Chapter 18
LB
It was the end of November, a week after the game, and I left Harry and Moony alone to talk about his parents. When I came back, he informed me that Harry wanted to learn the Patronus charm, since the dementors always seem to affect him more. He had agreed to do it, but only after Christmas break. He asked me to tag alone when he would teach Harry, since I learned at a young age too. I agreed in an instant.
But now Moony and I were standing in the room where we would hold the defence and duelling club. The floor was covered in the blue gymnastic mats that we always used. I was pacing on the blue mat with my bare feet, my wand twirling between my fingers.
"Nervous, cub?"
"I never expected so many people to sign up." I said stopping in front of him, my grey eyes wide.
"I did. They are in dire need of good training and… you of course."
"Me?" I asked, my wand stopping between my pinkie and ring finger.
"Hm, yes. A lot of people had signed up before, but even more after your Patronus stunt on the pitch."
"Oh." I said with my mouth open.
A few days before, we hung out a notice for the ones who signed up, to come in comfortable clothes, preferably a training suite. But I couldn't help but chuckle when they all came in. With a mismatched of clothes. You knew some had transfigured their old clothes into something comfortable. You could also see a clear difference with kids with a muggle influence and the purebloods. Like Hermione was wearing a simple grey tracksuit, while Draco wore black shirt and, was it running trousers? I didn't know, it looked like he was ready to spend dinner in a fancy restaurant. Moony and I shared a glance and bit our lips to hold back a chuckle. I was wearing black sweatpants with a white top from AC/DC on top of it.
"Hi everyone." I called out. "Can everyone take off their shoes and socks and place them against the wall."
A few looked surprised at me before the followed the others and took off their shoes. The confusion of taking their shoes off and seeing the large blue mats in the room was a sight I would never forget. It was just so funny. Everyone stopped in front of the mat and looked to me and Moony. There were so many that had signed up, we needed to divide them in two groups. So now was the group filled with third to fifth years. There were about thirty students in the room, I liked that no one wore their school robes and were all just looking like any other kid. I looked to Moony for a second who gave me an encouraging nod. I looked back to the crowd, I saw Angelina and Lee, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Draco, his bodyguards, Blaise, Theo and Emmett Nott. But I didn't see the twins, and that hurt me more than I care to admit. I had the first club meeting last week with the sixth and seventh years, which went well.
"Welcome everyone." I smiled as my eyes roamed the faces. "You can stand on the mat, it won't bite." I held back a grin, and they stepped onto the mat. "Alright, does anyone have experience with Duelling," Hands shot up in the air. "More than what you did last year." I added; and a lot of hands lowered. Just like I had expected is that most of the Slytherins hands stayed up. "Great, can you stand on the right." I gestured to the side and Draco walked over there with a smug look, and I rolled my eyes at him. "Who has experience in martial arts?"
"In what?" Someone piped up.
"Muggle defence, like karate, judo, boxing." I looked at the boy, I thought was a Ravenclaw. Only three hands shot up in the air and gestured them forward.
"Why do we need to learn muggle defence?" One of Draco's bodyguards scoffed. "My wand is faster than anything."
I looked over my shoulder to see Moony grin. "Can you come forward…?"
"Vincent Crabbe." He grumbled.
"Why don't I show you. We can give the others a demonstration."
"I'm not fighting a girl." He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Afraid Crabbe?" Lee called out and others chuckled.
"Afraid of breaking this fragile little girl, is what it is."
"Mister Crabbe." Remus said walking closer. "If I see something she can't handle, I'll step in."
"Fine." He grumbled. I hid my grin as I take my place on the other side of the mat. The crowd gathered closer until Remus stopped them from coming to close. Behind Crabbe, I saw Nott and Draco with a knowing grin. Crabbe' eyes went wide when I handed my wand over to my uncle. "You're not using your wand?"
"I don't need it." I simply said and saw Angelina wink at me.
"Right. Bow, please." We bowed slowly. "Three, two, one!" Moony called. I saw Crabbe raise his wand higher and opened his mouth when he finally thought of the right spell. But I was already running to him and let myself fall to the ground, kicking his feet from under him, making him fall down with a hard thud. I took his wand and tossed it to Remus when I climbed up. There were astonished whispers in the crowd and clapping. I reached my hand out to help Crabbe up, but he didn't take it and he stood back up, angry.
