Chapter 38
"It doesn't count as a nonverbal spell if you just say it very quietly," Percy scolded Patricia at the breakfast table. Meredith shook her head as Patricia let out a frustrated grumble. Non-verbal spells it turned out were to be the common practice for all their classes this year. Meredith was doing well having been able to achieve non-verbal spells in almost all her classes. Percy was right behind her. Oliver had had a bit more difficulty but was starting to have more success. Patricia had yet to achieve a spell without speaking the words.
"I can barely do the spells out loud!" she snapped. "How the bloody hell am I supposed to do it without speaking."
"You need to be calm," Meredith said. "You need to clear your head of all other thoughts and just feel the words."
"Easy for you to say," Patricia grumbled. The bell rang and they gathered their things to head for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the semester. Meredith had no idea what to expect from their new professor. From what she'd heard the man was completely full of himself. If the rumors were to be believed his first act as professor was to set a group of Cornish pixies loose in his classroom.
"Good day to you all," Lockhardt swept into the room with a swish of his lavender robes. "Welcome, welcome, to NEWT level Defense Against the Dark Arts. For so many of you to have come so far, is truly a great accomplishment. But I warn you…" he paused with a dramatic flip of his cloak. Meredith rolled her eyes.
"What you have faced up till now is nothing compared to what you will face in this class. Know only…that no harm will come to you whilst I am here."
"I feel better already," Oliver muttered causing Meredith to bit her lip to keep from laughing.
"Now!" Lockhardt said with a flourish. "I am sure your other professor have introduced to you the concept of non-verbal spells. Who can tell me what the benefit of using a nonverbal spell in combat is." Percy's hand shot into the air.
"Yes, Mr.?
"Weasley, sir," Percy said. "In combat a nonverbal spell gives the witch or wizard a tactical advantage. Your enemy does not know which spell they are being hit with and cannot determine what countercharm to use."
"I think he memorizes the textbook while the rest of us normal people sleep," Meredith whispered to Oliver who chuckled. The fact that Percy had basically just regurgitated the textbook didn't seem to bother Lockhardt.
"Excellent Weasley," Lockhardt said. "You are quite correct. I could not have very well vanquished the Babbling Banshee if I had run at her screaming hexes and jinxes at the top of my lungs. Now, I shall need a volunteer." The hand of every girl in the class shot into the air. Except for Meredith's who, predictably, was the one Lockhardt called upon.
"Now Miss Lupin," Lockhardt said, "If you will take out your wand and face me. Now class watch closely. Miss Lupin I will ask you attempt to disarm me, using a nonverbal spell. And I will block you with a nonverbal spell." Meredith took out her wand and held it at her side. Lockhardt took his wand from inside his robes and began to wave it around with a flourish. Meredith rolled her eyes. This guy was a complete joke.
"Expelliarmus," she thought without much enthusiasm, disarming him with a short flick of her wand. Several in the class, mostly boys, laughed as Lockhardt's wand flew from his hand. Lockhardt looked embarrassed but covered it quickly.
"Yes, yes, very good Miss Lupin," he said. "However, this is of course not a real combat situation and had I truly wished to block you it would have been all too easy."
'Whatever helps you sleep at night,' Meredith thought to herself.
"So if you would all split up into pairs. One partner to practice disarming, the other to practice blocking." Meredith paired up with Patricia.
"You want to disarm or block?" Meredith asked her.
"Does it matter?" Patricia asked. "Not like I'm gonna be good at either."
"I'll block then," Meredith said. They stood across from each other. Meredith focused her mind her protection spell.
"Protego, protego, protego, protego," she chanted silently in her head. She ignored Lockhardt who was popping around the room with advice on the proper way to block spells. This guy really was a joke. She could feel the tingling of the protection spell surrounding her. Patricia she could see was having a great deal of difficulty. Her face was red and she was starting to sweat. Meredith bit her lip. She knew that nonverbal spells were important and she needed to learn them. But what would be the harm if she just let up her hold on her own spell? It would give Patricia a boost of confidence. She relaxed her mind and slowly, gradually released her hold on the shield charm. The second she lowered the shield her wand flew out of her hand. Meredith's mouth dropped open as did Patricia's.
"Oh my gosh!" Patricia squealed. "I did it!" Meredith smiled.
"Well done ," she said. But as she gave her friend a hug she couldn't help glancing over at Oliver who was smirking just a little bit.
Meredith, Oliver, and Percy pushed their way out of Lockhardt's classroom past the giggling girls who were asking for his autograph.
"That wasn't a lesson," Meredith said. "that was a love letter. To Gilderoy Lockhardt, from Gilderoy Lockhardt."
"Well he is his biggest fan," Oliver said. Percy was very tight lipped.
"What's with you Perc?" Meredith asked him. Percy looked at her his face very tense.
