The girls pushed open the door to the Shrieking Shack and found it exactly as they had left it a few days ago. The dusty house groaned around them and an unearthly wail came from upstairs.
"Just the enchantment," Freddie assured her as she saw Ada's grip tighten around her wand.
"I know," she said as Ziggy jumped down off Freddie's shoulder and stretched. "If somebody, or something, were here I don't think Ziggy would be quite so relaxed."
"Exactly," Freddie chuckled, watching the kneazle explore his surroundings. He jumped up on an overturned chair, perching precariously on one of the unbroken legs. "I promised him we'd play with him for a bit before we started dueling, is that okay? I'm afraid I haven't been spending as much time with him recently, what with going back and forth between St Mungo's and Hogwarts. He's usually in my office with me at work, but he really likes Hogwarts. He has friends here."
"Of course that's okay!" Ada declared. "It'll help us unwind before we duel. And I've got just the thing!"
Ada dug in the pockets of her robe and came up with an owl feather on a string. Ziggy's ears immediately flicked forward and he leapt from the chair, his tail lashing, to pounce at the feather. She lifted it up and Ziggy jumped with his hind legs, twisting his body to grab the feather with his front claws.
"Look at him go," Freddie laughed. "Where'd you get that?"
"I found the feather in the forest – or, I guess, Ziggy found it. When he was out there with me practicing my Patronus Charm," she explained, dragging the feather along the dusty floor in front of Ziggy. "He was really into it, so I tied a string around it when I got back to the carriage. I think it came from a snowy owl."
"Looks like it," she agreed and began digging through her bag, looking for the little packet of dried catnip she usually kept with her. "I can lure him upstairs with this before we start our duel. Here, put it in your pocket."
"Why?"
"I'm going to transform and I don't want to smell it," she explained as Ada took the package.
"Does it smell bad to you?" Ada asked, sniffing through the paper.
"No, it smells good. Really good. I don't want to make a fool of myself!"
"Alright," she chuckled and stowed the package in her pocket.
Freddie shifted into her Animagus form and immediately the dim light of the room grew brighter. She noticed a whole new host of smells and sounds, including the scampering of rats in the walls. She could smell them too and it made her mouth water, but she shook herself. It disgusted her that she liked the smell of rats in this form and she couldn't even imagine ever actually eating one. Whenever Ziggy had tried to share prey with her before she would immediately transform back to human.
Ada flicked the feather across the floor again and something about the way it moved made Freddie's every sense zero in on it. Suddenly it was the only thing she could focus on and before she knew it she was chasing the feather across the floor with Ziggy, jumping when Ada lifted it high into the air and trying to catch it before Ziggy could.
"Fun Mum!" Ziggy declared as his claws raked the feather just before Ada jerked it away. "Fun hunt, Mum!"
They spent the next ten minutes chasing the feather together, fighting over it playfully while Ada laughed at them. Eventually Ziggy started to lose interest and Freddie could sense he was ready for a nap.
"Hmm, I wonder," Ada said thoughtfully, her hand going to her pocket.
No! Freddie protested, but it came out as a panicked-sounding meow which only made Ada laugh harder. She opened the packet of catnip and as soon as the scent hit Freddie's nose she began to drool and an intense fuzzy feeling came over her. She rubbed herself against Ada's ankles, her animal instincts completely taking over, as she tried to get closer to the scent. Ada dropped a pinch of catnip on the floor and Freddie immediately began to roll in it. Her whole body writhed and she purred in sheer bliss as bits of the herb stuck to her fur.
"Oh my God, Freddie," Ada said between peals of laughter. "Has Snape ever seen you do this? I wish I had a video camera!"
Freddie didn't know what a video camera was, but she knew enough to be peeved. Still she struggled to control her animal instinct and the elated feeling that had taken over her whole body. Ziggy was nudging her, trying to get some of the catnip for himself, and she hissed at him. He growled back playfully and pounced on her. The two play-fought for a minute until finally Freddie was able to come to her senses and transform back into a human.
"Oh you are so going to pay for that, Adalene Leroux!" Freddie said as Ziggy immediately took her spot rolling in the catnip. Ada had tears streaming down her face and she was doubled over with laughter.
