HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
The much-anticipated event is about to start at Hogwarts. I'm going to write one or two more chapters.
A frosty lesson.
"Good morning professor" greeted Remus as he approached McGonagall. "Good morning" replied the woman. It was early Saturday morning in the Hogwarts castle. Nearly all of the older students were going to the dueling event. The male entered the hall, which was buzzing with life. All the tables and house banners were removed. Some dummies plus some dart targets stood at the front. At the right side were some shaking suitcases that probably contained boggarts. He saw Sirius speaking with Regulus. Lily was rolling her eyes at something her friend told.
"Hello Remus" greeted a voice with a Scottish dialect behind him. He turned around to see who it was. It turned out to be Alice. She was clad in a pair of beige corduroys, black trainers plus a navy turtleneck. Her blonde hair had been tied into a ballerina knot. However, the glasses were gone. This made it easier for him to see her eyes. They were in a clear ice blue shade. "Hello Alice. Are you ready for the dueling event?" asked the Gryffindor. "You bet I am!" answered the female with an impish grin.
"Please find your partners and line up! We're about to begin!" announced the elderly male. It did not take long since nearly everyone had found their partner. "Welcome to the event everyone! We will have a three-split lesson. The first one concentrates at the most useful spells. During lesson two, you will use the lessons on the dummies. All of you will face a boggart as well. Last but not least is the pair practice. Harvey is going to help you here. Each lesson lasts for 45 minutes. There will be a ten minute break between" informed professor Flitwick.
"Now…let me introduce you to our special guest. Please give a warm welcome to former duel champion Harvey Davis!" introduced the male. Everyone applauded as the guest instructor stepped onto the stage. He was about the same age as the charms professor. There was a youthful spark in his ash brown eyes. Harvey had a head of wild silver hair, pale pink skin plus a warm smile. His lean frame was clad in a knitted gray cardigan plus navy blue slacks. What stood out were his slate grey shoes. They were not made out of ordinary leather. They were made of dragon leather.
"Good morning everyone! I'm pleased to be your instructor for today. I usually work in the magical mishap department at the Ministry. I find it quite refreshing to teach younger students. Hence why I could not turn down my friends offer. Particularly because he offered me a trip to Honeydukes this afternoon" told the man. Everyone laughed a little. There was no secret that professor Flitwick had a sweet tooth.
"Let's start our lesson. How many of you are competent with expelliarmus, petrificus totalis, stupefy plus binding charms?" inquired the guest instructor. About three quarters or so raised their hands. "Good. We are going to have a warm-up with basics. Please take out your wands" told the elder male. The male pulled out his wand like the other students. "Make sure your hand is at least 60-70% relaxed. I know it sounds hard, but it makes it move faster. Let me give you a demonstration" told Harvey. He waved his wand a little. One of the dummies floated above the ground and landed 15 feet in front of him.
"This is how fast it goes with a stiff arm" started the man. His left arm shot forward in a somewhat choppy motion. The dummy landed on the ground with a solid 'thud!'. "Not only is this slow, but it's highly predictive as well. I'll now show you the motion with a more relaxed hand" informed the silver-haired male. Professor Flitwick made the dummy stand up with a flick of his wand. Seconds later, his friend shot a new spell at the dummy. 'His hand moves like a whip! No wonder he could shoot his spell that fast!' observed Remus as the dummy flied backwards. All of the students stared in awe. They now understood why this former dueling champ was their instructor.
"I want you to practice this with your partner for a couple minutes. Pay attention to how tense your arm is plus the grip on your wand. The grip should be a bit firm. Too much firmness will stiffen your wrist though, so be careful. Same goes for your shoulders" stated the guy. It did not take long until the student's buzzing echoed in the Great hall. Some of the students moaned a little since this was very basic stuff that they already knew quite well. Other students were going straight onto this task without any complaints.
"Ladies first" told the male with a small smile. His partner then whipped her hand out in a similar fashion that Harvey had done earlier. "Not bad really. I think something in your shoulder is a bit tense though. I noticed that it stiffened a bit at the start" informed the black-haired guy. "Really? I guess I have to keep an eye on that. Your turn" replied the redhead. Her partner shot his hand forwards. She noticed that his hand took a bit longer to fix at a certain point. "Your hand is a bit too relaxed at the end of your motion. Your whipping motion is not bad though" stated the girl.
