Welcome to the 10th chapter in 'Like a Lightning Bolt'.
Now, this chapter will be the first that has a timeskip, the first few paragraphs will cover the information that comes from the timeskip, it skips from the end of last chapter to the next Tuesday.
Now, onto the chapter.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Spells"
Book Names
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Chapter 10
The weekend provided Harry with plenty to do, from helping Hagrid with the herd of hippogriffs in the Forbidden Forest, to moving on from spell revision to simply learning new spells from the texts before they were to be taught them in class. Saturday also brought Harry some letters, a reply from Rita Skeeter, the promised reply from Tonks, and surprisingly, a letter from Sirius. The letter from Rita agreed to his proposal, saying she will organise with the DMLE and Luna's father to organise a meeting with them and one of the Aurors on the investigation. Her reasoning was that she could have the DMLEs report in the Prophet, while keeping to Harry's offer of only appearing in the Quibbler.
The letter from Tonks was mostly just an update on what happened after she left, as well as letting Harry know that she would talk to her mother the next time she saw her, and that he may receive a letter from her as a result. The unexpected letter from Sirius was mostly just an update about what the healers at St Mungo's were doing to help him recover from his time in Azkaban and on the run.
Sunday saw Harry receiving a rough training schedule from Oliver, with regular training on Monday nights and weekend training depending on when the pitch was available. During the spell practice that the group were performing Harry and Neville began to experiment with transfiguring objects, mainly the spare chairs in the room, into small distractions for the other. The idea had originally been Luna's, pointing out that Dumbledore and McGonagall both had reputations for doing such a thing during the war. So far the two of them had found the best results with making birds, as the birds are able to move around faster than the other was able to shoot them down.
Monday had the group go back to classes, the three Gryffindor third years earning quite a few house points in Transfiguration and Charms as a result of their practice sessions helping them with being able to perform the spells to the professor's standards. They were informed that they would be beginning the new work in the following lesson for Charms, while the Transfiguration classes would be moving onto the new work the lesson after the next. Harry and Hermione also had Arithmancy again, this time they began looking at the properties of the Wingardium Leviosa spell. Not being able to finish the spell in the class time, they were told they had to complete it for homework. The three third years then went to their first Ancient Runes class pin which they began an introduction into learning the runic language they would be using for the year. The three also found out that they will learn to make the runic cluster capable of giving out a magical core reading at the end of the year. But if the three wanted a project for extra marks, they could learn how to make the cluster before then.
That night, much to the three third year's annoyance, Luna informed them that she didn't wish to ruin the surprise of Professor Bloodrune's duelling class. Tuesday saw them having another Defence Against the Dark Arts class, the first Herbology class of the day, in which they found out they would not be doing more than just the one review class, they began a new spell in Charms, a Charm that was an expansion on a few previously learnt Charms, an animation Charm that allowed the caster to animate something with their own instructions, as opposed to the set instructions of the others, and in Transfiguration they finished off their final review of the past years work.
The group met up with Luna and headed to dinner, the group talking about the classes they had that day as they walked over and took a seat at the table.
"Luna, would you please just tell us about the Duelling class?" Neville finally asked, Harry and Hermione immediately turned to look at Luna, hope gleaming in their eyes.
"Nope, Professor Bloodrune asked us not to talk about it."
"What, why?" Harry inquired, confusion was written across his face, "I would think with his class being optional he would want to have the younger years convince the older years that they should go to it."
"Yes, Colin Creevey brought that up with him, he laughed and said the suspense would bring people even more than any kind of review we could provide." Luna seemed to think about something before shrugging and playing with her food. The three third years were silent for a few moments after Luna finished, simply looking at Luna waiting to see if she would add anything else to what she had said.
"Dammit," Harry and Neville turned to look at Hermione in surprise, not having heard her speak that way before, "I have a plan, but Harry won't like it."
"Umm, why won't I like it?" Harry asked, slightly worried about what Hermione might do.
"Because of this." Hermione stood up and walked down the table, before, to Harry's slight worry, she began talking to the Creevey brothers, who, after she began talking to them, whipped their heads around to stare straight at Harry.
"I am deeply frightened about what Hermione is telling them right now." Harry received nothing but a small sympathetic pat on the back from Neville.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad Harry." Shortly after Neville tried to ease Harry's worry, Dennis and Colin began looking between Hermione and Harry with a panicked expression on their faces. Just as Colin went to open his mouth, he turned to face Hermione, but saw Professor Bloodrune up at the staff table and immediately stopped, before quickly shaking his head no at Hermione. Hermione seemed surprised for a moment, before slowly walking back to the group and sitting down, an annoyed expression on her face.
