(Iris Potter - PoV)
"Petrificus Totalus"
The professor gives Hermione a nod as the dummy falls over.
"Good, Miss Granger. Very clean. Excellent motions and enunciation, useful for many high-level magics. You need to improve your speed, however. This is Defense, not Theory. I'm afraid that when my subject is needed you will very rarely have time to think, you must simply act. Two points to Ravenclaw."
Her face, somewhat smug at the early praise, turns contemplative towards the end before she steps down.
Everyone is taking turns on the dueling stage with a dummy so the professor can "see where we are at."
It is...
I am not sure what to make of it.
Hermione is actually in the minority, so far.
That is, most of the class can't actually cast spells.
Draco started out with a large shower of sparks, and even that put him above average. The fact he managed a passable Stinging Hex before getting called off put him near the top. It took him a few tries, sure, but as far as I know he pretty much learned it from Daphne casting it before him, which actually makes it pretty impressive?
"Black. Coeus...Come on up," Quirrel calls.
"Finally!" Coeus sighs, making Daphne, Phoebe, and me all shake our heads.
He loved this idea but has been complaining constantly every time someone else gets called up.
I frown as he bounces towards the stage, taking a moment to look around the room.
To be fair, I think we are more or less the last to get called? I wonder if...
Nevermind. It's me.
It's definitely intentional.
*Sigh*
Maybe...Maybe he just didn't want to discourage everyone else by having us go before them? That would make sense, considering how...yeah...most of them were...
Strutting onto the stage, Coeus gives us a nod before taking his position.
I give a small wave as the professor gives the order.
"Begin!"
"Incindio!"
Flashy.
Starting off with a burst of fire, he follows it up with a stinger to the face, Reducto to shatter its "wand" arm, stinger to the groin, Reducto to its other arm, and finishes with a body bind.
Quirrel calls it as the dummy falls, making it still one of the shorter "matches".
"Excellent...Excellent!" he says turning to look over the class. "That was what I am looking for! What you should be striving for! It wasn't perfect, of course, there is certainly room for improvement, but it was fantastic for your age."
Pulling out his wand, he flicks it, levitating the dummy into the air.
"Note the choice of spells, and...ah. Coeus, step forward. Please, explain exactly what you did, and why."
"Sure! So, I started with Incindio. It is easy to cast and hurts if it lands, which will give you an advantage for the rest of the fight. Even if it doesn't hit, fire still makes most people panic, so they are more likely to make mistakes, and on top of that? It is still fire. It draws attention and blocks sight, stopping them from seeing what you are doing."
Wow. He spends so much time going on about me and fire and then he goes on that spiel.
"Now I have a moment to hopefully land a spell on them while they are distracted by fire. It is really hard to fight while blind, and the Stinging Hex is fast. So! Stinger to the face. Painful, distracting, with a high chance of blinding and hard to block with the Incendio still in the way."
"Now, with that done I should have time for a real spell. A potential fight-ender. Hopefully they took damage from the previous two and are distracted or hurt enough to not be able to block or dodge a Reductor to the wand arm. If that hits? Yeah."
"Then ideally just cleanup after. Stinger between the legs keeps them from coming up with anything clever, ruin their other arm, and then take the time to petrify them."
Quirrel nods.
"Very good, very good. Why not just petrify them from the start?" he asks, his face neutral.
Coeus snorts.
"Good luck. The Full-Body Bind is so slow. We tried fighting Dora before. It...didn't go so well. There is no way you will ever hit anyone who can actually fight back with it."
The professor smiles.
"Exactly," he says, turning back to the class.
"Have no doubt, the Full-Body Bind is a powerful spell and exceptionally useful in the right circumstances, especially for how easy it is to cast, but it is not one to be relied upon. There is a reason you never see it in professional dueling circuits. It is also a, relatively, tiring spell to cast."
What? It is?
We cast it all the time.
Coeus seems as confused as I am, giving the professor a look.
"Now, Coeus. Twenty points to Slytherin for your performance. It was far beyond anything I expected. Another twenty for the explanation of your targeting and spell selection. While there is room to improve it is, again, far beyond anything I expected for first years."
His smile widens.
"I very much look forward to seeing what you can do at the end of the year."
Once more he turns to look out over the class.
"All of you!" he shouts before waving a hand to indicate Coeus. "Young Coeus here has shown you what can be done. His showing was impressive but far from unique! Each and every one of you has the ability to do the same! Are you going to allow him to lord it over you or are you going to do something about it?"
Dark eyes quickly but carefully survey the class.
He gives a nod, seemingly satisfied with what he finds.
"Good. If you put in the work? I will help you better yourselves. As today has shown, most of you have a long way to go. But! For those of you who truly have the will to improve? It doesn't matter. Your circumstances. Your opposition. You will overcome. You will rise above."
His gaze is intense, drawing everyone in.
"Prove yourselves."
...
The moment is broken when he turns away, gesturing for Coeus to step down.
"Next...ah. I believe it is time. Miss Potter, please."
I grimace.
Of course. Of course he would pick me right after...that.
Coeus bumps into me as he returns and I slowly step forward.
"Show off, will you? Something impressive."
I glance at him but he continues on past.
