An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Thirty

A/N: Hey y'all! Just a quick announcement, I'm going to be switching my posting schedule to weekly for, like, at least the next month. I want to stay consistent with my updates, and right now, I'm not going to be able to manage anything more frequent than once a week. So, for now, you can expect updates every Friday!

****************

"Alright everybody, circle up!" I called, clapping my hands together as I moved to face the room. It had been almost a week since Harry and I had talked about incorporating muggle fighting into the DA, and today was our first meeting where we'd be giving the joint curriculum a shot. Harry had spent the first half of the meeting going over the magical stuff, and now it was my turn to take the reins.

Our group assembled in the middle of the room, all of them looking at me. Their faces were a range of emotions, from excited to almost terrified to an obnoxiously aloof look. I smiled around at the faces I'd gotten to know so well over the past month, then nodded.

"Great! So, as you already know, today we're going to be trying something new: muggle combat techniques. As you all saw last meeting, it can be used defensively to duck and dodge when someone is shooting spells at you, or alternatively, it can be used to attack."

"Is it true you beat up Malfoy and his cronies two years ago?" called Justin Finch-Fletchley. I couldn't stop a small smirk, despite being on better terms with Draco now.

"It is true!" Cassidy chimed in before I could answer. "I saw it! She did it right in front of me, because Malfoy was being mean to me!"

I grinned and nodded at Cassidy as the rest of the room gave impressed nods. Now, everyone watched me with renewed interest, and clearly it was time for me to start with my first lesson.

"Alright everybody, circle up. Make sure you can all see me," I said. "Jackson, come over here and help me demonstrate this."

Jackson sighed and rolled his eyes as he joined me at the front of the room, but I could tell he was just giving me a hard time for the sake of it. I tapped his arm, and he quickly moved into a strong defensive stance.

"Everybody look at what Jackson's doing," I said. "Before anyone in this room throws a single punch, you're all going to have mastered this strong base and defense that Jackson has. Pay attention to how his feet are set."

Everyone watched as I moved closer to Jackson and shoved him in the chest. He shifted his body backwards with the push, but didn't even have to move his feet to stay steady.

"His feet are set in a way that keeps him from being a pushover, literally. If his feet were closer together and his stance more narrow..." Jackson, right on cue, shifted to an example of a bad stance, and this time when I pushed him he stumbled a few steps backwards. "...it would make it much easier for me to push him over and, in a different scenario, get him down and kick his ass."

There were nods around the room as Jackson switched back to the correct stance.

"Another important thing to pay attention to is the positioning of his hands..."

We spent the next ten minutes going over the nuances of Jackson's stance. Once we'd talked through the main points, I had people spread out and try it themselves. Jackson and I walked around to coach and correct what we were seeing, and by the end of the meeting, everyone had started to look at least semi-correct.

The real challenge, of course, would be to keep up that stance in the middle of a fight.

"Great work today, guys!" I said, smiling around the room as everyone relaxed their stances. "Next meeting we'll keep working on our defensive stances, and if you're looking good enough, maybe we'll even put your stance to the test."