"It will be worth it!" she laughed, wiping the tears from her face and trying to straighten up.
"If you ever tell anyone about that, I swear we won't be friends anymore," she vowed, though of course she didn't really mean it.
"So Snape's never seen that?" Ada asked, still chuckling.
"No and he never will," she swore. "Are you ready to duel or not?"
"Give me a minute," she said. "I'm trying to quit laughing."
Freddie scowled at her, but then she couldn't help but smile. She knew how crazy she acted around catnip as a kneazle and how ridiculous she must have looked. She couldn't really blame Ada for laughing.
"Come on Zigzag," she called to him, shaking the bag of catnip to get his attention. "Let's go upstairs."
Ziggy let out a curious 'mrrow' and followed Freddie up the stairs to the old bedroom. She sprinkled a fair amount of catnip on the bedspread where she had once fed him as a baby. He leapt onto the bed and immediately started purring.
"Now you have to stay here, just like you did before, okay Ziggy? Ada and I are going to have another duel. We're just practicing though, don't worry. Neither of us will get hurt."
Ziggy blinked at her slowly with his bright green eyes, as if he understood. She knew he would most likely roll in the catnip a while longer, then curl up for a nap. She scratched his head affectionately then headed back downstairs where Ada was waiting.
"Have you got control of yourself now?" she asked as she stepped off the creaky staircase.
"Yes," Ada said firmly, with a determined glint in her emerald eyes. "I'm ready."
"Good."
The two met in the middle of the room, bowed to one another, then returned to their starting places with their wands at the ready.
"Begin!" Freddie said and immediately Ada shot a silent Stunner at her so fast she almost didn't have time to deflect it – almost. Ada shot three more spells in quick succession but Freddie kept her Shield Charm firmly in place, pouring her magic into it. When Ada paused for a beat, trying to decide what spell to use next, Freddie dropped her shield and fired a silent Body-Bind Curse. But Ada was quick, countering the spell in mid-air with a spell of her own. The two jets of light met and showered sparks down on them, but that didn't stop Freddie from firing a Stunner through the sparks at her friend. Ada side-stepped and the Stunner hit the wall as she immediately fired back with a Disarming Spell.
"No such luck," Freddie sneered, letting the spell hit her but holding tight to her wand. Locomotor Wibbly, she thought, moving her wand quickly and a jet of orange light flew out and hit its mark.
"Bloody hell!" Ada grunted as her legs collapsed beneath her. Freddie flicked her wand to disarm her with Expelliarmus but Ada quickly threw up a Shield Charm to protect herself.
"Finite," Ada said, canceling the effects of the jinx and leaping back to her feet, just in time to dodge another spell from Freddie.
Their battle went on like this for quite some time, with some spells hitting their mark but most being dodged or deflected. Neither had managed to disarm the other yet, so they continued on. The longer they dueled, the harder it seemed to be for Ada to remember to use nonverbal spells.
"Incarcerous!" Ada shouted, panting heavily.
Diffindo, Freddie thought with a flick of her wrist, slicing the ropes that flew from the tip of Ada's wand before they could reach her. Aculeo!
Ada dodged the Stinging Hex with a yelp and fired back with a loud "Expelliarmus!" which Freddie deflected all to easily.
"You'll never be able to disarm me like that, Adalene," she said, clicking her tongue. "You'll have to try a lot harder than that."
"I – am – trying!" Ada panted, firing a silent spell between every word, none of which hit their mark. Ada was sweating and out of breath, her face red with effort. Freddie wondered, as she deflected yet another spell, how long they had been at it and if perhaps she should give Ada a break.
But in a real duel, against real Dark Wizards, there are no breaks, she reminded herself.
It was just a momentary lapse in her concentration, as she imagined her friend battling against a Death Eater like Lucius Malfoy, that one of Ada's Stunning Spells was able to hit her square in the chest and Freddie went flying backwards against the staircase.
Pain flared through Freddie's chest and back, but she blocked it out with her Occlumency and was back on her feet quickly enough to block the next Disarming Spell with a Shield Charm.
