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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