And here's the fifty ninth chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
Fuck Names, Agnes Fonta, griffin blackwood, DarkRavie, Redbeard2022, erbkaiser, Aratherfluffyfatcat, BMS, Yaw613, Brockster550, EP (guest), guest, PasiveNox, TheGreatBubbaJ, thank you for your reviews, folks.
magitech, mizzrazz72, (spoilers?) the ritual will certainly not yield the results Crouch Jr. is looking for.
orion0905, but Bartemius and Peter aren't really going to go looking for those. And even if there was a horcrux for them to use, who said that it would be enough? After all, Death has a special interest in Tom's soul and now that it has it, it isn't going to let it be stolen from it easily...
Urgazhi, assuming they their ritual even manages to produce something... probably just a body with no actual soul inhabiting it. Though, perhaps some otherworldly entity might decide to make it a vessel for itself. Who knows...
KongoBongo, indeed.
aries12345251, if you feel like the story should've ended at some chapter already posted, you can always stop following the story and ignore any further updates. As for me, there are still more events to be written about before I feel like I can wrap it all up and call the story complete. Even if today's chapter is indeed mostly a filler.
* AN: This chapter has not been beta-read.
* AN2: I'm sorry for the delay with this chapter and, unfortunately, my only excuse is health issues that made it rather hard to focus on writing. I'm slowly getting better right now so, hopefully, next chapter will not take this long for me to write.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells
A Year Too Soon
Chapter LIX: A Lesson with a Guest
As Friday classes came to an end, Harry, Flora and Hestia finally had their chance to sneak out and have a few hours to themselves in the privacy of the young Potter's 'hideout'. The lover trio used this as an opportunity to pick up getting intimate with each other where they left off on St. Valentine's. And this time there were no chocolates to distract them.
Indeed, this time the three teens managed to go all the way and finally gave each other their virginities. Except sex wasn't as nice and pretty as certain books said it would. Instead, it ended up being rather messy and a tad uncomfortable at times owing to their inexperience. They still enjoyed it a lot and would definitely do it again. And not just once or twice.
Unfortunately, between their classes and the mountains of homework the teachers gave them, their training under Professor Flitwick and Slytherin social life, they didn't really have many opportunities to spend a few hours together away from the rest of the world.
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Ever since they received a note from Professor Flitwick a few days ago saying that he had arranged for something special for their next Magical Combat lesson, Harry, Flora and Hestia were living in anticipation of …well, whatever the Charms Master's surprise was. Which meant, they've spent quite some time speculating on what their teacher had in store for them. And so far they agreed that it was most likely either a special lesson from a guest, possibly an Auror, or the good Professor was going to introduce some new, advanced exercises.
Either way, tonight they would finally get their answers!
Entering the classroom, the Slytherin trio immediately noticed a wizard barely out of his teens standing next to the he didn't look like he could be an Auror or a Hit Wizard, though appearances can be deceiving.
"Good evening, Mr. Potter, Misses Carrow." The Charms Master greeted them. There was a second-long pause before he continued: "Tonight we have a special guest, who has graciously agreed to help you three practice Magical combat. Please welcome Mr. Kevin Moore." He said, introducing the said guest. "He is a Hogwarts alumni who graduated five years ago. And during his time here, he was not at all bad with his wand and even earned high marks for his DADA NEWTs if I remember correctly."
"Thank you, Professor." Mr. Moore said before turning to face the Slytherin trio. "Hello. As Professor Flitwick said, I'm Kevin Moore. I was a Hufflepuff and graduated in eighty-nine. Right now I'm working for the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry for Magic." He told them a little about himself. "A few days ago I received an owl from Professor, asking me if I wanted to help him with these lessons he has been teaching you. And while my schedule is kind of busy with everything that's going on right now at the department, I've been wanting to visit Hogwarts for a while so I decided why not?"
"Thank you for agreeing to help us, Mr. Moore." Harry said.
"No problem." Kevin replied. There was a brief pause before he added sheepishly: "Let's just hope I can actually help you with your training: it's been a while since I last used my wand for anything that isn't housework or my parchment-pushing job."
"Don't sell yourself short, Mr. Moore." The Charms Master spoke up. "You were one of the best in your year and a couple of years as the Ministry's clerk shouldn't have rusted your skills much."
"I hope you're right, Professor." The other wizard replied.