"Why do I get the feeling they said no?" Neville asked.
"Because they did." Hermione huffed.
"I could have told you that," Luna's statement earned her questioning looks from the others, "Professor Bloodrune told us that if he finds out someone talked, they will have to duel him. He won't hold back."
"I guess I can see why Colin's fanboy attitude didn't make him talk." Hermione muttered.
"What did you tell him by the way?" Harry was semi-glaring at Hermione as he asked.
"I told him you would consider it a favour if he told us, but, then Dennis reminded him what Professor Bloodrune said, and he was suddenly very adamant that he not divulge the information." Hermione huffed.
"Not surprising," The three third years turned to Luna as she stopped playing with her food and began talking, "Professor Bloodrune informed everyone that if we talked about the Duelling Class he would give whoever talked a detention during their year levels next Duelling Class, in which he would duel them himself as their punishment."
"I can understand why Colin would be quiet then. I know Bloodrune's reputation, Colin probably looked it up over the weekend. I have to admit, even I would be frightened to duel him if it was his intention for it to be a punishment." Neville winced as he finished what he was saying.
"Duelling Professor Bloodrune?" "A three time winner of the European Duelling Championship?" "I don't think even Bill or Charlie would want to do that," "And they are respectively a Curse Breaker for Gringotts and a Dragon Handler respectively." The dual voices of the twins came from behind Harry and Neville as they cut into the conversation.
"I get he would be a powerful duellist, but for a Dragon Handler to be frightened of duelling him?" Hermione queried, disbelief evident in her tone.
"Well, there was his duelling career," "There was also his participation in the beginning stages of the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-"
"Just call him Voldemort guys, honestly, I don't get where the fear of his name came from." Harry's annoyed tone conveyed his displeasure at hearing the name people use for Voldemort.
"Wait, Ron never told you why people feared his name? None of the teachers did? Nobody?" Neville asked, shock and confusion written across his face.
"I wasn't told either, and most History books about the war only refer to him that way, at the very least a few refer to it as a cursed name." Hermione added on, furthering the disbelieving looks from the purebloods around them.
"The name isn't said because during the last war he put a Taboo on it," "Anyone who said his name was able to be tracked by the Death Eaters," "Usually resulting in them getting killed," "Hence, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Hmm, I can see why people would fear the name then, however, if he comes back again, I'll just call him Tom," The confused looks from everyone else caused him to explain, "When I was in the Chamber, the Diary, which had like a spirit version of him in it or something, told me his real name. His name is Tom, apparently, he didn't think the Dark Lord Tom would be that frightening."
"Right," "Well Harry," "You can antagonise the psychopath all you want," "We will just stick to calling him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," "Back to the Professor," "He was one of the more effective fighters in the first part of the war," "But for some reason one day he just up and exiled himself to France," "Nobody knows why but him," "Well, maybe Flitwick."
"I wonder what caused him to exile himself like that." Neville wondered, his curiosity matched by everyone else's.
"Anyway, goodbye, enjoy your Duelling class," "We need to go speak with Lee about a plan." And with that, the twins walked away from the group, heading over to their friend Lee Jordan.
"Hmm, part of me wants to ask him why," Harry's began, "But then I think about how frightening he seems and I disregard the idea."
"Agreed." Came the unanimous reply from the other three. Movement at the front of the room caught the group's attention.
"Students, just as last night with the first and second years, may the third years who wish to attend their first Duelling class please follow me, and, of course, again, this will be the only time I escort you all, it will be up to you to remember the way if you wish to attend in future." Professor Bloodrune's voice caught the attention of the entire hall, the end of his speech being accompanied by the sounds of the third years all standing up, none wanting to miss this class before getting their own opinion of it.
"See you Luna." "Night Luna." "See you tomorrow Luna." Were the goodbyes of the three third years as they got up to follow Professor Bloodrune to the Duelling room.
"Why don't we go see if we can walk with Blaise, Tracey, and Daphne?" Offered Harry, seeing the three walking at the back of the Slytherin third year contingent.
"I'd say we should wait until we are out of the Great Hall." Neville replied, Hermione and Harry agreeing as they followed the other third year Gryffindors out of the room. Leaving the Hall the trio saw the third year students of the other houses waiting in front of Professor Bloodrune, who was leaning against a wall across from the Hall.