"You know what you did was wrong don't you?" he said.
"I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about," she said.
"I'm talking about…." He trailed off as Patricia joined them.
"Lockhardt gave me his autograph," she said excitedly. "He said I was brilliant the way I disarmed you, Mere." Meredith bit her lip to keep from smiling.
"I don't even know how I did it. Just one moment I was thinking the spell as hard as I could, and the next…whoosh!"
"Yeah," Meredith said. "Pretty amazing."
"Totally," she said. "God I'm starving. Hope there's something good for lunch." The moment Patricia was out of ear shot Percy turned on Meredith and Oliver.
"Look you guys," he said. "We all care about Patricia. We all want to help her do better, but letting her think she disarmed Meredith won't help her in the long run."
"How do you know she didn't disarm me?" Meredith said placing her hands on her hips.
"Oh please," Percy said. "Oliver disarmed you, which he only would have been able to do if you weren't blocking properly."
"Nice to know you have such faith in me," Oliver grumbled.
"You're good Oliver," Percy said. "But we both know that Meredith's better. You disarmed her and let Patricia think it was her."
"Look Perc," Oliver said. "It was an accident okay? I was trying to disarm you and my aim was off." Percy looked slightly abashed.
"You weren't trying to make Patricia feel better?" he asked.
"I have bad aim," Oliver said. "What can I say? If the after effect is that Patricia gains the slightest bit of confidence in herself than it was absolutely worth it. Now can we drop this please?" Meredith had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from breaking out into laughter at the look on Percy's face. He looked as though he had just sucked on a lemon.
"Well," Percy said straightening his robes. "All right then. We mustn't be late for lunch." Meredith rolled her eye. She grabbed the sleeve of Oliver's robe and tugged him back.
"Is your aim really that bad?" she asked in a hushed tone. Oliver winked at her.
"What do you think?" Meredith grinned.
Meredith and Oliver's little dupe seemed to have the desired effect. Over the next few weeks Patricia confidence skyrocketed. As her confidence grew so did her efficiency in nonverbal spells. While she did not manage to disarm Meredith again, she was doing better in DADA and Charms. Even Snape could not fail to notice her improvement. Though the potions master would never acknowledge it out loud, it was evident by Patricia's improved marks.
"AN A!!" Patricia squealed as they left the potions classroom. "Snape actually gave me an A!" Meredith grinned at her friend's enthusiasm.
"Why are you so shocked?" she said. "I knew you had it in you. You just needed to believe in yourself."
"Yeah yeah," Patricia said. "I've gotta go write to Mum and Dad. They'll totally flip when they hear this news." Meredith chuckled as Patricia dashed off. Her laugh turned to a glare as she spotted Malfoy and his cronies coming down the hall.
"Did you see Weasley's face when he belched up that slug," Malfoy guffawed. "I thought he was going to wet himself. That's probably not even a real wand he's got. Probably an old stick his father picked up off the ground. My father says it Weasley's fascination with Muggles that keeps him where he is. Probably passed down the obsession to his son. Why else would he be friends with that Mudblood…"
"Malfoy!" Meredith yelled. She strode purposely toward the group. "Detention." Malfoy stared at her incredulously.
"For what?" Draco said indignantly. "I haven't done anything."
"Dumbledore does not allow that word to be spoken by his students, or his staff. If I hear you use it again it won't be detention it will be the loss of certain body parts I am quite sure you will miss." The boys surrounding Malfoy winced but Malfoy still had enough insolence left in him to glare at her.
"Prefect's can't just give out detention," he said defiantly. "You'll have to clear it with Professor Snape."
"I have no intention of telling Professor Snape anything," Meredith said. "I'm no fool. He lets you Slytherins get away with murder around here. Going to him would be a complete waste of time. No Malfoy, I intend to go a bit higher than Snape."
"You think awful high of yourself, Lupin." Meredith rolled her eyes. Flint. Just what she needed.
"Stay out of this Flint," she ordered coldly.
"Going to Dumbledore to get my Seeker in trouble. Maybe you're hoping he'll have to serve detention the day of the Slytherin/Gryffindor match. Make sure your little boyfriend Woody has all the advantage he can get." Meredith was quite literally seeing red. She pulled her wand out.
"Fighting in the hallways?" Flint said mockingly. "Why Lupin is that anyway for a…" His hand went to his throat. Meredith smiled.
"See," she said pocketing her wand. "If you hadn't failed your DADA OWL you might have known how to block that. I'm sure the Head Master will let you know when your detention will be served Malfoy." She strode away with a smile on her face.
"Don't even think about it!" she shouted. She did not even need to turn around to see Malfoy wand in hand, shaking in rage.
'That was fun,' she thought to herself as she strode off to the Headmaster's office.