"Want to try without your wand, Vincent." I grinned and gestured him to come at me. Crabbe ran over to me with his large round form, his feet pounding on the mat. Just as he lunched for me, I ducked to the side and punched him in the ribs, making him crash to the floor. The room was silent for a long moment, only Crabbe's hard breathing filled the room.
"Go, Alec!" I turned to see Angelina grin widely.
"So, see why you need to know more than just spells to win a fight." Remus said, giving Crabbe his wand back once he recovered. "So, today we'll focus on the martial arts part." He looked around the room. "Michael, would you like to give it try against Alec." He asked a fifth year Ravenclaw who had raised their hands when asked if someone had experience in martial arts. The boy's eyes widened, and he looked like he regretted raising his hand, but came up, nonetheless.
"I'm Alec." I smiled and shook his hand.
"Michael." He handed his wand over to Remus, who took his place next to the mat again.
"Boxing?" I asked when I looked to his form. And he nodded in surprise. "Are you ready, Michael?" I asked, looking up, because the boy was certainly taller than me. "I'll promise not to break anything." I said honestly and the boy grinned.
"I'll hold you to that promise. And please don't kick…" His eyes went down. I pursed my lips at him before nodding.
"Great, now that the rules are established, please take your stance." Remus called over. "Three – two - one."
We turned in a circle, before Michael tried to punch at me. I blocked his fist with my right arm and punched my left on his ribs. But Michael didn't fell down like Crabbe did, no he was used to it and started again with another move. He kicked me against my knee, and I stumbled back before I balanced myself on my feet and ducked just in time before he lunched at my head. I heard several people gasp around me, in the corner of my eye, I saw Remus looking at Michael's wand with interest, like there weren't two kids fighting each other a few feet away from him. When his arm went over my head, I grabbed it and trapped it behind his back. With a kick in the hollow of his knee, he stumbled to the ground. I still had a tight grip on his arm, and he tried to grab me with his other arm. But when he couldn't do anything, he raised his hand in defeat.
"I give up." I grinned as I let him go. He rubbed his arm as he stood up and turned to me smiling. "That was incredible."
"That was certainly more exciting than the former." Remus said, and I saw Crabbe blush, while Draco snickered.
"You did good, Michael. I'm sure I could learn a thing or two from you."
"I don't know about that, Alec." He grinned.
"Alright, we'll pair up now." Remus called out. "And we don't allow cheating, so everyone can place their wands in the basket." He pointed to a wicker basket on the table. Everyone walked over to the table and put their wands in, some more relucted than others.
"Where did you learn how to fight like that?" Michael asked, still standing next to me.
"Professor Lupin taught me."
"Did you fight against him?" He looked from the professor to me, and I nodded. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder, and when the person leaned in, Nott appeared in front of me.
"I think we all want to see a standoff between you two." He grinned.
"What are you three talking about?" Remus asked as he came over.
"Over a stand-off between the two of you." Nott said loud enough so everyone could hear. There was an excited murmur going around.
"I think we want to see what you all can do first. So, off you go." He waved them off with a grin of his own.
LB
I saw Lee and Angelina, the Nott brothers, Draco with Blaise, the two bodyguards all pair up. Harry paired up with Ron, leaving Hermione to look around for a partner of her own. I watched as everyone started to pair up and walked to Angelina and Lee.
"Hey."
"Hey, you're doing great." Angelina beamed.
"Thank you." I smiled. "Uhm, didn't the twins say they were coming?"
"They did. I don't know where they are." Angelina frowned and we looked to Lee, who looked confused himself.
"Oh, alright." I frowned, feeling disappointed. Before either of them could say something more, I started to walk away. "I should check the others. Take your place, Professor Lupin will explain shortly."
I walked further and told everyone to take a stance and stood as much apart from the others as possible. Hermione was still standing alone.
"Hey, Hermione."
"Hi, Alec." She said softly. "I think I'm short of a partner."
"No worries. You can practice with me or Lupin."
"Oh." Her eyes wide in panic. "No, no." She shook her head violently. "I don't think I'm ready for that."
