The Summoning Lesson

Chapter 12

Friday, July 5

"First thing's first. By now, you must already know the basic counter-curses, hexes and jinxes if your little club was any good. At least, I think it was," said Sirius, standing relaxed in the backyard under the cool morning sun.

"Hey!" exclaimed Harry, annoyed

Sirius looked smug. "Right, right. This is the Chosen-One we're talking about."

Harry scowled. Sirius took an inordinate amount of pleasure mocking that appalling appellation that the Prophet had come up with over the days. Even Harry had come to see the lighter side of things by the end of the week, but somehow the prospect of duelling lessons had sobered him with the gravity of his situation.

"You're not helping my nerves," said Harry sullenly.

"Blimey, relax! Here's something to lighten you up." And with a wave of his wand, Harry was reduced to laughter as he fell to the ground, invisible fingers tickling him. "Oi- stop… can't breathe!"

It stopped as suddenly as it came, but the lingering grin on his face didn't vanish. Sirius smirked.

"Now that we're warmed up, let's begin. The first thing you need to know Harry is your Summoning Charm. Not just any-…"

Sirius was cut short as Harry said 'Accio!' and his wand zoomed out of his hand.

Harry caught it out of reflex and grinned. Sirius huffed a laugh, "God! You're more impatient than I am. And that's saying something."

Sirius stretched out his wand-arm as if asking Harry to return his wand to him when unexpectedly, Sirius' wand zoomed straight back to his hand.

Harry gasped in surprise. "How did you do that?"

"If you would listen, you would know," said Sirius, looking smug. "As I was saying, you need to know your Summoning charm. And not just any summoning charm, Harry. You need to be able to summon wandlessly. This is very handy, because your wand is everything in a duel. But disarming an opponent is very simple as you well know. If you find yourself disarmed by an opponent, you need to get your wand to your hand pronto and wandless summoning is your only aid here.

Now wandless magic is a bit tricky, Harry. I personally haven't seen many do it, aside from Dumbledore and Voldemort when we fought him in the last war. It requires primarily, force of will. You need to will the wand to get to your hand. It will take some time to get the hang of it, but when you do, it just gets easier."

Harry's face had fallen. "But I haven't got will power. I can barely transfig…"

Sirius talked over him in a firm tone. "Harry, if there's anyone I know who's got will power in spades, it's you! It wasn't just an accident you could push that golden bead of light back at Voldemort or throw off his Imperius, you know."

Harry realized Sirius was referring to the graveyard at the end of the Third Task. When his and Voldemort's wand had connected by a golden thread, Harry had willed it to push it back at Voldemort. If he could do it then, he can do it now.

With a faint smile at Sirius' praise, Harry nodded, visibly steeling himself. "What do I do?"

"Real simple, actually. You raise your wand-arm, thinking of the object you want to summon and incant 'Accio!'"

As he said so, he raised his hand and Harry's wand zoomed straight towards Sirius' grasp.

Sirius nodded at him. "Try doing it now."

Harry nodded and raised his wand-arm, fingers poised to catch. He looked firmly at his wand in Sirius' hand, then yelled, "Accio!"

Nothing happened.

At his crestfallen look, Sirius said encouragingly, "You can't just expect to do it on your first try! This is magic way beyond NEWTs. Keep trying. Again."

Harry gathered his mind as he bored his eyes into the wand, willing it to jump back into his hand. He raised his hand. 'Accio!'

Still, nothing happened.

Sirius said patiently, "You need to force every being of you to will that wand into your hand. You need to imagine the action as if it's already done. In this case, imagine your wand already in your hand. Picture the result of your summoning charm."

Harry closed his eyes again and exhaled softly, trying to not have too much expectation of himself. Vaguely, he remembered Remus saying the same in his third year as he tried to summon a Patronus charm, even then trying to do something way beyond his capability. He had got it in the end, hadn't he?

It took more than half an hour of practicing for Harry to finally get it. He raised his right hand, and imagining the wand in Sirius' hand zooming straight to his, yelled, 'Accio!'

He jerked in surprise as the wand soared towards his arm and his reflex kicked in as he caught it.

Sirius whooped. "That's my boy!"

The rest of the day, Harry spent all his time summoning anything and everything wandlessly.

Sirius had Apparated to Grimmauld Place in the meantime, to bring home Buckbeak. Harry was worried, but Sirius had promised that he and Buckbeak would be disillusioned and the ride was only about three hours. Harry agreed, mostly because, he felt really sorry for poor Buckbeak cooped up in that place. He spent the day trying to master the wandless summoning charm. After a full morning of practicing it again and again, he could easily summon anything within thirty feet of him.

Sirius arrived late in the afternoon with Buckbeak who was so wildly excited to be outdoors again, that it took some time on Harry and Sirius' part to calm him down. He had his own patch in the backyard and Twitchet was tasked with feeding Buckbeak regularly.

