Chapter 16

"Should someone send a Stupefying Curse your way, how do you stop it?" Harry had spent almost two hours trying to encourage his students to think differently. Plus, he loved tearing down what the Ministry thought was right and wrong. If he could get one student to think differently, then it was possible that one student could save themselves as well as others.

"You can't!" But according to this answer, they weren't willing to change perspectives just yet.

"Five points from Gryffindor for a wrong answer. You should be reading your assignments, Mr. Black. But I shall give you the answer. If you cannot deflect the spell, simply move. Curses, Hexes, and Spells are difficult to maintain on constantly moving targets, even for the most powerful wizard."

Lily was quite curious. She had read everything she could get her hands on and not once did she find anything similar to his answer in any of those books. She had even nicked James' invisibility cloak during one of his detentions to sneak a few looks at the Restricted Section, "But, Sir, what if you're outnumbered?"

A raised brow, "Let's find out, Miss Evans."

"Everyone against the walls." No one dared to object. With barely a flick of his wrist, the desks vanished. Then he glanced at his seating papers, still trying to memorize the names to faces. "Ah, Miss Black, Bellatrix actually."

Reluctantly, the female Slytherin moved to the marked spot her Professor created. "Sir?"

"Miss Evans," Lily moved to her marked spot, "Miss Narcissa Black, Mr. Snape, Mr. Lupin, Miss Figg, and Mr. Nott." Each moved to a spot marked on the floor, surrounding a very nervous Bellatrix. The female Slytherin swallowed discreetly, knowing half of this group would love nothing more than to see her harmed.

Harry nodded, satisfied. "Now, Miss Black, raise your wand as if to defend yourself. Someone in the group will disarm you."

Confused, Bella turned her stunned gaze to the Professor, "But how will that help with a Stupefying Curse?"

"Actually, this would be for any curse. But even more difficult if you were unarmed." Being the most perceptive, besides Remus Lupin, Lily quickly summoned the nervous girl's wand, cherishing the sudden if not quickly masked relief upon the pale face. She knew Bellatrix had to be afraid someone would disobey their quiet Professor, who took the disarmed wand.

"Now then, you are surrounded. The enemy has taken your wand. Although this isn't reality because most enemies won't even stop at just taking your wand. One would summon the wand and five more could curse you. Any ideas on how to defend yourself?"

"No, Sir." Bella did not like the gleams in the Gryffindors' eyes as they watched her become surrounded.

"Remember, hitting a moving target is difficult with your own teammates in the way. Knowing your enemies makes things easier. One may be weaker in casting. One may not know as much. One may be easy to bait into anger. Dodge the spells, find something to shield yourself, run and lure them to your allies. Never let the enemy know what you're thinking, what you're planning."

Bellatrix nodded. She eyed each of them as they began casting simple spells. Then suddenly, before she could be hit by a sudden combined attack that left her spot scorched, she dove aside and rolled up behind a surprised Lily Evans. "Very good. Using Miss Evans as a shield might guarantee a way out. Some enemies won't attack their own; others simply don't care."

Both females immediately began to catch on. Carefully leading her captive backward, who gave a good struggle to make it real, Bellatrix yanked the slender wood from pale fingers. She tried to send a 'STUPEFY!' but all she got was a weak bind. "Ah, the wand did not match with your talent."

Tossing the wand aside, making sure her Professor caught it, Bellatrix led her struggling companion away from the stalking group. Covertly, she searched the figure and came away with a nice surprise. A rainbow colored hair tie was tingling with magic. "Port Key."

Lily nodded to confirm. "Very good. Using a Port Key could take you somewhere else or distract the enemy when one of their own suddenly vanishes. And if you could, apparate away in the confusion. Ten points to each of you, an extra five each to Miss Evans and Miss Black for willingly trying. Dismissed."