"Thanks Lily. Wanna try again?" asked the guy. 'All right. Relax your shoulder a little' told the witch to herself. Her hand tightened slightly around her wand as she prepared herself for another attempt. Green eyes focused at the left side of her classmate. 'GO!' thought the female as she pretended to see someone she despised. Her arm whipped forwards again, but she dropped her wand. "Not so bad Lily! Just remember to hold onto your weapon. Can't stun anyone without it" said the male. He picked up her wand before he handed it to her.
Hazel eyes studied it. The wood was a bit special. "What kind of wand wood is this? Never seen it before" inquired James. "Pretty sure it's willow. Is yours walnut?" asked Lily. "Nope. It's mahogany. Mind if I try again?" replied the guy. She nodded while keeping an eye at his torso. 'Is it only me or has his arms bulked up a little?' thought the girl as he looked at her. The redhead shook her head mentally. She needed to concentrate. His eyes suddenly flared a little as he shot his right arm forwards. It looked like he had listened to her. His wrist was a little tightened this time. "Good work. Keep it up" told the female with a sincere smile. "Thank you Lily" said the black-haired male with a small smile. A part of him felt a bit warmer than usual.
'Keep your cool James! You can't get all red like a tomato when she compliments you!' thought the male. "Good work everyone! I think it's time to move on to the basic spells. We'll stick with stupefy, petrificus totalis, expelliarmus as well as impedimenta. We're going to use these spells at the dummies here. Please split up in six rows. Each row will have students from the same year. It will make it easier for me to give you feedback. Those who are in their sixth or seventh year must use non-verbal magic" informed the instructor. The older male flicked his wand towards the six dummies they were practicing on. All the six dummies lined up in a horizontal row. There was ten feet space between each dummy. Everyone lined up in front of the dummies in six neat rows.
'All right, here we go!' thought the female as she stepped forwards. Pale blue eyes were glued onto the dummy as her mind selected a spell. 'HERE W GO! PETRIFICUS TOTALIS!' shouted Annie mentally. Her left arm whipped forwards. The dummy felt down to the ground with a solid 'thud' seconds later. A satisfied smile formed at her face. 'I should try with the expelliarmus next' decided the girl. Their instructor walked among the rows with an alert look in his eyes. It looked like he was checking the level they were at spell-wise. "Attention please!" called the man while he clapped his hands. The chitchat died down as they turned towards their instructor.
"I highly encourage you to practice your spells in a safe way when possible. If you do that over time, you will become more confident. I think we can move on to the next stage. Your challenge is to NOT use the same spell twice in a row. Try to think how you can improve your technique" told the older male. Everyone nodded as they resumed the drill. 'What two spells should I practice at? I am already quite confident with the petrificus totalis. Perhaps I should try to switch between impedimenta and stupefy' decided the blonde. She repeated the name of the former spell in her head as the queue moved on. The girl glanced up and saw Harvey was observing her row. Her left hand tightened around her wand as the seventh-year Hufflepuff prepared himself.
The dummy flied a couple feet backwards before it felt down. 'Looks like she used the expelliarmus. No, FOCUS!' mentally reprimanded the female to herself. She stepped forwards when the Hufflepuff had moved away. 'Here we go. IMPEDIMENTA!' shouted the Ravenclaw before she moved her left hand like a whip. Her spell hit the dummy at the left side of the chest moments later. "I think you should focus more on the aim. I don't have any complaints about the rest. Keep up your good work miss" told Harvey with a smile. "Thanks mister Davis" replied the girl with a sincere smile. She stepped back while she kept his feedback in mind.