"Shall we begin then?" Professor Flitwick continued, deciding against spending more time on assuring his ex-student that he was still good as ever with his wand. And upon receiving affirmative answers from his 'assistant' and the trio of his students, he silently cast several spells to transform the classroom into an arena, complete with a few upturned tables to serve as a cover for the fighters.
Mr. Moore eyed the arena for a few long seconds before entering it non-confidently. Apparently, this was the first time he was participating in an exercise like this, so he wasn't entirely sure how it would go.
"Who is going to be fighting first?" Harry asked Professor Flitwick then.
"Would you like to do it, Mr. Potter?" The man 'suggested'.
"Alright." The teen replied before unholstering his wand and joining Mr. Moore in the arena.
"Before you begin, let me remind you of the rules." The Charms Master spoke then. "The fight starts and ends when I say so." Both Harry and Kevin nodded. "No spells that can seriously hurt your opponent or worse. And try not to damage the classroom too much. Alastor - Professor Moody - expects it back in its original state and I'm sure you'd rather not spend the night fixing it." The two wizards in the arena nodded again. "Alright then."
"Do you really have Alastor Moody as your DADA Professor?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah." Harry confirmed with a small nod.
"Damn! You guys are so lucky." The other wizard said then. "We haven't had anyone like that during my time here." The young Potter let out an unintelligible hum in response. Professor Moody indeed was a good teacher but, despite his best efforts to tone himself down, it was still noticeable that he was quite used to working with people who already had a good deal of skills, not schoolchildren.
"And start!" Professor Flitwick suddenly announced the start of the fight. Harry, being used to his teacher starting the matches at random moments, reacted first and quickly fired a stunner at his opponent. The accompanying flash of red broke Kevin out of his momentary stupor. The older wizard quickly dove out of the way of the spell.
"Incarcerous!" Harry called - he has yet to manage to cast this particular spell silently - as he tried to bind Mr. Moore with conjured ropes. And had it worked, it would've ended the match in his victory. Unfortunately for him, the wizard managed to avoid this attack as well. And then he finally fired a spell of his own.
"Flipendo!" Sidestepping the Knockback Jinx the young Potter sent a silent stunner at his opponent, forcing him to summon a Magical shield to protect himself. "Protego!" This gave Harry time to prepare his next attack.
"Oppugno!" He called as he directed a number of small objects on his side of the arena to attack Mr. Moore, forcing the man to quickly swap for a different shield, one better suited for physical projectiles. The downside of such shielding spells, of course, was its weakness against Magical attacks. And the green-eyed teen was not above exploiting such weakness and immediately fired a silent stunner followed by the Disarming Charm.
Kevin's shield blocked the first spell and gave the man enough time to move out of the way of the other. Still, he was in no position to counterattack at the moment. Harry wasn't interested in giving him time to recover and pressed his current advantage by sending another stunner at the man.
"Protego!" Mr. Moore hastily summoned another shield to protect himself. That worked but, once again, gave the Potter heir more time to work his way around his defenses.
"Petrificus Totalus!" The teen called, before casting another silent stunner. His opponent's shield successfully blocked both attacks, but it was quite clear that it wouldn't be able to withstand much more beyond this. Which is why Harry kept attacking, silently casting an underpowered cutting curse followed by another stunner. This was enough to finally break through his opponent's shield, but Mr. Moore was ready for that and sent a Disarming Charm at Harry the moment that happened.
Moving out of the spell's way, the younger wizard returned fire with a Disarming Charm of his own, followed by an Incarcerous. Those were likewise sidestepped. The two wizards then paused their fight for a moment as they both tried to come up with new strategies to win the fight.
Harry was the first one to make his move and, taking a page out of Flora's textbook, summoned a flash of light, momentarily blinding his opponent. He made sure not to go overboard to the point where it could actually hurt Mr. Moore, of course. Still, it gave him an opening to press on with his attack, and he did just that by firing a couple of silent stunners to - hopefully - knock the man out.
Unfortunately for the young Potter, it didn't work as envisioned: Kevin dropped to the floor the moment he got blinded by the flash of light and through sheer luck managed to avoid both stunners meant to take him out. That was the extent of his luck, however, as he ended up in a position where he couldn't evade or block the next spell meant for him. And, indeed, Harry was able to hit him with Incarcerous, binding him with conjured ropes. Then, to finalize his victory before Mr. Moore could find a way out of his current predicament, he used the Disarming Charm to take the man's wand away:
"Expelliarmus!"
"And victory goes to Mr. Harry Potter!" Professor Flitwick announced a few moments later, officially ending the match. Undoing the Incarcerous Spell, Harry helped Mr. Moore back to his feet before returning him his wand.
