Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 112: Practice and Demonstrations
"Peter, that's the wrong wand movement."
"Sirius, where the hell are you aiming? The dummy is over there."
"Alice, what are you even trying to cast? You're fourth years...you should be able to throw stunners and disarming charms without thinking."
James walked around the room, giving instructions to the group.
"We just learned the disarming charm a few months ago…" Frank muttered.
"And I can tell you haven't practiced it at all since then," James pointed out. "You barely scraped through class with it."
"I mean… that was enough to pass," Alice added. "Why would we need to master combat spells? It's not like I plan to become an Auror. I just agreed to come here because Lily insists—"
"Alice! Don't say that," Lily interrupted quickly.
James sighed.
'I can't really blame them for lacking motivation. They have no idea a war is coming.'
In his previous life, when he helped create the study group that they decided to name as the "Dumbledore's Army", there had been plenty of students desperate to learn how to defend themselves. That was after Voldemort had returned to life and his Death Eaters began launching attacks all over Britain.
But Alice and the others hadn't seen any of that. They never experienced the horrors of war and didn't even know Voldemort existed yet.
'Should I tell them?' James considered it. 'It might be the only way to motivate them… but that comes with its own problems.'
He didn't want to spread knowledge of the Dark Lord unless it was absolutely necessary. He hadn't even told Dumbledore yet...and he wasn't sure if he wanted to have that conversation with the Headmaster.
It would be easier if Dumbledore learned from another source, one that had nothing to do with him.
'No… I can't involve them in this. I'll teach them whatever they're willing to learn, but I won't put that weight on their shoulders.'
He hadn't told Sirius either. His friend might have heard about the existence of the Dark Lord, but he had no idea just how dangerous that man truly was, and it was better to keep it that way for now.
"James?"
He turned to the source of the voice. Bella and her sister were practicing near the far corner of the room, keeping some distance from the rest.
He was already grateful they hadn't started fighting. As long as they could tolerate each other's presence, that was all he could ask for.
"Could you come here and give us some pointers?" Bella asked.
"Yes, Potter. Give us some pointers. That's what we came here for, isn't it?" Andromeda said, looking amused.
"Not now, Andy," Bella huffed. "You can learn something from him."
"Really? I'm a seventh year and he's a fourth… but I've heard the stories about your accomplishments," Andromeda said, glancing at James. "So why not?"
"Sure." James walked over. "Your form is solid. No problems with your posture. Wand movements are clean. You're even using some silent casting…"
"I'm sensing a 'but'..." Andromeda raised a brow.
"You take too long between spells." James's wand slid into his hand.
He demonstrated. His wand moved with fluid precision, four spells fired off in rapid succession, and struck the dummy.
He disarmed it, stunned it, impaired its legs, and bound its arms with conjured ropes.
"Oh… that's impressive," Andromeda admitted.
"Think you can match that with a bit more effort?" James asked.
"Not that fast, but…" Andromeda mimicked his sequence. She pulled it off, though it took her nearly three times as long.
"Still better than Bella. I thought she was the fighter in the family," James teased.
"Hey! She's three years older than me!" Bella huffed.
"Haha, don't get upset," Andromeda chuckled. "You're not wrong, Potter. Bella has more raw talent than I do when it comes to wandwork. And she knows some truly nasty curses… make sure you never make her angry."
"She's still too clumsy. Doesn't matter how deadly your curses are if you can't hit anything with them."
"Hey!" Bella snapped again.
James pointed at the dummy. "This is why training matters. Once you master this style of fast casting…"
His wand flashed again. The movements were fluid but deliberate, another four spells struck the dummy in rapid succession.
However, these weren't basic spells like the ones from before.
The first blew a hole in its chest.
The second severed the head cleanly.
The third shattered both legs.
And the fourth sprayed a thick green liquid that melted what was left.
"Merlin!" Andromeda looked horrified.
"Those were hexes… and that last one was a dissolving curse," Bella said. She wasn't surprised James knew them, but the speed had caught her off guard.
The more complex a spell, the harder it was to cast silently, and even more so, to cast them with minimal wand movements.
It wasn't uncommon for seventh years to use silent Expelliarmus, but curses were a different beast.
"Whoa, James! You completely demolished that dummy!" Peter and Sirius rushed over.
"Why aren't you teaching us that instead?" Sirius asked.
"Were those curses?." Remus asked.
James gave him a look. "If you try to run before you can walk, you're just going to fall. And in this case, 'falling' could mean a spell backfiring and killing you."
"Ah…" Sirius fell quiet.
"Where did you learn that, James?" Frank asked.
"Were those spells even legal?" Alice added.
"Three of them were. The last one was a dissolving curse, I think…" Lily answered. "That one's classified as a dark curse."
"That's just the Ministry's way of labeling spells. Don't pay too much attention to it," James said. "All four spells I used were potentially lethal."
He clapped his hands. "Now stop gawking and get back to practice. We've only got a couple of hours here."
Andromeda leaned toward Bella. "Looks like you found an interesting boy."
"Shut up," Bella muttered, pushing her sister away before turning back to her target.
Andromeda chuckled. It was rare to see her little sister flustered, but she knew Bella better than anyone in their house.
"Interesting indeed."
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