When Harry demonstrated his progress with the summoning charm, Sirius was so proud of him that he decided to treat Harry that night to dinner, making him promise not to tell Remus who was again visiting this mysterious person. They had left disguised, and watched a muggle film Independence Day, and Harry didn't know who was more excited by the prospect of it, him or Sirius, because Sirius was practically bursting with excitement. They had then had dinner at a fast-food joint in the nearest town. It was very hard to imagine that a war was brewing when Harry felt so normal and happy at the moment.

oOo

Sunday, July 7

"What are we learning today?" asked Harry, excited.

"I thought," said Sirius, in a lecturing tone, "it would be very beneficial to learn how to protect yourself from curses, hexes and jinxes. What are the ways you can protect yourself when someone throws a stunning spell at you?"

"You can use a shield charm," said Harry immediately.

"Or, and this is the easiest, you can dodge them. When you have an unknown spell thrown at you, the best thing would be to jump or Apparate out of its way. But, it's not always possible at the heat of the moment or if you cannot Disapparate because of certain enchantments. So we'll learn some other ways you can use a shield charm."

"There are different types of shield charms?" asked Harry, intrigued.

"Imagine it like this," said Sirius, thoughtfully. "If you have fire thrown at you, you can use a shield made of water or ice and vice versa. If you have hexes or curses thrown at you, there's always the handy Protego horribilis. It's more powerful against dark magic than a regular Protego."

"Now, what do you do when you have a killing curse aimed at you," said Sirius, quite conversationally.

"Hope I don't die like the last time Voldemort did it?" said Harry, startled by the question.

Sirius laughed. This boy had too much cheek for his own good. "That would make my life so much easier."

Harry grinned before asking quite nervously. "What do I do when I have a killing curse aimed at me?"

Sirius' expression darkened and the smile fell of his face. The threat was real and Harry was really going to face a time when it did happen. He spoke firmly, "Like all curses, the first option would be to dodge it. No known spell exists that can deflect a Killing Curse. But, there is one way to stop it from reaching you. You erect a solid object, preferably metal in front of you."

Harry was frowning thoughtfully. "When I was in the Ministry, Dumbledore enchanted the statues, you know the Fountain of Magical Brethren, to take the hit."

Sirius nodded. "Yes, that is the only way I know of that can stop a killing curse. But, therein lies our problem. There is no variation of Protego that can create a metal shield. So, the only way would be to conjure a solid block of sturdy metal out of thin air, or to transfigure metal objects that are already available at hand."

Harry visibly deflated. "I'm hopeless at Transfiguration."

Sirius frowned disbelievingly. "You can't be that bad."

"But I'm not excellent either!" said Harry truthfully.

"You will be, if I have anything to say about it!" said Sirius with such confidence that Harry resolved to try hard, just to not let his godfather down.

Sirius and Harry spent the rest of the day in the library of Potter Manor that had an extensive collection of books on duelling and also a training room for duelling practice hidden just behind the library that Harry hadn't noticed before. Sirius had told him that his grandfather, Fleamont Potter, was quite the expert at duelling.

Sirius had picked out a few books from the library, dismissing some knowingly when he read the author's name.

"I never really pegged you as the book-reading type," remarked Harry.

"Nah. That was Remus, of course. But one does need something to while away the summer holidays stuck with my dear mother."

oOo

It took three whole days for Harry to grasp the theory right. He had to admit Sirius was a brilliant teacher and he said so too one afternoon.

"But you're a quick learner and I don't have that much patience anyway. Teaching is Remus' forte," said Sirius, dismissing the thought.

Harry then proceeded to transfigure small objects to iron. It took a lot of time mastering and Sirius decided that Harry should spend at least a couple of hours, every day solely for this purpose.

In the meantime, he was teaching Harry different curses and jinxes. Remus too would drop in to oversee them and teach Harry. He claimed he wanted to make sure Sirius wasn't teaching Harry something too advanced, but Harry knew Remus enjoyed the aspect of teaching it all the same.

Harry wondered if he should ask Remus where he was always off to, but when he had run the suggestion by Sirius, he had gotten rather mischievous. "I think Remus should tell you in his own time, but my bet is that you'll know by the end of the month."

When Harry was getting rather taxed with too much practice, Sirius would drag him out to fly on his broom or they would play Exploding Snap. Harry loved and cherished his time at the Potter Manor, even though he was mostly learning. But it was different because Harry always enjoyed practical work to theory and it really helped when you could joke around and have fun with your teachers.

oOo

A/N: Fleamont and Euphemia Potter and the fact that Fleamont was an expert duellist is mentioned in Pottermore. All other facts are my imagination. But Independence Day did release on summer of 1996. Cool right?

Also, there will be no other use of wandless magic other than the Summoning charm, which in itself must be mighty difficult for someone like Harry.

And virtual cookies to the 100th follower: my-last-username-was-immature. Funny name!