"Good fight." Kevin said.
"Indeed, thank you." The green-eyed teen replied before the two of them shook their hands.
"So, what are your thoughts on this match?" The Charms Master then asked, addressing everyone in the classroom. Mr. Moore was the first one to give an answer:
"We started more or less on equal footing, with Mr. Potter having a slight edge because he was able to fire the first spell. But then I let him take the initiative from me completely and that cost me the fight." He said. "I should also be more thoughtful with how I dodge because that last one was a mistake that directly led to my defeat." Professor Flitwick nodded.
"Mr. Potter?" He asked then.
"Well…" Harry began as he tried to come up with something to say. "I focused a bit too much on trying to stun or otherwise disable my opponent, which drew out the fight." That was a valid point and Professor Flitwick accepted it.
"Misses Carrow, do you have anything to add?" He asked next. They didn't. "Alright then." The Charms Master continued. "Which one of you would like to go next?"
"I can." Flora volunteered. And as she made her way into the arena to take Harry's place there, Professor Flitwick addressed Kevin: "Are you ready for another round, Mr. Moore?"
"Give me a few more moments and I'll be." The said wizard replied as he made way to 'his' side of the arena. After maybe twenty seconds of just standing there relaxed, he finally took a stance. "Alright, I'm ready." He said.
"So am I." Flora said.
"Alright." The Charms Master said. "You may begin…" He made a several seconds long pause, once again aiming to surprise his students with a sudden start of the match. "Now!" Once again, Mr. Moore was a bit slower to react and he quickly found himself on the defensive as Flora fired spell after spell at him. And, unlike Harry, she was using mostly offensive magics such as the Fire-Making Spell or that yellowish Lightning Curse.
Unfortunately for Flora, it looked like Mr. Moore had adjusted to the tempo of these fights and was successfully dodging or blocking every spell sent his way now. That didn't stop the witch from firing more in hopes of overwhelming him. And this aggressive all-out offensive spellcasting was tiring her out rather quickly. She needed to win this match soon, or the tables would turn and she'd lose the match in a pretty short order.
And indeed, just as Flora started running out of steam, Mr. Moore stopped fighting defensively and counterattacked. The Slytherin witch did her best to defend herself from his spells, but she wasn't doing so well in that regard. Her hastily-raised Shielding Charm was broken in just a couple of hits and her attempts to dodge the following attacks were quickly cut short by a lucky stunner.
And with that the match ended in Mr. Moore's victory.
Professor Flitwick then revived Flora with a quick Rennervate and, after giving them both a bit of time to catch their breaths, asked them for their thoughts on the match. Harry and Hestia were welcome to share their insights as well, of course.
Kevin didn't have much to say about his performance in this round, other than perhaps letting Flora have control of the fight for too long. And since he hasn't had much problem defending himself against her attacks and quickly took her down once he went on offensive, there wasn't much one could add to that.
For her part, Flora acknowledged that she got too into trying to curse her opponent into the oblivion at the beginning of the match and as a result couldn't switch to fighting defensively quickly enough when counterattacked. Casting spells too intensely and tiring herself out before her opponent was another mistake of hers that she acknowledged.
Neither Harry nor Hestia didn't really have anything to add here. The latter, though, took note of the errors her sister had made as she readied herself for her own match against Mr. Moore. Professor Flitwick likewise decided not to add any comments of his own as all important points have been voiced already. Instead, he waited for Kevin to catch his breath before inviting Hestia to the arena.
"Go kick his ass for me, sis." Flora asked as she passed by her twin.
"I'll do my best." She promised.
This time, Professor Flitwick decided not to make Hestia and Mr. Moore languish with anticipation and announced the start of the match as soon as the two had their wands at ready. It took them a couple of moments to get over the surprise - they both had expected the Charms Master to make them wait for a while - but when they did, they immediately sprang into action. Mr. Moore was a little bit faster though, forcing Hestia to cancel her own spell in order to dodge his overpowered Knockback Jinx.
Quickly recovering, the witch returned fire with a quick Stinging Hex, immediately followed by a small fireball. Mr. Moore sidestepped the first spell but had to raise a shield to block the second one. Dropping the said shield as soon as it had served its purpose, the man ducked under Hestia's next spell before firing a Body-binding Curse her way.
Rolling to her left to avoid a certain defeat, the young witch counterattacked with a stunner. It missed its intended target, though, and a second later she was forced to dodge again as her opponent sent a spell she couldn't identify her way. It was followed by an Immobulus Charm a second later and Hestia was forced to use the Shield to protect herself from it.
