46 Chapter 46: The Dueling Club
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13 January 1991, Hogwarts
"Dueling is a demonstration of knowledge of spells and their counters, reflexes, certain skills, and tactics. There are strict rules and regulations, and there is an official list of allowed spells. Of course, not a single spell allowed to be used can be considered to be dark. Casting any forbidden spell in an official tournament is grounds for getting disqualified, and if the spell is dangerous enough, banned from competitive duelling altogether. Now, with that out of the way, let's start with a small demonstration between me and the seventh-year current champion."
A seventh year Gryffindor boy with blonde hair slowly walked up the dueling platform. Harry had heard Marcus Flint complain about him. Apparently, the guy was responsible for incapacitating Montague the previous year and causing him not to be ready for Quidditch. Alex Smith was his name, he was related to Zacharias Smith in Harry's year, who according to the stories was probably a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff. Still, the boy was an arrogant ponce, and his elder relative's sneer of disdain as he looked at Harry was not really promising to his character.
Still, personality aside, his skill as a dueler must be impressive since he's the seventh-year champion. The members of the club organize themselves by years since it wouldn't make sense to teach twelve-year-olds and seventeen-year-olds the same things. Their mastery over magic is simply different, and they can incorporate more skill in their duels. There are small tournaments to declare who is the best dueler in each age group and at the end of the semester, the champions for every one fight, declaring who is the best Hogwarts dueler. It mostly ends up being a sixth or seventh year.
Harry knew this because the final duels are available to the public and their results are logged in the library.
And so, to summarize his little inner monologue, Alex Smith was the best dueler in Hogwarts, and he was going against a legitimate duelling champion and charm master.
Both duelers stood at opposing sides of the stage, bowed to each other, and took some stances. Harry had seen them in the duelling book Hermione had gotten him. They served to minimize the target and be ready to cast a spell at a moment's notice.
Smith was the one to start the duel. He cast some kind of purple spell at the Professor who simply batted it away with a flick of his wand. Whatever this spell was it was very aggressive, at least that's what Harry felt using his Arcane Hearing. He didn't have time to analyze it because it travelled far quicker than any other spell he had seen.
Still, the professor retaliated with a standard stunning charm that the seventh year dodged. And they kept at it, sending very quick spells at each other, dodging, countering, and shielding sometimes. They didn't speak a word, nor did they do any elaborate wand movements. Things started to look slightly boring until the professor sent a blasting curse at the student who redirected it to the ground before him. The wooden platform that was hit ended up into shards which the student used to banish the professor.
A gust of intense wind appeared from the tip of the half-goblin's wand and redirected the projectiles towards the student who put up a shield to protect himself. The professor conjured a rope that he animated to discretely slither down the shield, as he peppered the shield with small spells. Finally, the professor cast a powerful shield breaker which momentarily broke the shield and let the rope through. The hidden object tripped the teenager and the professor used this to disarm him and banish him out of the arena.
It was an impressive display of skill by the professor that didn't really look tired. He was holding back massively, but he was somehow able to animate a construct while casting other spells, something that Harry didn't know was even possible. Smith wasn't really that bad. Spell redirection is a very impressive skill, and his use of his surroundings was good, but he simply didn't come close to matching the professor.
The entire classroom clapped at the display of skill and Harry understood why this could be considered to be a joke to Aurors. Yeah, the reflexes are alright, but the common use of shields wasn't something that's commonly seen, especially when unknown spells are being fired. The fact that the spell repertoire was limited, is good for the safety of the duelers, but not really for actual fighting.
The two fighters didn't really move closely towards each other. Duelers are only allowed to move in certain locations, making any kind of close combat absolute. That meant that duelers simply won't know what to do if they were attacked by a dark creature. Yeah, Harry could see why Aurors would laugh at duelers, but he could also see the beauty of the sport.
It was about making the best of what you're allowed to do, and Flitwick showed that. It's about being creative, fast, and strategic. But the way spells were sent around and countered so effortlessly by both sides was simply breathtaking. Using counter curses in the middle of a fight was suicidal, but with a locked repertoire, it wouldn't surprise Harry if people knew a counter for every available spell.
Still, all things considered, Harry was excited to be able to do half this stuff, and from the looks of his fellow club members, he wasn't the only one. The Professor and Smith bowed to each other again and turned towards their spectators.
The half-goblin was smiling widely, "Now that you've seen what you're supposed to achieve coming here, it's time to talk about the logistics. As usual, every year group will have a slot during the afternoon, except for Sunday that is. Mondays will be for second years, Tuesdays for third years, and so on. We will meet every week at seven, after dinner, and I will give you small assignments and spells to learn mostly, during each session. We will meet near the great hall, but our lesson will be in a different room. Now, as it is a Monday, everyone that's not a second year, or first year student for that matter, is to leave the hall so that I could start my lesson."
The upper years thanked the professors and slowly started to leave through the main door. It left Harry with five other students, a familiar Gryffindor named Cormac McLaggen, a Hufflepuff boy that was sneering at him who Harry didn't even know. There was another Slytherin, a girl this time. Her name was Rowle or something, and two Ravenclaws, a black-haired boy and an Asian girl.
The professor clapped their hands, "Alright, students, as you can see, there is a new member in our little group. So, everyone, introduce yourselves."
McLaggen started up, "Hey, I'm Cormac McLaggen, I'm in Gryffindor, and I like Quidditch and Transfiguration."
Huh, that wasn't so bad. Harry had assumed that he was the Gryffindor version of Malfoy or something. Of course, the boy had to ruin it, "Oh, and my dad works at the ministry so last year an Auror friend of his showed me a few moves."
Yeah, he's a spoilt brat alright. The Asian girl rolled her eyes at him, "Cho Chang. It's nice to make your acquaintance. I also like Quidditch, I'm hoping to apply to be a seeker next year since the Ravenclaw one is in his seventh year right now."
The other Ravenclaw introduced himself as Patrick Jones and said that he wanted to be a duelling champion someday. The Slytherin girl introduced herself as Rowena Rowle and didn't say anything else. Finally, it was time for the Hufflepuff to introduce herself, and he seemed to keep glaring at Harry for some reason, "My name is David Abbot. That should tell you everything you need."
Honestly, Harry didn't know why he was pressing his voice when he said his last name, and he didn't really understand what he was talking about. He had the last name of one of his Hufflepuff classmates, nothing more. Harry simply shrugged which seemed to incense the boy even further.
"My name is Harry Potter; I like Transfiguration and Charms. I'm in Slytherin, obviously, and I'm happy to be part of this club."
The half-goblin clapped his hands, "Well done, now for Harry's benefit as well as yours, what can you tell me about what you have learned in the last semester."
Cho raised her hands, "Well, we learned the three basic stances – attacking, defending, and flexible – we learned two shield spells - the Contego and Repelio - as well as the punching jinx, the disarming charm, and the jelly-legs curse. We also learned a few duelling tactics and practised our spells on the training dummies."
It wasn't really that impressive, all things considered, but it was a good introduction. Two defensive spells, three offensive ones, and a few stances seemed like a good grounding for duelling. Not that Harry knew for sure, but he had faith that Flitwick knew his stuff.
The Professor nodded profusely, "Well done, Ms Chang. You're right, most of what we have done before was theoretical work, and this semester we'll start focusing on the practical part. At the end of each session, each one of you will duel another student."
The students grinned at one another, "Alright, now, I want each of you to cast the three attacking spells I taught you on the training dummies, just to make sure you haven't forgotten anything during the holidays."
The six students stood in front of a training dummy each, which seemed to be slightly animated and was holding a stick. Harry nodded to himself and prepared to cast at his dummy, but his hand was held up by the Professor, "Not so fast, Mr Potter. I want you to use the attacking stance before casting a spell. It's good that you're standing sideways, but you need to widen your legs a little and bend your knees slightly. Yes, that's perfect. Well, then, Harry, show me what you can do."
Harry nodded to himself and murmured, "Expelliarmus!"
A small jet of light emerged from Harry's wand and hit his opponent's hand, disarming him. The professor clapped his hands in excitement, "A perfectly executed disarming charm. Now, show me the jelly-legs curse.
Harry nodded once more and cast, "Locomotor Wibbly!"
The dummy's wooden legs seemed to turn to jelly, and it fell down with a bang. Finally, Harry cast the punching jinx, and the dummy was hurled away from the impact.
The Charms master seemed to be smiling very brightly, "I was correct. It seems you'll be able to catch up easily on the offensive side of duelling. Now, show me your shields."
Harry cast the Contego and Repelio shields many times, with the professor testing them with basic casts at different powers. He seemed to be satisfied, even if he told Harry to fix his defensive stance many times. By the end of the session, the Professor simply told him to practice his stances for the next meeting.
Finally, he addressed the rest of the students, "Alright, it seemed that you're all caught up. Starting next week, we'll start with the duels. Now, as Homework, I want you to look up what spell chains are and how they're commonly used. That's what we're starting with in our next sessions. Now, off you go, it's almost curfew."
Harry smiled and turned to leave, only for Abbot to bump into him violently on the way. "What's his problem," he murmured to himself.
Cho gave him an unreadable look, "Don't you know? A branch of the Abbot family lived in Godric's hollow. David lost his parents and everything that belonged to them to that fire, the fire that you survived while being completely unharmed. Apparently, he was at his cousin's for the day, so he wasn't there. I'm not saying that it's your fault, but I guess he's still bitter about it. I know I would be too if it was me."
That night, Harry dreamed of cursed flames and screaming.
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