"Is that everyone? Regardless, let's go." Bloodrune kicked off the wall and began walking as he finished, his familiar flying over the third year's heads before landing on Bloodrune's shoulder.
"Blaise, Tracey, Daphne." Harry said, nodding at them in greeting as he, Hermione, and Neville began walking beside them, Hermione and Neville inclining their heads as well.
"Harry, Miss Granger, Heir Longbottom." "Hello Harry, Granger, Longbottom." "Evening Harry, Longbottom, Granger." Came the three Slytherin's reply.
"You know, you could call me Hermione right?"
"We could." Tracey smirked as she replied, earning a light glare from Hermione.
"I would much prefer being on a first name basis as well, is that at all possible, and if it is, I hope you would do so." Neville's tone surprised Hermione, not expecting the more diplomatic and refined tone of Neville's voice.
"Ha, well Heir Longbottom, if you would prefer a first name basis I would say it is possible and that you need hope no further. Covering your bases as your speak is more of a Slytherin trait then a Gryffindor after all, I can respect that Neville." Blaise's cool tone lightened as he spoke, ending his reply with a smirk.
"Sure, I figure if we don't you probably will keep trying, may as well." Was Tracey's reply, Daphne's being a simple nod in agreement with Tracey.
After that the group made small talk about the classes they had already attended and the three Slytherin's opinion on what happened the previous Thursday. Harry noticed that during their walk the six of them received looks from the other third years. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot of Hufflepuff gave them an appreciative look, Harry figuring it being for the fact that they were a group of Slytherins and Gryffindors. Pansy and Theo gave them a weird look before saying something to Draco, who turned and faced them with a curious look, before he said something himself and the other two stopped paying attention to the six. The Patil twins gave them only a quick glance before splitting back off to their housemates, no doubt to let them know what they had seen, while this didn't get a reaction from the Ravenclaws, Lavender gave them a quick look, reminiscent of the twins, which made Harry think Lavender had found something new to gossip about. The reaction Harry was paying the most attention to was Ron's, who, after spotting them, went red in the face with what appeared to be anger, this reaction causing Harry to sigh to himself, Harry having hoped that Ron wouldn't react so negatively to him becoming friends with Slytherins. Thankfully though, Seamus and Dean pulled Ron away before he could do anything, nodding to Harry as they did so, Harry returned the nods with a gracious smile.
The group then saw Professor Bloodrune walk into a classroom. Upon following the Professor into the room they were surprised at the sheer size of the room, it having been magically expanded in order to provide a large enough space for Duelling classes.
"Alright, I am, as you should all be aware from the Welcoming Feast, Professor Ezekial Bloodrune. I am here to teach you all Duelling. This," Here Bloodrune waved his hand toward Murder, "Is my familiar of nearly twenty years, Murder."
"Now, some ground rules to establish. Firstly, everyone here is equal, I don't care about your family, I don't care about your money, I don't care about your blood, you try and throw these things around in my classroom and you will serve a detention with me, in a one on one duel. Secondly, no lethal curses are allowed to be thrown around, the last thing any of you want is to go to Azkaban and have some one on one time with those Dementors now do you? Cause believe me, you kill someone here because you used something meant to kill? I'll drag you before Amelia myself. Third, I don't consider any question related to what I am teaching stupid, you don't understand something? Ask about it, I will explain. Fourth, if you think I am wrong, call me on it, give me your reasoning, then I will give you my reasoning. Are these rules clear?" A chorus of confirming statements came from the students in response to Bloodrune's question.
"Also, an additional rule for this week only, I am sure all or at least most of you know it by now. No talking about the class outside the class. I want people to come and experience the class for themselves before coming to an opinion on it, not for their opinion to be decided by the review of others. The punishment will be the same as for the first rule, except I will make it more humiliating for you." The wicked grin on Bloodrune's face reinforced the idea that the students had already formed, they would not be telling the older students.
"Now, while it will no longer be as focused on as it would have been had the Dementors still been here, but the first thing I will be teaching will be the Patronus spell, used to ward off Lethifolds and Dementors. Also, little known fact, anything scared of lights will also run from it. Now, I do not expect anyone to get the spell on their first try, in fact, there are very few of you who I would think would be able to complete the spell within a month," Bloodrune ignored the murmurs of indignation coming from hi students, "Now, the spell is powered by a happy emotion, a happy memory usually being used to induce this. The incantation is Expecto Patronum, depending on whether or not you were successful and how powerful the memory is, you will either conjure a misty shield, or you will conjure a full bodied, or corporeal, Patronus. Now, don't try and practice it, the spell is beyond the expectations of what you should be able to perform at your current age, so while I recommend trying it out if you have the time and no more classes for the day, I would not recommend doing it now."