THUMP! The loud sound made several of the students turn around. It appeared that one of the Slytherins. He had sent the dummy flying into the wall. "Very good job there! May I ask what your name is?" inquired the older man. "Snape. Severus Snape" replied Severus with a neutral expression at his face. "Well done there Snape. You're quite a good duelist" told the instructor. "Thanks" muttered the guy before he stepped to the back of the queue. 'Something about that Snape guy gives me a bad feeling. Not sure if it's his house or his facial expression' observed Alice. She knew that not all of the Slytherins were mean or ruthless. However, the serpentine house seemed to attract more jerks than the rest. "All right everyone! It's time for a ten minute break. We have refreshments at the table over there. Please line up in four lines when the ten minutes are up" said the former dueling champ. A smile formed at her face while her hand tucked her wand away.
"How did your rounds go?" inquired Remus as they sipped some drinks. He had made his dummy fall backwards twice. However, one of his spells completely missed its mark. "I did pretty well. Managed to send the dummy several feet backwards with an expelliarmus" replied his male friend. 'Maybe the lack of glasses has given him a better aim' pondered the other guy. He had to admit it was weird to see his fellow Gryffindor without glasses. "I-I missed a couple of times. But mister Davis was kind enough to correct me. I think he's a bit better than professor McGonagall at that" muttered Peter. He was not as good as the other three. It was not skill though. In his case, it was mostly nerves. They were easily frazzled. Especially in front of an audience.
"PLEASE LINE UP AGAIN!" shouted Harvey. The male used a spell to empty his glass before he jogged towards line three. 'OH NO…' thought the Gryffindor as his face paled. Two suitcases plus two small cupboards were placed in a horizontal line. All of the four items were shaking. It looked like something inside them wanted to emerge. "I think it is time we face our biggest fears. This will sharpen your mind. Good reflexes are worth NOTHING if you're about to pee in your pants. Staying calm, but alert is vital during a dueling match. Especially since some of you-know-who's servants are after blood. Literally speaking" warned the older man. His facial expression resembled professor McGonagall's when she caught someone cheating.
The silence in the Great Hall was absolute. You could hear a pin drop. All the students knew that what the instructor said was true. The guy felt a shiver run down his spine. Fenrir was a member of the Death Eaters after all. Living your life as a werewolf was a curse in itself. He knew that at least a third of the school would shun him if they knew about his condition. The other third would be terrified or scared. The last third could possibly accept him. Or at least not judge him that harshly. "All right. Prepare yourself for your biggest fear being personalized! Remember that the spell is pronounced "riddikulus". As for the laughing part...please don't laugh of other people's fear. They're just as real as yours. Can those who are the first in line please step forwards?" inquired the instructor.
Four students stepped forwards with a pale look at their faces. "Alohomora!" muttered the older man as he waved his wand. All the four boggart containers opened. 'All right. Concentrate Remus. You've done this before. Secondly, riddikulus is one of my best spells' recalled the guy. He had practiced this spell regularly since fourth grade. The teenager did NOT wanted people to see his biggest fear. Thankfully, many had mistaken the orb for a crystal ball instead of a full moon. He had not denied it since he had never taken divination. Nor was the teenager interested in it. "Next!" called the older man. The Gryffindor looked at the reddish-blonde girl from Hufflepuff in front of him. It did not take long until the banshee started to spin.
A moment later, the banshee had been replaced with an inferi. Said inferi was half-dragging itself towards them. "Ri-riddikulus!" shouted the female with a slightly shrill voice. The inferi did not seem to be affected. "Riddikulus!" shouted the Hufflepuff once more. Her voice was more confident now. Suddenly, the inferi fell to the floor. All of its body was covered in ropes from top to toe. A number of people laughed upon the strange sight. The male exhaled some air as he stepped forwards. He tried to calm down his heart beat while the inferi spun around again. A rather ominous full moon half-covered in clouds hovered in front of him seconds later. The moon was on the size of an average bludger. Remus pointed on it with his wand while he ignored his frantic heartbeat. "Riddikulus!" shouted the guy while he pictured the full moon turn into a balloon. It seemed to do the trick. The moon suddenly started to fly in circles while making squeaky noises. A smile appeared at his face. He doubted any of the others had figured out what his boggart was. Or had they?
Small cliff hanger here, I really like those. Please let me know your thoughts or ideas in your reviews. They're much appreciated.