Guess who's behind?

ME.

I swear I'll get back on top of my word count tomorrow evening, I swear. This is a very unfinished fragment.

Kai rejoined the back of the group. Hilary chanced a quick look at him, before Balkov got going with the lesson, and saw that he was frowning in a way she'd only ever seen him do with difficult homework.

"Now that we're all together, let's get started. There are …" Balkov did a quick head count, "nine of you. Pair up, boy and girl, and the leftover person can help me demonstrate the spell you'll be using."

Hilary saw Balkov look at Kai when he said "the leftover person" and it sent another chill down her spine. She sent a hard urgent glare in the direction of her dormitory-mates, who were all closer to Kai than she was, but was relieved to see that Julia had already claimed Kai, stepping as close as Kai's mile-wide personal space allowed. They had a usual pattern for House boy-girl groups and Hilary often went with Kai, but she had a completely irrational feeling that Kai being on his own for more than ten seconds would have resulted in Balkov deeming him "leftover" and up for grabs.

The rest of them fell into familiar pairs: Ray and Mariah, Kenny and Mathilda … Tyson and Hilary took two steps towards each other then almost simultaneously realised that they were abandoning Max. He waved off their concerned expressions with a typically easy-going grin and mouthed, "I'll be fine!", but the fact that he already had his wand out as he walked up to Balkov made it clear he felt as uncomfortable as the rest of them.

"So you're the leftover."

"Sure am." Max put on his biggest, prettiest for-the-teacher smile. Balkov's expression as he looked down at Max was too complicated for Hilary to figure out, but she didn't like it.

"You sure?" Apparently, neither did Kai. His voice was too loud in the tense room.

"Yup!" Max's voice was casual but the look he sent Kai over all their heads was fierce and said "Back off," just as clearly as words would have. To make his point even further, he flipped his wand in his hand until it was pointing upwards (a third year Ravenclaw Muggle-born had told her that although that generally just meant "about to use my wand", it could have the same connotations as cocking a gun, or raising your fists) and said, "Ready when you are, sir!"

"Very well." Balkov walked to the middle of the room, and gestured Max to stand about two arms lengths away from him. "The first spell I will teach you is the Disarmament Charm. As you might think, if this spell is cast successfully and makes contact with your opponent then it forces their wand out of their hand."

"It also works on anything they're holding, not just wands." Professor Dickenson pointed this out from the far side of the classroom, where he was quietly observing. Hilary had long since given up trying to understand the Headmaster's decisions, but it was very unusual that he should sit in on a lesson like this. "I used it yesterday to stop Professor Sprout taking the last bit of bacon."

The usual beat of baffled silence followed this titbit.

"Indeed." Balkov gathered himself again – visibly, he shuffled his cloak. "The incantation for this spell is Expelliarmus. Say it after me, hands off your wands."

They fumbled their way through the unfamiliar word. He made them chant it until he was satisfied. Or possibly just bored. "That will do." Next he showed them the wand motion, and they copied it a few times. "Now, you might have noticed the two weaknesses of this spell I mentioned earlier – because it seems very useful, doesn't it? Seems like you would always win. Who knows what I'm talking about?"

Hilary knew, of course she did, but she'd eventually learnt in first year to sometimes take a step back. She looked around. Suprisingly everyone (apart from Kai) had their hand up. Being scary was good for Balkov's participation levels, apparently …

Mathilda got picked. She went pink. "You might not cast it successfully." Like Hilary, she was prone to repeating teachers' exact phrases.

Balkov nodded. "Yes. Or even if you did cast it sucessfully, it might be very weak and so only cause the wand to slip. Easily caught again." He pointed sharply at Tyson.

"You can mis-aim it. Or dodge it." There was a sharp, intent look in Tyson's eyes that Hilary had only really seen before in Quidditch.

"As with many spells, yes. The fastest person in a duel doesn't always win, but they do have a better chance."

All opinions welcome

xIlbx

(sorry if there's still a weird blank space down here, idk what ffnet formatting is on today)