"Try tomorrow night?" Harry asked the other two.
"Yeah, I'm sure Luna would like to practice it with us as well." Came Hermione's reply, a nod having been all Neville replied with.
"Now, as you can see, I am standing upon the only Duelling stage in the room, however, if I may draw your attention to the floor, you will see several Duelling stages carved into the floor, with the necessary spells cast there to protect spectators."
"So, as I believe that the solitary duelling show many of you will have been given last year will not have been all that, informative? I feel as if that is the word I am looking for. As it was not as informative as it could have been, I would like a show of hands for those who have either received Duelling training or have at least practiced Duelling," A large amount of hands went up, slightly surprising Bloodrune at the number of hands being raised, "Ok then, have any of you had regular experience Duelling each other? I just want a nice smooth demonstration."
"Ah sir?" Neville's voice cut through the murmurs from the other third years, "Harry and I have been practice duelling against each other over the last few days."
"Is that so? Well, Mr Longbottom, Mr Potter, would the two of you be willing to come up here and duel?" Bloodrune's expression showed open curiosity as he waved them up, "Don't bother with the bowing and whatnot, if I'm teaching you all, that won't be necessary. I'm teaching you all to fight, to Duel in competitions, not perform honour Duels, whoever is judging those can tell you what you need to do."
Heeding the Professor's words Harry and Neville walked up onto the stage, smiling at each other before moving off to the opposite ends, as had eventually become the normal for them, the two took off their outer robes in order to duel in just their uniforms.
"And we have come to the first point in this Duel in which I can offer insight to the rest of the class. When you Duel, when you fight, lose the robe, they only get in the way," Here Bloodrune gestured at his own clothing, "As you can see, the only things I wear that restrict my ability to move are the chains, which in fact serve their own purpose as pseudo weapons and transfigureable material. Carry on boys, begin when ready."
With his permission the two squared off from one another, watching and waiting for the other to make the first move. For over two minutes the two simply stared at the other, before one of the spectators sneezing caused the two to leap into movement, both hoping to capitalise on the others minor distraction from the noise.
"Stupefy!" Both shouted in unison, the two spells slamming into each other, very few of the students picking up that the spells met closer to Neville than to Harry, even though they were cast at the same time.
"Reducto!" Neville shouted, aiming for Harry's feet.
"Protego!" Harry cried, holding his shield up only long enough to stop the debris from slamming into him, before with a wave of his wand Harry had transfigured the loose bits of stone into birds, before banishing them at Neville.
"Finite Incantatum, Incendio, Stupefy, Incarcerous." Neville's spells stopped Harry's birds in flight and reversed the transfiguration in the process, before burning away at the debris and using the ensuing screen of flames to fire his spells through, aiming to surprise Harry. What Neville was not prepared for was for Harry to have leapt into a roll, causing the two spells to fly over his head.
"Stupefy, Expelliarmus, Impedimenta!" Roared Harry as he came out of his roll, the unexpected attack only just being dodged by Neville himself.
"Expelliarmus!" Once again both boys shouted out their next spell at the same time, slamming into each other only two meters in front of Neville, Harry having moved closer pushing his speed's advantage.
"Diffindo!" "Bombarda!" Once again the two fired at the same time, Harry's cutting curse hitting Neville in the chest while Neville's spell blew debris up into Harry's face and knocked him back.
"Stupefy!" "Expelliarmus!" Once again a dual shout rand out, Harry's disarming spell slamming into Neville before Neville's stunning spell hit Harry. The result was Neville's wand landing in the unconscious Harry's hand. Confused clapping came from the students, who realized that while the Duel was over, they had no idea who one.
"Win to Potter," Bloodrune's voice called over the clapping, "His spell disarmed Mr Longbottom before he was knocked unconscious. Of course, had this been a lethal fight, neither would be a winner. I take it that the two of you have fought quite frequently over the last few days?"
"Yes sir," Neville began, having awoken Harry while the Professor was explaining to the class who won and why, "Right now that puts us at 23-18, in Harry's favour, and that's just for the one's which weren't about seeing how a new spell worked for us in a fight."
