed. Like fencers at a fair, insulting each other for fun. Class finished five minutes early so the boys could all change back.
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