"Theseus, are you busy?" Newt asked.

Theseus looked up from the kitchen and examined his little brother. He had his own place in the city now, but still visits home like this one were a welcome break. Newt had grown quite a bit since the last time he'd seen him and sounded more tentative than he was used to hearing him. "No. Dinner's just been put in. What's going on?"

Newt shrugged. "It's just. O.W.L's are coming up and… I'm not the best at Defense Against the Dark Arts. You're an Auror now and I thought, maybe… you could help me?"

Theseus's face slowly spread into a grin. Undeniably, he was touched to hear the admiration in his brother's voice asking for his help. He also couldn't help smirking at the thought of a friendly brotherly duel that popped into his head and the advantage he'd have, before realizing… "Sure, Newt. I've just put dinner in. But, you know I can only help you with theory, right? You're still not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts."

Newt glanced down, looking like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, reaching into his pocket to pull out a permission slip. "Well, actually…Professor Dumbledore thinks I have a lot of potential, just need some more practice. And he's really proud of how well you've done. When he heard you'd be home over break, he granted me special permission to practice at home."

Theseus's grin solidified. "You want to work on fighting spells with me?"

"It's too much trouble. Never mind."

"Hold on. I didn't say no! Sure. Come on, tell me where you're at." Theseus answered, walking outside with him.

"I know the basics, obviously. Some jinxes, but they're not very strong. And he says I have trouble focusing."

Theseus could imagine that. Newt's head was always off thinking about something and he rarely looked people straight on. Both problematic when dueling. "Focus is important. Without it, you'll miss key opportunities to attack or defend yourself. And it could be why your spells aren't at full power." Theseus stood a log upright. "Let's try something basic and see what's up. Show me a knockback jinx."

Newt looked at the log. "Flipendo!"

The log didn't go sailing backwards, but it did jump back several feet before falling over without any real hesitation. Honestly, it was a good cast. "That's really good, Newt."

"I do okay when there's not much pressure. But when everyone's staring at me or we're dueling, it's harder. And dueling's a quarter of the Defense Against Darks Arts O.W.L."

"I remember. And that's natural. Ok." Theseus nodded, convincing himself it was a good idea to let his inexperienced little brother try it. But if he couldn't block an inexperienced jinx, he had no business being an Auror. "Try it against me."

Newt's eyes went wide and Theseus laughed. "That's what you asked about, right?"

Newt just nodded before taking a few steps back and staring at him. After a few minutes, Theseus heard him timidly cast, "Flipendo."

"Protego!" Theseus cast the jinx aside, barely registering it for how weak it hit the protection spell. He nodded. "Okay. You're scared. You can't be scared in a duel. You're not going to hurt me. Try again and mean it. You heard how strong my shield charm was? That's what you need to sound like. And don't hesitate."

Newt nodded and cast. "Flipendo!"

Theseus at least noticed it register this time as he blocked it. "Better, but it can be more. Again."

"Flipendo!" "Protego!" He heard the confidence grow in his brother's voice and paid attention to his shield charm this time as he cast it. It did the job, as he knew it would, but felt the jinx strongly bounce off of it.

"Good, Newt! Very good. That's what you need to always have. Now, show me your shield charm. "Flipendo!" Theseus cast, weakly, but it was still enough to knock his brother down before he could finish casting the shield charm. He saw Newt's face fall in disappointment and he tried not to add to it by sighing. He managed to settled for raising his eyebrows. "You can do better than that, Newt. I know it. Come on, try again." He made sure to let him get his balance back on his feet before casting the knockback jinx again.

"Protego!" Newt stayed standing.

"Good!" Theseus encouraged, and offered. "Want to keep going?"

Newt nodded slowly. Theseus grinned. "Okay. Then, remember that. I can tell you know what you're doing. It seems like the biggest thing is going to be confidence. Here's your chance to beat me up." He saw the hesitation. "You won't get better without practicing. Don't worry about me. Show me how good you've gotten."

Newt nodded more assuredly and he responded. "Okay, on three. One." They stepped back. "Two." Wands up. "Three."

He let Newt cast first. "Flipendo!"

"Protego! Flipendo!"

Newt shielded it. "Expelliarmus!"

Theseus blocked it and moved to the right, smirking. "Locomotor Wiggly."

Newt failed to change his position and the spell hit, causing his legs to dance beneath him before he cast it off.

"Pay attention," Theseus prompted neutrally and intentionally allowed the responding knockback jinx to hit him. Give his brother a little encouragement. As intended, it helped. The next few volley of spells went better, with Newt moving better and blocking effectively.

Newt cast an exploding cracker jinx low to his feet, causing Theseus to jump back. "Impedimenta!"

"Protego." Newt's shield worked overall, but he could tell there were still some effects. So, he didn't have a good excuse outside of cockiness for missing his brother's next spell. "Levicorpus!"

With a surprised shout, Theseus felt himself lifted into the air. Admittedly proud for Newt, but much more annoyed at himself. He cast off the jinx, rolled to his feet and cast "Brachiabindo!" Ropes shot out of his wand, causing his brother to fall to ground, squirming against the ropes binding him. Newt wasn't even trying now, panicking against the rope. Theseus took a breath and lowered his wand, trying to calm the adrenaline that had surged through him. "Newt, you're ok, focus."

Newt looked at him and he couldn't quite tell if it was anger or frustration. But he needed to learn to get out of mistakes and in the next second Newt cast, "Relashio." The ropes let him go and Newt didn't hesitate. "Confringo!"

"Protego!" Theseus raised an eyebrow and blocked, nearly bringing his wand back up too slow. The small fireball went wide, but he still felt a small burn form at his ankle and the adrenaline that had been surging through him kicked into full reflex mode. Without thinking, he cast a strong stinging hex that fell his brother back to the ground, gasping and grimacing in pain. The spell was designed to incapacitate and it had lately become one of Thesus's stronger fail-safe spells at work. Except this wasn't some dangerous wizard he was chasing at work, but his little brother who'd asked for help only to be laid out on the ground with every nerve on fire. "Finite!" Theseus cast it off in the next second, ashamed of himself. He dropped his wand and went over to Newt, offering a hand. "Newt? I'm sorry."

Newt was still breathing quickly and his eyes were watering, full of betrayal. "I think that's enough for now."

Theseus nodded. He would have said the same. "You did really well, Newt. I just went too far. I'm sorry," he said quietly.

After another minute, Newt nodded and accepted his brother's hand up. "Thanks. I know did ask for a dueling practice."

"You did. But I shouldn't have cast that."

"I forgive you." Newt gave a small smile.

Theseus gave a small smile in return, but he was still mad at himself. "Listen, Professor Dumbledore's right. You've got a lot of potential if you want to go this route. Once you got confident, you fought really well. You keep that up and and you'll have no problem on your O.W.L's."