"Impressive. Now, who here believes they spotted flaws in the duel?" Bloodrune pointed to one of the Hufflepuff's who Harry noted was Susan Bones.
"They didn't continuously attack at first, they waited for the other to attack before they returned fire." Susan said, causing the Professor to nod his head.
"Aye, that they did, something which showed the amount of spell practice they did, they wanted to know what the other was supposed to be doing before they reacted to it. Anyone else?" When only Daphne put her hand up, others still thinking the fight over, Bloodrune pointed at her.
"They shouted out their spells, rather than only saying them quietly or whispering." Daphne's even tone caused Bloodrune to nod as well.
"Indeed, while silent casting in most cases is not taught for many years yet, one can begin preparing for it by whispering the spell. Although Mr Potter appears to have that one Transfiguration and Banishment combo down silently." Here the Professor turned a curious eye onto Harry.
"Neville can as well, we were trying not to make too much noise as the other two in the room at the time were reading, so we were whispering the spells as we practiced them, and then when I was trying to make the wand movements flow a bit better while timing it in my head with the incantations, I accidentally cast the spells." Harry sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with an embarrassed blush on his face.
"How did you achieve the same feat Mr Longbottom?" Bloodrune's gaze turned to Neville.
"I panicked when the birds came at me, and cast the spells back." Neville went lightly red as well, clearly also embarrassed.
"Would you have not simply banished them back?" Came Bloodrune's neutral reply, wanting to see what Neville's reasoning was.
"Well, the birds were facing the wrong way. I transfigured them so they were facing in the direction they had come, then banished them." Neville's red face got slightly darker as he spoke.
"Excellent, that shows that your instincts were to defend and attack at the same time, rather than just defend. A useful thing indeed," Turning back to face the rest of the class, Bloodrune cast his eyes along them all before speaking again, "Can anyone think of anything else that they did wrong?" Only Hermione's hand rose at that point, surprising both of the boys standing on the stage.
"They tried not to use spells that would injure or underpowered the ones that would so that they wouldn't harm the other." With Hermione's answer, Bloodrune grinned.
"Thank you Miss Granger. Yes, the two sought more to end the Duel rather than harm the other. While in a Duel between friends this is a perfectly fine practice, in a fight, in a competition, this is a practice that will only have negative impacts on yourself. One of the rules of European competitive Duelling I want you all to know. Killing is not preferred, but is still legal. There are many out there who take this to heart, and take advantage of this to end their fights in a less than pleasant manner. Yes Ms Patil?"
"Have, have you ever done so sir?" Parvati stammered out.
"I fought in a war Ms Patil, at that point, I killed without hesitance. If you meant in my Duelling career? I killed only twice. Once was an accident, the other forced my hand. Does that answer your question?" At Parvati's hesitant nod, he continued, "I am not here to convince you all that killing is ok, I am here to teach you all to Duel, to fight, so that if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are being forced to kill, you have the ability to do so. Don't mistake what I am saying, I do not regret the kills I made in war, I do not regret the kill I made when my hand was forced. I only have two regrets when it came to killing. I regret accidentally killing the person I Duelled, it was a waste of a life. My other regret though, is from having not killed. I didn't kill someone when I had the chance, and they went on to kill many."
"Who was it sir?" Harry asked, his curiosity reflected on everyone else's faces.
"My apprentice," Here Bloodrune seemed almost depressed, before immediately returning to his previous demeanour, "Now, who noticed anything else about their Duel? Mr Zabini?" Bloodrune pointed at Blaise, who had been the first to raise his hand.
"Harry's spells were faster, Neville's were larger." The Italian's quick reply caused a large grin to appear on Bloodrune's face.
"Excellent, I had actually been expecting to need to wait for a while before I was able to explain about Magical Core Personality theory," The confused murmuring by the majority of the third years caused Bloodrune to grin again, "This is the theory that some, I stress some, not all, Magical Cores develop a personality so to speak. The average core size of someone who has a Magical Core Personality is larger than the average of one who doesn't. This is due to the extra magical energy used by the Personality's effect. The effect can be something such as what we have seen here, a spell could be faster or larger. I have met people with spells that became compressed, while this may sound like it isn't that impressive, remember, there is more magic in it, but it's smaller. That person naturally favoured the Bombarda and Reducto spells."
"Now, while I'm sure some of you would be immediately happy and wishing to know whether or not you have these Personality's so you can brag about having more magic, the AVERAGE is larger, that means that there is still people with less. So don't see having one as an amazing thing, it's an advantage, it's a tool. Don't misuse it, don't rely on it." As he finished he was looking straight at Harry and Neville.