"Even if I promise to go easy on you? No? Okay." I chuckled. "Harry!"
Harry turned away from Ron at the sound of his name and came when I waved him over. "Hermione doesn't have a partner, and she doesn't want to partner with me just yet." I winked at her.
"You can partner up with me and Ron, we could alternate." He suggested, looking a little guilty.
"I was thinking, you could partner up with me, Harry. Then Hermione and Ron can do it together." The boy paled a little. "Come on, what you did the past years, you can handle me." I grinned, and he blushed again before nodding. "Great, let's go." I looped my arm through his and we stopped in front of everyone again.
"Alright, we're going to start with a few self-defence moves. I was thinking about asking for a volunteer." I couldn't help but grin as I saw Harry pale even more. "But I don't think that would be a good idea."
"I want to volunteer." I turned to see a grinning Nott, leaning against the wall casually. His little brother rolled his eyes at him.
"If you see what I'm about to do to Professor Lupin, I highly doubt it." I smirked, and his eyebrows rose up. "So, this is a very important part for when someone grabs a hold of you. Professor?" I turned to look at Remus, who grinned at the formality. He wrapped his arms around my waist. "This is the bear-hug. "You lean forward, so it's harder for the attacker to pick you up, then you turn to the attacker." I said turning to face Remus. "While you turn you bring your elbow up to strike his face. He'll let go and then you do the final blow, a kick in the groan." I showed everyone the steps in slow motion. "Now, the real deal. Ready?" He nodded and I knew he put a spell on the places I was going to hit. Then I freed myself in one swift movement. I saw the boys all look with a pained expression when I pushed my knee in his groin, but beside and oof, it didn't look like he felt anything.
"So, this is the first thing you'll learn. You'll switch places after you succeeded." I turned to Nott with a grin. "So, still want to take his place?"
He shrugged with a Slytherin smirk. "It seemed like you didn't hit him that hard."
"That's where you're wrong, Emmett. I've put a charm across the places she was going to hit me, to soften the blows." Impressed whispers filled the room again. "Alec and I will place the charm on every one of you, so no one needs to go the Madam Pomfrey."
Remus and I walked around the room, putting the charms on everyone before standing back in front. "Now, everyone ready. Go!"
"Harry? You ready?" I asked, looking at the boy who looked around the room.
"Uhm, yeah sure." He said unsure.
"I'll hold you in the bear hug, and you need to get out. I won't make it hard on you, promise." I smiled, and after he nodded, he turned his back to me, and I wrapped my arms around him. "Remember the movements?" I asked.
"Lean forward, turn, elbow face, then groin."
"Right." I nodded. "Ready when you are." I saw that most of the students haven't even started and were watching me and Harry instead. I let him do the steps and he freed himself.
"That felt too easy." He said.
"Want to pick it up a notch?" I asked excitedly. "Alright, turn around." I wrapped my arms around him again. Not teasing him when I saw his neck turn red. "Try your best or worst." I chuckled. And so, he did. Harry tried to get out of my grip, he leaned forward and started to turn, but when his elbow came up, I grabbed it and twisted it a little so he couldn't move unless hurting himself. My free hand had his other arm. "What now?" I asked loud enough for the others to hear. "How could he get out of this?" My eyes scanned the room.
"He could try and pull his arm out." One piped up.
"I can't." Harry grumbled, pulling his arm a little, letting out a soft hiss.
"He can't indeed, it would only hurt more."
"He could stomp on your foot." Angelina suggested.
"He can do that, but he has to have enough force to make me tumble or wince. His options are either he can head bump me, but that depends on how tall your attacker is, of course. Or use his feet, he can try to go for my knees or the groin." I let his hands go. "Come on, your turn." I ushered them to start themselves, and once everyone was busy, I turned to Harry. "You did good, Harry."
"I'm not sure about that." He rubbed his neck.
"Believe me." I said looking around the room. Harry followed my gaze and saw others who didn't got out of the bear hug. "I should go help them out, do you want to practice with Lupin?"
"No, I'm good." He chuckled. "I think I need to recover." He rubbed his arm. "I'm fine, really." He added quickly as I paled, afraid that I hurt him. With a last smile, I went to the others.