– CHAPTER EIGHTEEN –
Sparring
Breakfast next morning was a hurried affair, as Harry and Ron had overslept, and Hermione and Ginny had waited for them impatiently in the common room. As they left the Tower however, they ran across a bunch of surly security trolls, who Hermione surmised had been hired as extra protection against Voldemort. Reaching the Great Hall, they sat down next to Luna and Neville, who was looking at the patrol outside the Hall with sheer terror etched on his face. He evidently hadn't forgotten his last encounter with them. As they started eating, Professor Flitwick hurried over and asked them to wait at the end of breakfast to receive their new timetables.
After they had eaten, they remained in their places, waiting for everyone else to finish so that Professor Flitwick could make his descent from the staff table. After the last plate had been cleared though, five Professors stood up and began organising timetables, much like Professor McGonagall had last year for Sixth Year Gryffindors. They asked students what subjects they would like to take along with the compulsory classes.
Hermione was immediately cleared to continue with Ancient Runes, Herbology and Arithmancy, as well as all the obligatory classes, but waited for Ron and Harry to get theirs, as they all had Sparring together first period. Neville chose to add Herbology to his timetable, but begged to be released from Potions, but Moody, who was organising their timetables, ignored him. He hung his head dejectedly and moved away to stand next to Hermione.
Moody then turned to Harry, who had decided last night not to take any extra classes. When he heard this, Moody focussed both eyes, normal and magical on Harry, and leaned forward, growling softly in his ear.
'Need more time for practising eh, Potter? Dumbledore asked me to train you this year, if you needed it. From what I heard from some old friends of mine though, you don't really need much help.' He grinned and winked at Harry, who was smiling shyly. 'Do you want the extra help though? I could show a few tricks I've picked up over the years.' Harry smirked and nodded. 'Good, I'll find a time at which I'm free and I'll get back to you in our first lesson. Here you go.' He said, handing Harry his timetable.
A few minutes later, Ron was cleared to take Herbology with Neville and Hermione, and the four of them left the table together. Ron looked down at his timetable and moaned.
'With all these extra classes, we've hardly got any free periods. Look,' he pointed at the parchment, 'I've only got four.' He looked at Harry's parchment. 'Hey Harry, why aren't you doing Herbology with us? You did it last year.' Hermione looked exasperated, but Harry leaned over and whispered.
'With all the new lessons I didn't think I'd have much time to research – well, you know,' Ron's eyes widened in understanding, 'so I decided not to take any optional classes to give me more time.' Ron nodded vigorously as they left the Hall, but as he rounded the corner, he collided with a security troll. The troll was furious, and chased him all the way to the front doors, grunting angrily and swinging his club around his head.
The others had a good laugh as they watch Ron running for his life, but Hermione glanced at her watch and moaned.
'Come on,' she said anxiously, 'we're going to be late for Sparring.' They ran down the steps and catching up with Ron, set off towards the banks of the lake.
They were the first ones there, and waited as a trickle of students made their way down from the castle. A few moments after the last students, Zabini and Greengrass arrived, the Auror, Savage, appeared, silhouetted against the double doors. He walked down levitating a large trunk in front of him. As he approached, every head turned to greet him, and he smiled.
'Hello and welcome to your, and my, first Sparring lesson.' Harry and Ron chuckled. 'Now, can anyone tell me what sparring is?' Hermione's hand shot up, but Harry, who was used to this, leaned away from her unconsciously to avoid getting hit on the nose. 'Ms. Granger?'
'Sparring is the act of making the motions of a duel without actually causing injury. It is a form of training.' She answered back eagerly.
'Excellent, Ms. Granger. Ten points to –' he stopped, as everyone laughed, 'ah yes, I forgot. No more houses, therefore no more house points. What a pity!
Now, as Ms. Granger said, sparring is the practising of duelling without causing injury. There are several things that need to be learnt so that one can duel well. The most important being the control of one's body.' He looked around the class, and pulled out his wand. Harry instinctively slipped his out of his sleeve slowly, but Savage only flicked it at the trunk, which opened to reveal a collection of swords.
'For the next few weeks, we are going to be practising with Muggle weapons, as learning how to wield them, will teach you how to wield a wand correctly. You will work on your footwork, muscle control, balance, and fighting tactics. When to parry, dodge, attack, counter-attack,' he listed, 'and most importantly, you will learn when to stand and fight, and when to retreat to fight another day.'
Harry and Ron were grinning broadly by the time Savage had finished, and seeing their reactions, he raised an eyebrow.
'Is there something funny Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley? Care to explain to me what I said that was so funny?' The rest of the class turned to watch them, Zabini narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
'Nothing funny Professor, it's just that Ron and I have been practicing sword and axe fighting for most of the last month.' Savage's eyes widened in surprise.
'Really Mr. Potter and what is your weapon of choice then?'
'The broadsword, Professor.' He replied immediately.
'And you, Mr. Weasley?'
'The battleaxe, Sir.' He replied without hesitation.
