The Girl Who Protected [3]

Year 5 - 17

"Very good. Now, I want you to keep your concentration on a fixed point." Harry told Neville, who was still trying to master the expelliarmus charm. Cassiopeia had taken a step back for this lesson, starting to think of new spells to teach them. She wanted to teach them a charm that would block attacks, rather than being offensive.

"Harry, what if we taught them the protego charm?" She asked Harry as the pair walked around the room.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Would you like to take that lesson?" He asked her.

"Me?" She asked. This would be her first time teaching the group- other than a few sessions with Neville and Amelia.

"Yeah. You'll be great." He replied before continuing on his way around. Today they were working on 'levicorpus', so the room was filled with people hovering in the air. Cassiopeia turned to Hermione and nodded. Hermione nodded in return and then incanted the spell. Cassiopeia slowly raised into the air, laughing and pulling faces at Amelia. Amelia laughed and stood beside Hermione. Cassiopeia then watched from the air as Harry walked up to Cho- his crush. He leaned in from behind and gently moved her wand hand upwards. "A little higher." He told her. Ron smirked at Harry, and Harry let go of her hand. But Cho's concentration was lost as she turned to face Harry. Nigel, who she was levitating, fell to the floor. But he hovered inches from the floor as Cassiopeia stuck out her wand. She put him down gently and Nigel turned to the girl in the air.

"Thanks." He said. She nodded with a smile.

"You've got your concentration, right?" Cassiopeia asked Hemione.

"Yeah, why?" Hermione asked. Cassiopeia didn't reply but just started to see if she could do flips in the air. She giggled as she spun around in circles. Ginny then came besides Amelia and lifted her in the air. Amelia swam through the air up to her friend and the pair started dancing in the air. The pair hummed a song as they danced through the air.

~*~

"Right, attacking the enemy is needed. But something more important is being able to protect yourself- or others. That's where the defensive spells come in." Cassiopeia spoke to everyone. "This gives you the time to prepare yourself to cast the offensive spells. Obviously, shields can't block the unforgivable curses- only certain things can. But they can help you hold yourself in a fight. Today I'm going to help you learn Protego. It's the best shielding charm, in my opinion. The stronger witch/wizard you are the stronger, or bigger your shield. Harry?" Harry then made his way in front of her. "Now, there's different variations of the protego charm. There's the normal bog-standard, 'protego'. Then there's the more protective ones, like 'protego maxima' or 'protego duo', or 'protego horribilis'. They will protect you from a direct spell. Then there's 'protego totalum', this is used to create a shield that will need to be there for a long time. Like if you're staying in an area and want to put a protection spell around the house as a whole. Then there's the more extreme 'protego diabolica'. Now this is one I wouldn't recommend using. This is a spell that creates a ring of fire around yourself. If people try to enter, your allies will pass through. But your enemies will be burned to death. It's one of the darker spells, and one that Grindelwald was known to have used."

"That sounds horrible." Nigel commented. Cassiopeia just nodded.

"Now, I'll be teaching you the normal protego, then you're welcome to try the others another time. But I beg for you not to use the final one. I wouldn't want the school catching fire and enemies being disintegrated." Cassiopeia replied. "Harry, throw a spell at me." Harry nodded and did so. Everyone watched as Cassiopeia incanted the spell and brought her wand downwards. Harry's spell bounced off the shield, and he cancelled it as it began to fly back his way. "Now, the wand movement is a straight-forwards downwards movement. Just say the spell and pull the wand down. Generally, the more talented wizard, if they're fighting more people, would use the incantation and swirl their wand in a circle. This creates a greater shield. Fred, George, Hermione, Amelia and Ron, if you'd like to join Harry. The six of you will all sent a spell at me. I don't care what spell, just all send one. I'll show you what I mean by a circle shield." The four came and joined Harry.