Stupefy! Freddie thought forcefully and then thought maybe she overdid it as the spell hit Ada and sent her sprawling behind a ripped up couch. She could see one of Ada's blue shoes sticking out from behind the sofa and she didn't appear to be moving.
"Ada?" she asked anxiously, lowering her wand to go check on her friend.
"Relashio!" shouted Ada, popping up from behind the couch. Freddie let out a cry of surprise as the spell hit her left hand and her wand clattered to the floor.
"Damn," Freddie said, bending to pick up her wand. "That was good."
"Thanks," Ada said, her wand still raised defensively.
"Do you want to take a break for a minute?" Freddie suggested. "You disarmed me so I'd say you definitely won this round. I could use a drink of water before we continue."
"Me too," she said, sounding relieved as she lowered her wand. She came out from behind the couch with only one shoe on and Freddie raised an eyebrow. "Your Stunner knocked my shoe off and I figured, why not use it to my advantage and make you think I was injured?"
"That was very quick thinking," Freddie complimented and Ada beamed with pride. "Honestly, I'm a little annoyed with myself for falling for it."
"Well if it had been a real battle you wouldn't have stopped to check on me," she said as she pulled her shoe back on, then slumped down with her back against the wall. Freddie sat down beside her, digging bottles of water out of her bag.
"True. I would've blasted the couch with a Reductor Curse and kept going."
"You'll be just fine if you're ever in a real duel," Ada said before taking a long drink of water.
"Maybe," Freddie said with a shrug. "I like to think so. But there's a big difference between dueling against a friend and dueling against someone who's trying to kill you."
"Yeah," Ada said softly, leaning her head back against the wall and looking at the ceiling.
"At least we're not doing anything dangerous for the Order," Freddie said. "Not yet anyway."
"I want to be ready when the time comes. I will be," she said confidently, but Freddie wondered if her friend was as confident as she sounded. "Have you been given any assignments yet?"
"Mostly just keeping an eye on things at St Mungo's and I'm supposed to contact Dumbledore if I see anything I think he should know about. And I'm brewing the Wolfsbane Potion because he asked me to."
"Really? There must be a werewolf in the Order," she said, sounding intrigued. "I wonder if I'll get to meet him."
"Why would you want to?" Freddie asked, frowning slightly.
"I feel bad for them," Ada said with a shrug. "I mean, look at this, this place. Just a few years ago people were being kept chained up or locked away during the full moon. They didn't have a choice. A lot of werewolves have been killed, whether it was the full moon or not. They're forced to live in hiding, in poverty. And now this potion exists that can – well it can't cure them, but it could make it to where they could live normal lives. But the majority of them still can't because they can't afford it! How ridiculous is that?"
"It is," Freddie agreed, thinking of the little boy who had been brought into St Mungo's with a werewolf bite not that long ago. She hadn't been able to do anything to help him. She wondered if his parents had found a way to afford the Wolfsbane Potion or if he was being locked in some dark cellar every full moon...or worse.
"You're not prejudiced against werewolves, are you?" Ada asked with a sideways glance.
"What? Of course not, Ada, you know me better than that," she said, shoving her friend lightly. "I might have been raised that way but you know I've worked hard to overcome all that. If I could help more werewolves, I would, but the ingredients are expensive, even for me."
"That's true," she said with a sigh. "I just wish something would change. I wish someone would come up with a better Wolfsbane Potion. ...I bet Snape could, if he really put his mind to it."
"Severus has enough on his plate at the moment. Besides, it's not like other potions that you can test on rats and mice along the way. You'd have to test in on actual werewolves and a failure could be catastrophic – for them or for whoever happens to be near them in the event that it doesn't work."
"You're right," Ada sighed. "I didn't think of that."
"Chin up, Ada. I'm sure somebody, somewhere is working on a better solution. The guy who invented the Wolfsbane-"
"Damocles Belby," she responded automatically.
"Right. Maybe Belby is still working on improving his Wolfsbane Potion."
"Yeah," Ada said, seeming to perk up a bit. "I bet he is."
"Come on," Freddie said, standing up and brushing the dust off her clothes before extending her hand to help her friend up. "Let's get back to our dueling practice."