Whilst the older members of the Order of Potter were attending the Order of the Phoenix Meeting Harry decided that a training session was required and set up mock duels between the different younger members of the Order of Potter.
First up was Ron versus Crabbe. George was refereeing the matches. Ron and Crabbe had been duelling partners for so long that they could almost read each other's minds when it came to duelling. Ron started with his usual stupefy curse which Crabbe easily blocked. The two duelled for over 20 minutes with the curses getting worse every minute. They even used borderline Dark Magic but never went beyond that. The two rarely dodged curses and mainly threw up shields but this was a normal tactic for both of them as it preserved energy. In the end Ron won with a well-placed Jelly Legs Jinx that cancelled Crabbe's shield and then a Stupefy curse immediately after.
Harry during this was taking up his usual critical stance, watching the duellists and finding their faults in order to point them out at the end and warn them of what could happen if a Death Eater played upon these weaknesses.
"Ron, Vince, you really do need to dodge the spells as well as throw up shields. I know you both think that dodging them wears you out but throwing up shields all the time wears you out too, because you have to maintain them as well as fight the other person. But, as usual you two gave me an excellent duel to watch and you are the perfect two to maintain the shields around the rest of us in a fight."
"I agree, well done you two, from what I can see Harry's right and I agree completely with him. Sorry for interrupting you love but Dobby told us you were training and we thought we'd come and help you out. Help you decide what needs work etc."
"That's ok Remy! It's a good idea and I thank you for that offer of help. Anyway, let us move on, Daph, Greg you're up!"
Daphne and Goyle were surprised because Harry had partnered them up differently than normal: Daphne usually duelled Theo and Goyle usually duelled Millicent. Due to this no one could have any clue how this duel would go and neither opponent had much idea of what the other would duel like. They were completely different from each other in their style of duelling. Goyle immediately went on the attack whereas Daphne just dodged his spells or threw up shields until Goyle started to tire about 10 minutes into the duel and then went on the attack. However, even though Goyle was tiring the duel still went on for another 20 minutes until he was finally brought down by a well place Petrificus Totalis from Daphne.
"That was brilliant guys! Now I guess you're wondering why I changed your duelling partners, am I right? I thought so! Well it is a fair estimation that you will not fight a familiar opponent in a real battle situation and thus this is my way of preparing you. Now Greg, you fought valiantly and you are certainly powerful enough to take down the less experienced deatheaters such as Avery, your father or Nott but I'm afraid to say you would probably not stand much of a chance against Malfoy or the Lestranges. Don't get me wrong, you would do well against them and weaken them as you have with Daphne and be able to step aside and let us take over but this is risky and could end up costing you your life! Thus I would advise you to take a more sensible approach, attack them but not with too much vigour until later. It is probable that they will get so fed up of waiting for you to attack that they will come at you harder. Then it is advisable to take Daphne's approach and just stay on the defensive until they are suitably weakened that you can defeat them. Now Daphne, your tactics are clever and certainly suitable for a Slytherin, however, that will not work too well against people such as Lucius Malfoy. He deploys similar tactics and I would thus advise duelling as you are but adding a few simple jinxes in as well. He will get, excuse my language please mum, pissed off at the lack of action and start attacking you, thus of course weakening himself! What do you think to these ideas Kingsley?"
"I agree! Excellent duel guys and you could certainly last against most of the Deatheaters until you could defeat them or one of us could help but as Harry said, it is important to remember that it will most probably not be Nott or Avery you are fighting but Lucius or Bellatrix!"
"Thanks for the input there Kingsley! Next up Theo and Millie!"
Theo and Millie were also not used to duelling one another and both had similar tactics to Daphne: the sit in defence and wait tactic! The duel was very long and tedious for Harry to watch and critique because both merely threw mild jinxes at each other and waited for the other to get so fed up that they would attack. Eventually Theo broke his concentration on defence and started to attack Millie in full. This was just what she was waiting for and thus she stayed in defence until he was weakened enough that his shields would not stand up to a direct attack and she hit him with a well placed reducto curse, thus breaking his shield, injuring him and forcing him to surrender.
"Well done both of you and here is an example of that which I spoke of before. It is probable that most deatheaters will act like Theo and attack before it wise to do so, due to the fact that they get so fed up at having to wait for us to attack that they attack us, thus Millie's tactics will work. Theo you fought very well but you have to learn more patience or, like I said with Greg, you may end up dead. Millie, I have not much to say about your tactics but to commend you for deploying a sensible tactic when it comes to unknown opponents. However, it is possible that you may also lose your cool like Theo did and we are thus going to work on this and ensure that is not the case! What do you think Tonks?"
