Next day, Sirius continued training Harry, Hermione, and Ginny in Offensive Magic with the dummies in the living room.

"Now, " said Sirius in a businesslike voice as he addressed Harry. Hermione, and Ginny. "Today I'm going to be training you in an exploding spell. This spell is NOT like "Reducto!", "Reducto!" is used to clear or destroy objects in a mostly non violet way. What I'm about to teach you is far more violent and far more dangerous than "Reducto!" This spell is an aggressive piece of Offensive Magic used to make objects explode against your enemies. It is mainly used to attack an enemy's wand. Using this spell against an enemy's wand will both destroy your enemy's wand and injure your enemy. It should be only be used against known and extreme Dark Witches and Dark Wizards. You point your wand at the object in question, usually your enemy's wand and say "Explodicus!" But that's not all. "Explodicus!" is a spell that requires enormously powerful magic behind it to work. You have to really hate and really want to destroy the object in question AND feel great hatred for your enemy for this spell to work."

"So how are we going to practice it then?" asked Harry curiously.

In response, Sirius withdrew four fake wands from his left hand pocket with his left hand and placed each one in a dummy's left hand.

"Fake wands?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, " confirmed Sirius.

"So, we're going to explode the fake wands?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, " answered Sirius, "Wands at the ready!"

Sirius, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all dug their wands out of their right hand pockets with their right hands and pointed them at their dummy's wands.

"GO!" instructed Sirius.

Sirius, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny each cried "Explodicus!"

Next nanosecond, there were four blinding flashes of orange light and four bangs. Three of these bangs were of moderate volume while one was louder than an airplane takeoff.

The ruminants of the fake wands were scattered all over the floor.

The dummies used by Sirius, Hermione, and Ginny bore various random char marks throughout them.

Harry's dummy was totally 100% blackened.

They all looked stunned as they looked at Harry's completely scorched dummy.

"Harry, I had no Idea you'd be this powerful, " said Sirius in a startled voice.

"That really is impressive magic!" said Hermione admiringly.

"It's the strongest magic I've ever seen!" said Ginny in an awestruck voice.

"Another example of how Hermione and Ginny are so much better people than Ron, " Harry told Sirius, "Hermione and Ginny are impressed by what I have shown and are proud of me. If Ron were here, he'd be jealous of what I can do magically and whining about what he couldn't."

"So true, Harry, " agreed Sirius, "It's a truism of friendship that true friends are never jealous of their friends."

"EXACTLY!" chorused Harry, Hermione, and Ginny.

"So, " said Sirius matter of factly, "We need new dummies."

Sirius summoned new dummies into the living room and said, "A less violent form of Offensive Magic that can be used against Dark Witches' and Dark Wizards is the Grounding Charm. The Grounding Charm simply causes a person's feet to stick to the ground and thus renders them immobile. The usefulness of this spell is limited because it is short lasting, and witches and wizards may still be able to use their wands. But in this spell, you simply point your wand at your target's feet and say "Groundify" The "Groundify" spell will make a person immobile for five minutes. "

Sirius, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all pointed their wands at the feet of their dummies and cried "Groundify!"

There was a sound as though of rock hitting the ground and the bottom of all four dummies looked immobile.

"Nothing big, just wanted to teach you that, " said Sirius in a businesslike tone.

"What next?" asked Harry eagerly.

"Well-"

But before Sirius could answer, a tawny owl entered the house, dropped a letter on Ginny's lap, and departed.

"It's from Amelia Bones, " said Ginny nervously. "Probably declining my request to borrow a time turner."

Sure enough, when Ginny unfurled the letter, it read:

Dear Miss Weasley:

We are sorry, but we cannot possibly loan out a time turner for such a trivial purpose as a birthday party. While it's sad that you and Me. Creevey having the same birthday means that only one of you can have a birthday party on your actual birthday, time turners are very dangerous and cannot in good conscience be loaned for such an insignificant reason. We cannot justify allowing you to do a day over for a cause such as a birthday party. While it sucks for you that your only choice now is a late birthday party, the ends don't warrant the risk in this case.

Our regards:

Amelia Bones: Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Ginny shed a few tears.

Her last hope that both Colin and she could have birthday parties on their actual thirteenth birthday was gone.

Colin won fair and square and would get to have a thirteenth birthday party on his actual birthday.

Using a time turner to repeat that day had been Ginny's last hope to have a birthday party on her actual thirteenth birthday since it was the same day as Colin's

She knew her request would be denied, but it still stung.

"A late birthday party it'll have to be then, " said Ginny, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice.