12 DADA and dueling

His studies at Hogwarts went on as usual. For the young lord, all classes except DADA and dueling were boring.

Flashback

On the second day, our trio sat at breakfast in the morning. The Great Hall was noisy. The main sources of noise were the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, but the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables were completely quiet. Only the sounds of cutlery could be heard there. The Slytherin trio sat together as usual and had a leisurely breakfast. Towards the end of breakfast, the Heads handed out the timetables.

- What classes do we have today? - Peverell asked Malfoy.

- History of Magic, DADA and Duelling," Malfoy read out.

- Just us? - Alex wondered.

- I wish," Lucius sighed heavily.

- And who do we have a class with today? - Bellatrix asked.

- History has the entire first year from all four faculties. On DADA, dual with Gryffindor and dueling with the first three years of Slytherin and Gryffindor," the blond read out again. After breakfast, our trio and the entire first year went to history.

Unfortunately for the young lord, history was still taught by Professor Binns. He walked across the blackboard, hovered in front of the class, spoke in a monotonous voice about another goblin uprising, handed in his homework at the end of the class, and left just as he had come. For this case, Peverell had a "Quill Pen", which wrote down all the words of the ghost, while the young lord and the rest of the audience slept.

The DADA classroom had changed with the appearance of the Terrible Eye. Now the shelves and the professor's desk were filled with jars of liquid in which unfamiliar magical creatures and other things were floating. Also upon entering the office, the young lord felt that various spells were cast throughout the room, causing the air to almost sparkle. 

- Move along and be seated," came the rough voice of the Auror to the freshmen. Malfoy went to the far end of the classroom, sitting with Zabini. Bella, on the other hand, sat at the first desk with Alex.

- My name is Alastor Moody. I'm an active Auror, but I've left my job and came here at Dumbledore's request. You don't need to know the rest. From now until the end of the year, I'll be teaching you Defence Against the Dark Arts. So, first question. What is Defence Against the Dark Arts? - the auror asked.

The old auror made a lasting impression on everyone. Rough, serious, and straightforward. A frantically spinning magical eye, a scarred face, and a reputation for hunting dark mages. 

- What, no one? - The professor asked somewhat disappointed. The professor was about to continue as one hand went up, and its owner turned out to be the famous Alexandros Peverell.

- May I answer the professor? - Asked the young lord in a completely calm voice, which even surprised the professor.

- 'Answer,' said Moody, looking straight at the boy.

- In short, Defence Against the Dark Arts is a discipline that studies defense against dark creatures like dementors, vampires, werewolves, boggarts, and other evil things, and also defense against dark mages and forbidden spells," Alex answered, looking straight at the professor.

- Do you know what Dementors are? - Moody asked.

- Yes, I do," Alex answered.

- And who are they? - The auror asked interestedly.

- Guardians of Azkaban, - simply answered Peverell.

- And if, more precisely? - asked the professor.

- Dementors are blind creatures that feed on light emotions. In special cases, they can suck out a person's soul by brushing up against the victim's mouth. Hence the name "dementor's kiss," which is the worst punishment and is considered worse than death," Alex answered, remembering his past life and Darius's lectures on dark creatures.

- If you know about these creatures, you must know the spell that helps to protect yourself from them," the auror asked again. Alex just nodded.

- And what is that spell? - another question from Mad-Eye.

- Patronus spell. It's very complex. It's a highlight spell. To invoke the spell, you need strong happy memories, otherwise, the spell won't work," replied Peverell.

- Excellent. That's the right answer. But the Patronus spell is very difficult, even for Aurors. Do you know of any other methods? - Another question.

- Animagic and occlumency," Alex answered simply.

- Explain," the old auror demanded.

- Dementors can't pull emotions from animals, so a mage who can turn into an animal becomes invisible to dementors. And skilled occlumens can close their minds completely, also becoming invisible to dementors. 

- Do you know any of these techniques? - Alastor asked.

- Occlumency and Patronus," Peverell answered simply.

- Is this a joke? - The auror asked, instantly irritated.

- Do I look like a joke, Professor? - Alex answered the question with a question.

- Well, in that case, you'll prove it to us now, - with these words, Gryum went to his desk and took one smaller chest from there. He placed on the floor and cast a spell to increase its size.

- In this chest, there is an artificial Dementor. It looks the same as the real one, and gives the same sensations as the real one, but unlike the real one, it can't suck out emotions, let alone souls. Your task is to drive it back into the chest," the professor instructed Alex.

After Alex came two meters to the chest, the professor opened the chest and a dementor flew out of it. Everyone in the room stared in horror at the three-metre tall hovering creature that resembled a dead body. It was, wearing some sort of black hooded robe. No face could be seen, only some sort of slit was visible in the mouth area. The skin on his arms and legs was a dirty grey color and covered in slime. Everyone in the room after the dementor's appearance felt inexplicable attacks of fear and despair, despite the warm weather the room immediately became cold, and the bucket of water that stood next to the window froze, turning into ice. The candles that lit the room slowly, one by one, went out, plunging the room into semi-darkness.

- "Expecto Patronum," it sounded like thunder and the room lit up with white light, and the dementor sank back into the chest with a cry of pain. With the dementor gone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

- Fifty points to Slytherin, for excellent mastery of theory and another fifty for mastery of the Patronus," the professor assessed.

- And now let's write down a lecture about dementors, how to fight them, and what to do after the dementor's influence. Peverell, you are excused from this assignment. There is a separate assignment for you," Moody said, turning to Alex. In response, the boy looked at the professor with interest.

- Everyone in the room has experienced the sensation of being near a dementor, so go to the kitchen and get chocolate for everyone, including me," the professor's last word shocked everyone.

- I don't think you need to tell me why? - Moody asked. Alex shook his head in response and headed for the kitchen. As far as Alex remembered from his life, the entrance to the kitchen was in the dungeon behind the painting with cheerful fruits. To open it you have to tickle a pear.

The Hogwarts kitchen was still the same. A huge room the size of the Great Hall, with four long tables and hundreds of housekeepers scurrying about. As the young lord entered the room, hundreds of eyes turned to him. A dozen House elves immediately jumped up to him and began to ask what the young lord wanted. Having stated the purpose of his arrival, Alex received a whole box of chocolates. Together with his burden Peverell went back to the DADA room. Entering the room, the boy with the help of levitation charms passed one bar of chocolate to everyone sitting there, and taking three bars he went to the professor. After giving one to the professor, Peverell gave one to his neighbor, to which she nodded in gratitude.

- Eat up, it helps," Grum was the first to take a bite from his bar. He was followed by the others. When everyone had eaten the chocolate, they felt relieved.

- Peverell, you're a first-year and you already have such knowledge and skills. Why? You have seven more years of schooling. You could have learned all this in time, but you know it all now. Why? - I don't think he realized he'd repeated his question twice. Everyone in the audience's ears perked up, curious to know the answer to this question. They heard Peverell chuckle before he answered.

- You're not gonna believe this. But, I asked my teacher the same question. And he said, literally, 'The Peverells were the best in everything and everyone. So if you call yourself a Peverell, you must live up to it," so I had to try," the young lord replied, remembering the past years.

- Why didn't you refuse? - Malfoy wondered.

- I didn't have much choice. Either study and practice, or etiquette and dancing, - after these words all the Slytherins and even Moody looked at the boy with undisguised sympathy, and some with pity.

- Write down that chocolate helps you recover from the effects of dementors," the professor said when he remembered the lesson. When everyone had written it down, the bell rang, announcing the end of the lesson.

- For the next class, you must prepare one large scroll of information about werewolves," the professor gave the homework assignment. He heard the Gryffindors groan in response, and the Slytherins held back, though there was an urge to do the same.

After the DADA, everyone settled down for lunch, followed by dueling with the first three years of Gryffindor and Slytherin. After lunch, our trio and the entire first, second, and third year of Slytherin, along with the same number of Gryffindor students, went to the dueling class, which was conducted by the Dean of Ravenclaw and the DADA professor. The dueling classes were held in the same place where they had been held before the dueling classes stopped.

It was a large room. With a platform in the center from one end of the room to the other. As the students entered the room they saw that the professors were already in place. As everyone gathered, Moody drew the students' attention to himself.

- This is your first dueling class. There will probably be no dueling today. Just theory, but maybe if we can get a couple of duels in by the end of class. The theory will be taught by Professor Flitwick. As he is a five-time European dueling champion and has a lot of experience in it, - after these words Moody left the classroom.

- So, let's begin our lesson," said the Dean of Claw, who looked very pleased.

- Dueling is not just waving a wand. It is an art form in which two wizards try to disarm, wound, or kill each other. These duels are often fuelled by magic, and once challenged or accepted, you can't refuse. If you refuse, your name will forever be covered with shame, which can only be washed away with blood. Duels follow certain rules that must not be broken.

- First Rule. The battle is fought on magic wands, under no circumstances should physical force be used.

- Second. Each of the opponents must have a second. Seconds play a very important role. They agree on the venue, the time, and the conditions, also at the end of the duel seconds stop the duel.

- Third. Bowing. Before the start of the duel, the opponents must bow to each other.

Everyone was listening to Flitwick's words with interest. He told them all about dueling, backing it up with incidents from his own life. And when there was half an hour left to the end of the class, Moody returned.

- Professor, have you finished? - Mad-Eye asked. Flitwick nodded in agreement.

- Well, there's half an hour left until the end of the class. We'll have a few duels," Moody announced. Everyone cheered, but Alex sensed something wrong.

- I think we'll have three duels with third years," Flitwick said thoughtfully, and Peverell was about to get excited:

- And with some of the first-years," Moody cut the boy's joy short. After that went two pairs of duelists from the third. They knew some pretty good spells, but there was little spectacle.

- And the last duel. Rudolphus Lestrange and Alexandros Peverell," Moody said, and to Peverell's surprise, Flitwick didn't say a word against it. "I'm not Harry Potter anymore, but I still get into trouble the same way," Peverell thought to himself before he stepped up onto the platform and walked towards the center of it. On the other side of the platform, a third-year student came up. He was a black-haired boy of about fourteen, with grey eyes that now burned with triumph, it was clear that he was hoping for an easy victory over the freshman.

In the art of dueling Peverell knew a decent amount. Darius placed great importance on dueling and had trained the young lord appropriately.

- So, the rules are the same as before. Disarming or knocking out will suffice," with those words Moody and Flitwick cleared off the platform.

The opponents bowed to each other, turned and moved ten paces away from each other, turned to each other, and raised and pointed their wands at each other.

- Remember, it's only enough to disarm or stun. We don't want any accidents here,' said Moody.

- One," Flitwick began to count.

- Two," Flitwick continued, raising his wand upwards, and then the tension in the room was palpable.

- Three," After that, the two rivals released a disarming spell at each other. Lestrange's spell was terribly slow and weak. While Peverell's spell was executed perfectly. It was fast and charged with magic to the extreme. The two spells met and to everyone's surprise, Peverell's spell missed Lestrange's spell and flew into the third year's chest. His wand flew out of his hands and he flew to the other end of the platform. Everyone was shocked, for it was the shortest duel of all, lasting only three seconds.

- Excellent, Mr Peverell," Flitwick's voice cut through the silence.

- 'Agreed,' was the only thing Moody said.

- Ten points for the victory and another ten for a well-executed spell," Flitwick assessed.

End of Flashback

And before we knew it, it was Christmas, and the announcement that there would be a Christmas ball.