"I agree with you Harry! We cannot afford for any of us to lose our cool in a duel because it could very well cost us our lives. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that is NOT an option!"
"Thanks Tonks! Gin, Pansy it's your turn!"
Whilst Harry was watching the duel he could clearly see what the problems were. Pansy tended to forget that whilst one dodges a spell/curse/jinx, the opponent could easily cast another one at you and cause you to lose the duel. However she was very lucky because Ginny main fault was accuracy. She was a good duellist but she had trouble with accuracy, which of course would be very dangerous in an actual duel. The duel lasted for only 15 minutes before Ginny played on her opponents' weakness and caught Pansy mid dodge with a Stupefy curse.
"Well done girls that was a good duel but unfortunately you both have large faults. Pansy, your tactics are good, dodge the curses and stay on the defence, however, you have one large fault! You forget that an opponent could easily watch your dodges with an eagle eye and send a curse at you mid dodge, thus incapacitating you or worse, killing you! Ginny you are a brilliant duellist but you have one very large problem: Your Accuracy! It is average at best. Now don't get me wrong Gin, you are as I said a brilliant fighter but you desperately need to work on the accuracy! Sirius, would you agree to help Ginny in this? After all, was it not you who trained me to be accurate?"
"Why yes it was Harry! Of course I'll help Ginny if she wants me to! You do? Good!"
"Thanks Snuffles! Now Draco, what say you to a duel? Anything goes bar weapons and Avada Kedavra!"
"Agreed!"
"Whoa wait a minute! You said anything goes but Avada Kedavra but what about the other unforgivables? I don't like the thought of you having the Cruciatus put on you son! Nor on Draco!"
"Dad, do you think the Death Eaters would stop at the borderline Dark Curses? I think not! Ready Dray? 1 – 2 – 3, duel!"
"Stupefy!" Draco screamed.
"Protego!" Harry countered.
"Incendio!"
"Aqueous!"
"Reducto! Incendio!" Draco screamed. Harry did a back flip to avoid the Reducto curse and screamed "Aqueous" as soon as he landed to block the Incendio spell. The dualists used progressively darker curses, including the bone destruction curse and the slashing curse, until finally Draco did the one thing Harry had been waiting for!
"Crucio!" he screamed. Harry closed his eyes and emptied his mind before snapping his eyes open at the last possible moment before the curse hit and screaming:
"PREGA!" A bright Golden shield developed around Harry and the Cruciatus Curse bounced of. Quickly he turned to Draco and told him to cast the one spell that Harry desperately needed to know whether the shield would stop it or not.
"Avada Kedavra!" Draco whispered and the evil green beam swept towards Harry but it never hit! The shield withstood the unstoppable evil of the killing curse. Harry then dropped the shield and fell to the floor crying. He had done it! He had found a way to stop the unforgivables.
"You did it Harry! I can't believe it! All those months of research have finally paid off! You can stop the unforgivables!" Ron cried and flung his arms around his brother sobbing happily. They were soon joined in a many-armed hug when Vince, Daphne, Greg, Theo, Millie, Pansy, Ginny and Draco joined them. They were interrupted not two moments later though by a cough from Harry's mum.
"Harry? D-did you just p-produce a shield that st-stopped the unforgivables? Who, when, how?"
"Yes I did produce a shield that stops the unforgivables and in answer to your other question: I created it. I have been researching a way of shielding oneself from them for almost a year now and finally how? Well that is actually a fairly easy question to answer. The unforgivables are cast using the most tainted feeling of hatred possible, thus it is only natural to realise that the only way to stop it is with pure love. Actually it was you who gave me the idea mum. Your sacrifice and love saved me, so why couldn't my love for Remy, Siri, my brothers and friends be used to protect me from the curse. Thus I spent months researching how to go about it. All one must do when they hear that curse is to search inside themselves for the purest feeling of love possible and say the incantation Prega. Of course one must be trained in this, which is obviously one of my first port of calls, but it should not take too long and we will be a whole lot safer from those curses!"
"Oh Harry your dad and I are so proud of you and we love you so very much but enough of this, you look exhausted and I insist you retire. We will deal with any of our supporters from the Order of the Phoenix tomorrow. Goodnight my son!" Lily said and gave him a hug. Harry retired to bed soon to be followed by the others.