...
Show off?
Me?
...
"Ready?" the professor asks once I step onto the platform.
Holding back a grimace, I do my best to ignore the crowd of students all staring up a-
Nope.
Shaking my head, I take a deep breath and draw my wand.
Ok. Ok. You got this.
...
Show my stuff?
What-Huh. I guess that will work.
Focusing on that feeling, I take another deep breath...
"Ready!"
...
"Begin!"
"REDUCTO!"
The dummy shatters.
The platform starts glowing.
The room shakes.
I blink.
Uhh...
I hit the dummy in the chest, which is, err, gone.
Along with most of the rest of it. Some of the outer limbs are intact...ish...
Said bits are either suspended around the platform in an invisible barrier or scattered along the length of the platform. Either way, they are surrounded by tiny wooden splinters and fragments.
The platform itself is faintly humming for some reason, and red glowing runes have appeared all along it.
And...err...
...
There may be a few...small...cracks...in the far wall.
...
The room is silent, other than the humming from the platfo-
"That. Was. Awesome!" Coeus yells out.
"Woo! Go Iris!" he cheers before applauding.
Phoebe immediately joins, with Daphne and then other Slytherins quickly following. Many of the Ravenclaws join in as well.
...
Professor Quirrel is staring at me very, very hard.
"Err...S-Sorry?" I try.
Blinking, he shakes his head his body relaxing.
"Sorry? Sorry? Never be sorry for being exceptional, young Iris. Never."
I blink.
"That's pretty much what Coeus says too," I admit.
He pauses for a moment before chuckling.
"He is not wrong. Most certainly not wrong..." he mutters.
"I must ask, however. Where did you learn to cast Empowered spells? And..." he frowns, "this was not your first time doing so, was it?"
"A book," I reply, giving him the same answer I gave Dora. "And...no?"
"A book," he repeats. "Of course. And I don't suppose you could elaborate?
...
"She almost blew up the train!" Coeus calls out.
"I did not!" I yell back.
I tried to blow up that stupid cart!
"Did too! Do you have any idea how many enchantments are on the Death Trolley? If you managed to blow it up it would have taken everything nearby with it!"
...
I...
"Interesting. Speaking of enchantments..." Turning back to the platform, he taps his chin.
"The dueling platforms enchantments appear to have somewhat under-performed."
I grimace.
"The theory was good, the idea behind the design. But the power...hrm..."
"If you redo them I want to be involved!" Coeus yells out again.
The professor raises an eyebrow at him but doesn't answer.
"Iris!" he says, turning to me.
"I don't think it needs to be said, but...Impressive! Very impressive...Thirty points to Slytherin."
Err, great? That's a lot, right?
Points. Woo?
He gestures for me to step down and I quickly head back towards the twins.
Coeus doesn't wait for me to reach them.
"Iris!" he yells, stepping towards me, a huge grin on his face. "That was awesome! You really showed them!"
Wait, what? Who?
Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, he drags me back to the grou-
"Ah, we still have one more student left, don't we? Phoebe Black, come on up."
-p. Damn.
Phoebe sighs.
"Hey. Go embarrass the rest of this year, right?" Coeus requests.
Phoebe rolls her eyes.
"Please, like that's hard. All you have to do for that is be able to cast anything."
...She's not wrong.
Coeus shakes his head.
"No, that just makes you better than them. That's obvious. You need to do what we did! Embarrass them. Really rub their noses in it."
Sighing and and shaking her head, Phoebe pats him on the head condescendingly before she heads up to the platform.
Coeus frowns after her but doesn't say anything.
I bump his shoulder.
"I'm sure it will be good."
He gives me a half smile.
I am missing something.
"Begin!"
I can't help but frown when Phoebe casts her first spell.
And her second. And...
What is she doing?
Dora's paintball spell is not exactly the most impressive or practical for a fight.
...
She really can throw a lot of them, admittedly. But...
"Diffindo!"
Finally she finishes with a powerful severing charm, beheading the dummy.
"Very interesting, Miss Black," Quirrel begins. "Very interesting. Another thing I did not expect to see from a first-year..."
"I suppose I can't blame you for having such low expectations, considering," she replies dismissively.
He smirks.
"Quite."
A flick of his wand and the pieces of the dummy levitate. A twist and they rotate.
"Does anyone notice anything?" he asks.
...Oh.
There is a smiley face in black paint on the (white) dummy's face. And a 'B' "drawn" on it's torso.
The joints are almost blacked lines, and there are a number of hits between the legs as well...
If she was using a different spell? Like the Severing Charm she used at the end?
"Impeccable accuracy, Miss Black," he continues. "And impressive use of an unconventional spell for intimidation. Thirty points to Slytherin."
She nods to him before flouncing off the stage.
"Psychological warfare and intimidation. Very useful for Defense. Unfortunately, as I said at the beginning of class. Our time together will be very limited, so such subjects will, alas, not be covered in detail. Anyone looking to learn about them," he smirks, "may just have to ask our little expert."
"Volunteers for 'practice' are certainly welcome," Phoebe calls out as she walks back to us, not missing a step or looking around.
The bell rings before any more can be said, and the Professor waves us off.