Harry Potter and The Fate We Make
Chapter 8: The Art of War
A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter.
Ladysavay: THANK YOU for catching the missing chapter! I cannot believe I managed to do that. I hope at least some of your questions regarding the Order have been answered. As for the rest, all I'll say is that I'm quite aware of the gaps, and they WILL be filled in in upcoming chapters. Harry is, right now, focusing on what is, to him, the important issue: learning to kick Voldie's butt. The other matters will be brought to his attention soon.
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July 5, 1995
Harry woke early the next morning, looking forward to learning from Professor Flitwick. It was odd, though, to hear so much activity in the house. The younger Weasleys were all still present, as was Molly, if the racket was anything to go by.
Breakfast was a chaotic and rather amusing affair, as Harry got to witness a highly entertaining ... discussion ... between Molly Weasley and Winky, both of whom seemed to think it their sole job to cook for all and sundry. Harry finally waded in after a few moments.
"Winky, let Mrs. Weasley cook breakfast. That'll give you more time to plan and cook lunch and dinner."
Winky pouted a bit, but acquiesced. Harry grinned and crouched down, patting one thin shoulder. "Mrs. Weasley likes taking care of people, I think, Winky. It makes her happy. And I'm sure there's more than enough to do around here that you won't be bored." He told her quietly. Winky still seemed mildly offended, but Harry had a feeling that she could understand wanting to take care of people, even if she didn't approve of 'masters' doing so.
Molly looked ... very pinched after breakfast, as Ron, Ginny, and the twins trooped into the dueling room with Harry. Flitwick arrived a few minutes later ... and then Sirius plodded in, still looking more asleep than awake.
"Sirius?" Harry called, looking slightly confused.
Sirius snorted. "It's been a while since I've been in a fight, pup. Figure I could use a refresher ... and your professor could probably do with a partner to demonstrate with. Or on."
This occasioned quite a bit of laughter, and then Flitwick got down to business. "Now, since the odds of you finding yourselves in an official duel where all the rules are observed are going to be next to none, considering who your attackers are likely to be." Flitwick said. "I will only be giving you a brief run-down of the rules for that sort of dueling. Instead, we will be concentrating on surviving a no-holds-barred firefight."
That made a lot of sense to Harry, and he could see the others nodding.
It took Flitwick less than five minutes to go through the general rules for 'proper' duels, and Harry was surprised to discover that between Draco's attempt first year, the dueling club second year, and the mad scramble in the graveyard, he already knew almost all of it, though it'd never been explained to him all together in a logical manner until now.
Flitwick then ran each of them through their paces. The twins, to Harry's surprise, were lackluster duelists at best, though Harry caught Flitwick frowning at the twins' wands. Ron did better than his brothers, which pleased him no end. The real standout of the bunch was Ginny, though that wasn't saying much when going up against someone of Flitwick's caliber. She, at least, lasted the longest of the others.
And then it was his turn. At first, Harry choked, reluctant to attack a teacher (Snape notwithstanding) for no real reason. That lasted until Flitwick started tossing spells, and then Harry was just acting on instinct, ducking, diving, and throwing whatever spells came to mind as fast as he could say them. Still, he lasted all of about two minutes before Flitwick managed to hit him with a petrificus.
Once he'd been released from the spell, it was Sirius' turn ... and this bout proved to be ... well, everything the 'tests' with them hadn't been. This was spectacular. And more than a little scary, if in a good way. Flitwick clearly subscribed to the 'you can't hurt what you can't catch' school of fighting ... he was never still, never staying in one spot for more than a few seconds. And Flitwick's catalogue of spells was ... downright intimidating. Harry was fairly sure he didn't use the same spell twice.
Sirius, on the other hand ... well, his Marauder roots were showing. Creativity and near insanity seemed to be his stock in trade. Fully half the spells he used that Harry recognized were prank spells, and he used some spells in groups for effects that were ... rather interesting (like Aguamenti followed by a freezing spell, creating an ice-rink around Flitwick's part of the arena). Flitwick won, of course, and Sirius flopped down next to Harry, out of breath and grinning like a maniac.
"That was fun."
"You're nuts, Sirius, you do know that, right?" Harry said, grinning at him.
They spent the rest of the morning learning, not spells, but battlefield tactics. Things like being aware of your surroundings, using what was around you for cover, not letting yourself get cornered, and suchlike things. Flitwick stressed the use of debris as shields, considering that Death Eaters tended to rely heavily on the Unforgivables and other Dark spells with seriously deleterious effects, which either could not be blocked by magical means or required a very high-powered shield to fend them off. It was, he insisted, more economical energy-wise to float a chunk of stone into the spell's path if that option was available. Provided, of course, that ducking out of the way wasn't possible.
"You will not be facing honorable opponents who insist on following the rules of dueling." Flitwick said more than once. "And as such, you must not fall into the trap of treating such fights as proper duels, or you're going to be in considerable difficulties."
That was, Harry reflected, putting it rather mildly. Eventually, Flitwick took his leave, and they spent a bit talking things over. Lunch was a strained affair, with Molly eyeing all of them with a pinch-mouthed look and sniffing disapprovingly now and again. They were all rather relieved to escape to the parlour to wait for McGonagall.
They spent the rest of the day reviewing their first year of lessons.
"Using Transfiguration in a fight is a very useful tool." She told them. "But you must first be able to transfigure items with speed and accuracy ... it will do you little good if you have to stop and concentrate, or only manage a partial transfiguration. I know you can all do these tasks, but now you must work on being able to do them quickly."
Ron, it soon became clear, had improved drastically from first year, though he still had issues with pronunciation. The twins were the quickest, but that didn't surprise Harry in the least, given that most of their pranks involved transfiguration or potions of some sort, or both. He and Ginny lagged behind, and Harry sighed. He'd never been particularly strong at Transfiguration.
By dinnertime, they could barely drag themselves to the table, they were so worn out, and Harry crawled into bed and slept the night through.