Mr. Moore then tried to break through that shield with the Defodio Charm, but the witch dropped it herself and quickly rolled to the side to avoid being hit by the spell herself. She then fired a lighting Curse back at him. He tried to dodge it but was a little too slow and it clipped his upper arm. It didn't do any real damage, only barely singing his robes, but it did shock him with electricity a bit, making him freeze mid-step for a moment.
And that moment was all that Hestia needed to hit him with a stunner, ending the match in her victory.
There was no real need to announce the winner here, but Professor Flitwick did so anyway. Then he proceeded to revive Kevin with a quick application of the Reviving Spell. The man blinked once, twice, three times as his mind caught up with reality.
"I lost, didn't I?" He said to one in particular. "Good fight, Ms. Carrow." He added seconds later as he got back on his feet. Hestia couldn't come up with any response to that other than a quiet 'Thank you'.
"It was indeed a good match." The Charms Master said. "And while there always are ways to improve, neither of you have made any big mistakes this time."
"Perhaps?" Mr. Moore said, not sure whether he should accept the praise. He did lose, after all. "I still should've been quicker on my feet. That one spell was all it took to decide the match." He said, referring to the lightning curse Hestia clipped him with. Speaking of which, the spell did singe his robes and even though the damage was superficial, he still should fix that. So, reaching for his wand, he pointed it at his shoulder and returned his clothes to their original state with a quick Reparo.
"Indeed. This is why spells like Stupefying Charm are very popular in duels." Professor Flitwick said with a nod. "But even spells that don't have immediate full-body effect can be very incapacitating, as you've seen. Tongue-Tying Curse can make casting spells difficult and potentially dangerous." Harry immediately had a flashback to his first year when he and his classmates were learning the Levitation Charm and the warning about the importance of proper pronunciation the Professor gave that day. "This is why silent casting is an important skill to have for Aurors and Hit Wizards. Jelly-Legs Jinx and its kin will make quick and precise movements so much harder. And elemental spells, even if they don't impair a person directly like the lightning curse Misses Carrow like so much, can be this as well - one can hardly fight well while their robes are on fire, after all." It was hard to disagree with that.
The classroom fell silent for a few moments as no one had anything to add to what the Charm Master had just said. It was soon broken by a quiet whistling sound coming from Mr. Moore's robes. Startled for a moment, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out an ornate pocket watch - likely a gift his parents gave him on his seventeenth birthday as per the wizarding tradition. Opening the lid, he took a look at the time. A slight frown then appeared on his face.
"Oh." He said.
"What's the matter, Mr. Moore?" Professor Flitwick asked.
"I have some business back in London this evening that I need to attend." The younger wizard replied. "And I should be leaving soon if I want to be there on time."
"I see…" The Charms Master said after a short pause. "I wish you good luck in you business then. And thank you for agreeing to help me with this lesson."
"Thank you, Mr. Moore." Harry, Flora and Hestia chorused after their teacher.
"My pleasure." Kevin replied. "It was nice to visit Hogwarts, and a chance to duel… no, to fight you three here was a nice change of pace from my usual, boring parchmentwork at the Ministry." He then added something that sounded suspiciously like 'I wish I can be there next year when it happens' under his breath. "Now, if you excuse me…"
"Of course." Professor Flitwick said. Mr. Moore gave them a small bow of a goodbye before leaving the classroom at a rather brisk pace. "Shall we call it a day here?" The Professor asked his student then.
"Alright." Harry said with a shrug: it looked like today's lesson was about fighting against someone they've never met before, and now that this person was gone,.. The twins also seemed to think that there was no big reason to continue the lesson. Silently acknowledging their decision with a nod, Professor Flitwick waved his wand around, restoring the DADA classroom to its original state.
"Before we part tonight, I'd like to know your thoughts about today's lesson." The man said then. "Were your matches against an unknown opponent of roughly your level cognitive? And what do you think about having more such lessons in the future?"
"It was definitely different from fighting against each other." Flora said.
"It was an interesting experience." Harry added. "I personally wouldn't mind if we had more such lessons every once in a while, Professor." The Carrow twins nodded.
"Yes, having a lesson like this every so often sounds good." Hestia said. Professor Flitwick nodded.
"Very well." He said. "I'll see if I can organize more such lessons for you in the future then."
"Thank you, Professor." Harry said. "We will be looking forward to that."
That's all, folks!
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