'Well that's a shame, I would have liked you two to give us a demonstration, but I don't have any axes.' He pulled out two swords. 'Have you ever tried the longsword Mr. Weasley?' He said, handing them the swords. Ron looked at Harry, who nodded, and turned back to Savage.
'No need Sir, we brought them with us. They're in our room.' He said, putting the sword down. 'Shall we go and get them?'
Savage thought for a moment, then agreed. As Harry and Ron made their way back to the castle, Savage started showing the others how to hold a sword, and how to stand comfortably without losing your balance of manoeuvrability. They hurried back to their common room, thankfully managing to avoid another troll patrol, and climbed the stairs to their room. Collecting their weapons, they sped back to the lake shore, in time to watch Savage give a demonstration on how to move smoothly while wielding a sword.
He beamed as he saw them approach, and beckoned them forward.
'Right, I'd like you two to show the others a few lunges and parries, nothing too fancy. I just want enough for them to get the general idea of how to handle a weapon.' Harry and Ron grinned at each other competitively, and moved apart, giving themselves plenty of room to move. Everyone else took a few paces back, forming a circle around the two, and watched apprehensively as Harry and Ron started warming up their arm muscles; making large sweeping motions with their chosen weapon.
At the smallest hint of a nod from Savage, they both edged towards each other, still sweeping their weapons around. They began sidestepping, circling one another looking for a weakness in the others position. Suddenly, Harry lunged forward, sweeping his sword in an arc that would connect with Ron's shoulder. Ron stepped to the side, and brought his axe down on Harry's sword, knocking it away like an irritating fly, but Harry had expected the parry. He span around, swinging his sword towards Ron's lower back in a vicious slicing movement which caught Ron by surprise. Ron tried to block the new attack by throwing his axe over his head to deflect the oncoming sword, leaving his front exposed, but the block was enough.
Harry; unbalanced by spinning around and having his attack brought to a sudden halt, tumbled. He rolled away and as he stood up again, Ron advanced on him, swinging his axe and grinning triumphantly; but Harry was far from beaten. He sidestepped Ron's swing and thrust his broadsword at Ron's midriff, but Ron jumped out of Harry's reach, and releasing the axe handle with one hand, brought it crashing down on Harry's blade. The sudden and violent collision rattled Ron's jaw, but it was Harry who was forced down, almost to his knees, as his sword was dragged to the ground by the blow. Ron's face lit up as he saw and opportunity to win, and quickly swung the axe behind his shoulder, before bringing it back over towards Harry's prone back. But Harry, still bent over, took a step towards Ron, bringing his sword up from under him. The side of the axe grazed Harry's shoulder, but his sword didn't waver. It stopped just before Ron's stomach, point up.
'Yield.' He said, grinning mischievously. Ron, caught with his guard down, let go of his axe in surrender.
'Nice one Harry, I thought I'd got you when I knocked you to the ground.' He said, grinning. The rest of the class, initially stunned by their flowing movements, and the brutality of some of the attacks, started clapping enthusiastically. Savage approached them, smiling appreciatively.
'Well done boys, that was quite the demonstration. A bit more than I asked for, and certainly more than I expected, but an excellent display none the less.' Ron and Harry blushed at the praise; they'd only done it for fun, and had got a bit carried away.
'Now,' he said, turning to the class, 'does anyone know what Mr. Potter and Weasley did wrong?' Hermione, who had watched them practicing for the last month, raised her hand.
'Let someone else try to answer Ms. Granger, you have watched them practise before.' Scowling, she put her hand down, as a few Ravenclaws put their hands up. Savage looked around, and pointed at Terry.
'Mr. Boot, what mistakes did they make?' He asked.
'Well, Ron clearly underestimates Harry. As soon as Harry was on the ground, Ron thought it was over and let his guard down to try and finish Harry off.' Ron blushed crimson, and all the other hands dropped at Terry's response.
'Very good Mr. Boot, now, can anyone tell me what Mr. Potter's mistakes were?' He asked the students. Zabini put his hand up. 'Mr. Zabini?'
'Well,' he drawled, 'Potter doesn't appear to have any defensive moves. He was constantly on the offensive and didn't try to parry any of Weasley's swings; he obviously doesn't consider what could happen if his attacks failed, and doesn't make any contingencies for such a scenario.'
The words cut deep, and Harry suddenly remembered the battle at the Ministry. He hadn't contemplated the possibility of failure then either, and it had almost cost him his life and that of his friends; not to mention Sirius, 'Sirius', he thought. He remembered his body curving in a graceful arc, as he sank backwards though the ragged veil.
Infuriated, he snarled, and advanced on Blaise, sword still in hand. Blaise was shocked by Harry's reaction, and watched, in stunned disbelief, as Harry approached him threateningly. Out of nowhere, a streak of light hurtled towards Harry, and hit him in the back; Hermione lowered her wand to her side.
Frozen by Hermione's 'Impedimenta', Harry was still glaring at Zabini. There was a long silence, before Zabini came out of his shock, and asked Hermione why Harry had reacted that way.
'I don't know Blaise, it could have been a thousand different things, but it most likely reminded him of our fight in the Ministry. His godfather died that night, and Harry still blames himself, even though it was Voldemort's doing.' A shiver ran through the class at the utterance of Voldemort's name, but Blaise nodded and approached Harry.