"Now, enough speeches, what I want you all to do is group up around the various stages, I want you all to begin duelling, find a rhythm, find a way that is comfortable for you. When it's your turn up there, find out if you prefer to dodge or shield, which is more comfortable for you. Do you prefer patience, or do you prefer to drop as many spells against your opponent as fast as you can, this may not really seem like I am teaching you all, but I am. Believe me, Professor Flitwick, myself, and Mis-, my apprentice," Several people in the class noticed his slip up, making a mental note of his apprentice being female, "All developed our own styles based purely on what felt natural to us, if you learn something that opposes the natural rhythm of your body, you will struggle, you will make mistakes you cannot afford to make, and you will suffer."
"So, without further delay, group up, begin, I will walk among you and make observations based on what I see. I want a general understanding of your spell knowledge from tonight before I begin teaching more spells next week." The class split up into several groups, all managing to take a stage without there being a large number of people waiting.
Harry, Hermione, Neville, Tracey, Blaise, and Daphne all took the upraised stage at the front, all the other groups on purposefully avoiding it due to its upraised position and being in the centre of the room.
While the groups all continued to duel, Bloodrune walked among them all, making notes of what spells where being used and occasionally offering recommendations based on what he could see, such as telling Seamus to try using more explosive spells as his magic appeared to have a volatile aspect to it, causing several people to laugh remembering the various explosions that he had accidentally caused. Dean laughed as well, until Seamus took the Professor's advice and started flinging small explosions all around him, forcing him off the stage.
Harry noticed some of his classmates who seemed to already have an idea of how they liked to duel, such as Hermione and her vast knowledge of spells, she had a habit of throwing out something different nearly every time she cast, keeping her opponent on their toes. When Blaise went, he was extremely accurate, forcing Neville into a defensive stance immediately, as Blaise used his accuracy to keep Neville pinned. Harry saw that Susan Bones appeared to have a style revolving around throwing out spells in chains. He saw that Draco had a habit of only shielding when a spell was coming for his torso, every other time he would seem to just move out of the way in time, already returning fire.
When the lesson was almost over Bloodrune called everyone to stand back in front of the upraised stage.
"Excellent, I have seen several of you beginning to work out what feels good for you, a lot of you have the level of spells I was expecting, most have more. All I can recommend is that if you wish to continue coming to these classes, begin practicing saying your spells quieter, try figuring out which of your spells feel better for you to cast. You may find you prefer to use Transfiguration, you may find you like using Charms, whatever it is, try and figure out how your style will work, and remember, I can consult anytime on Saturdays or during the days, otherwise I suggest saving your questions for when the class has begun. Now, goodbye class, I hope to see most of you here next week." The enthusiastic talking that could be heard by Bloodrune suggested that indeed they would be back.
Harry, Hermione, and Neville said goodbye to the Slytherins as they walked off toward their Common Room, walking off to their own. The three were not entirely surprised to find Luna waiting for them in what appeared to be a random corridor.
"Well?" She asked, mischief glinting in her eyes.
"It was excellent." Neville replied.
"Tomorrow night we will be practicing the Patronus if you want to join us?" Hermione offered.
"I was expecting you would, so of course. I hope mine is a Crumple-Horned Snorkack," Luna grinned at the three Lions, "Anyway, goodnight, see you all tomorrow." Luna skipped off in the direction of the Ravenclaw Common Room.
"I have a question." Said Harry, as the three watched her skip off.
"Oh?" Replied Hermione.
"How did she know which corridor we would take?" Harry's confused expression was matched by the other two, who just shrugged before continuing onto their own Common Room.
And we are done.
I hope everyone liked the first Duelling class and actual properly written duel. I know it comes across as quick, considering it only lasted about 350 words, but after duelling each other for pretty much two-three days, they would not have fights that last that long as they would be able to skip probing how the other would fight.
So yeah, I will admit, kind of not expecting Bloodrune's apprentice to last long as a secret, or at least, before someone guesses it. I know when the apprentice arc appears, some of you will probably not like it.
Anyway, the timeskips begin to pick up in pace next chapter, a lot of it will really just be skipping from important thing to important thing, as most of third year is thankfully blank of problems now with the whole Sirius thing resolved. It's fourth year when this thing will start playing out a lot slower again, after all, I will have a lot less time to skip then with the Tournament.
Anyway, until next time,
Lucison.