'Sorry Harry, I didn't mean to remind you of that. I was only talking about your demonstration.' He didn't sound sincere, but Harry reckoned that the apology was the best he was going to get. Still under the spell, he nodded slowly, accepting the apology, and Hermione ended the spell.
They shook hands, and Savage proceeded with the lesson, showing them parries with different swords, and how to thrust. By the end of the period, everyone's arms were aching, and when dismissed, they made their way up to the castle slowly, cradling their arms. As homework, Savage asked them to practice moving around on the balls of their feet, and try to find their most balanced stance.
Back up in the common room, Ron and Hermione tried to get Harry to talk about his reaction to Zabini's comment, but he refused to talk to them. Soon though, Hermione had to go to Ancient Runes, leaving Harry and Ron together.
'Hey, Harry, do you want to play some Chess?' Ron asked Harry timidly.
'Yeah, sure Ron.'
They set up the board, and played several rounds, keeping the conversation safe by only talking about inconsequential things. Hermione joined them for lunch, and they made their way down to the Great Hall, meeting Ginny, Luna and Neville in the Entrance Hall. Once seated, Harry turned to Ginny and asked her about her morning.
'Oh, it was great! I had Basic Healing this morning with Madam Pomfrey; she taught us the charm which heals non-magical cuts, it was really interesting. Did you know that different cuts need different charms to heal them, and sometimes it also depends on the spell used to make the cut?'
Harry thought back to last year, when Snape had muttered what sounded like a song after Harry had hit Draco with 'Sectumsempra'. He nodded and returned to his food.
'Then after lunch, we had Defence against the Dark Arts with Moody; he started teaching us how to cast non-verbal spells. It was really hard, did any of you manage it in your first lesson?' Hermione nodded, while Ron smirked and told her how Harry had belittled Snape in his own class. Ginny laughed, but gave Harry a quick hug when she saw that he was looking at his plate sadly, probably recalling the night of Dumbledore's murder.
Ron looked at the two of them suspiciously, and was about to open his mouth, when Hermione kicked him under the table.
'Ow! What was that for Hermione?' Harry looked up to see what the commotion was about, but Hermione blushed and ran from the table, mumbling something about needing to go somewhere. Harry shrugged, and continued eating; a few minutes later, he asked Ron for the time. Looking at his watch, Ron swore; they had five minutes to get to Flitwick's classroom.
He and Harry sped out the Hall, and only just made it on time. They sat down hurriedly at the back of the classroom, pulling out their textbooks and wands quickly. Hermione was near the front, and kept her head down, not turning to acknowledge their presence. Ron was about to ask Harry what he thought was going on with Hermione, when Professor Flitwick stood up on his desk and started the lesson.
'Now today, I would like to start on the Muggle-Repelling Charm. The incantation is -' Harry muttered 'Muffliato' and turned back to Ron, tuning Professor Flitwick's voice out as they sat discussing Hermione's odd behaviour.
At the end of the lesson, Ron and Harry cornered Hermione in the corridor, and asked her why she was behaving oddly, and kept kicking Ron. Looking frightened, and glancing from Harry to Ron and back to Harry, she spoke, her lower lip trembling.
'Ron, H – Harry and Ginny have started going out again.' Harry was surprised that this was the cause of all the odd behaviour, and he turned to Ron to gauze his reaction. Ron was frozen in shock, but his face gave away his emotions, as it slowly turned into an ugly grimace. In a cold voice that wasn't anything like his normal voice, he spoke, barely above a whisper.
'Just needed to talk to her, you said. Just finishing your conversation, you said. You filthy liar! I've seen you stealing glances at each other all summer, but I kept my mouth shut, thinking it was just because you'd had been going out. You know what? I'm not okay with it! Keep you hands off my little sister if you don't even have the guts to tell me about it!'
He stormed off, leaving Harry and Hermione dazed. Neither of them had ever seen Ron this angry, and it frightened them. Harry mind was so numb from shock he didn't even think of chasing after Ron to tell him the truth.
The two of them returned to the common room in silence, trailing their feet and completely forgetting about dinner. When they walked through the portrait hole, Harry mumbled a good night to Hermione and climbed the stairs to his dormitory. He opened the door and walked in, but stopped in total confusion. All of Ron's belongings had vanished.
A/N - I've just worked out how this edit thing works, shame, it might have helped with anonymous replies earlier. Anyway, lily 101 asked why I made Ron so angry, and if that was in line with canon. I must admit, I just got a bit carried away! I figured that it wasn't the fact that they were going out again that bothered Ron, rather, it was that he thought that it had been going on all summer (well since Harry's birthday anyway) behind his back. I think that he would feel betrayed, especially if he thought that Harry had confided in Hermione but not him, it would be like favouratism among his friends, and Ron would feel like their friendship had been compromised. The bit about him leaving (I won't say where yet!) was in true Ron fashion: over-reaction. Anyway, if most people think it wasn't true to canon, I'll change it, but I'll give it a few days first.