Hogtober Shorts (Peacekeeper and Basilisk prequels)

Prompt 5: DADA

Diane walked nervously into the room, her new robes feeling strange with the way they flowed around her. Sure she was used to magic, but this felt so foreign from the alleyways and streets she'd been in just two days ago. She wished professor Fig had been able to teach her a bit more, she barely knew how to cast basic spells... though being able to do even that was shocking for her.

Then there was fighting those suits of armor, and the goblins, and... to be frank she was about done with fighting. She'd done so much fighting today...

She watched the fight in front of her curiously, two boys battling with spells back and forth. She tilted her head a bit as her training kicked in, watching them thoughtfully from the back of the crowd for a moment before one of them hit the chain holding up the massive dragon skeleton up above them. She flinched as the skull nearly fell on the other student, before it stopped midair just above him.

She let out a sigh of relief and put a hand to her chest, glad he hadn't gotten flattened by the skull.

As the professor spoke she watched the skull float upwards with ease, looking over the skeleton thoughtfully before she mentioned levioso.

And then the student who'd nearly gotten squashed actually seemed like he was laughing at the idea of a spell being useful. Aaaand suddenly she didn't feel quite as bad that he'd nearly gotten squished. Why on earth would he be laughing at the teacher? Especially since she was obviously quite capable!

She took a step back in surprise as suddenly the student- Prewett apparently- was lifted into the air, glancing over to the boy beside her who snickered in amusement. She had to admit... it was rather funny. Especially because he was rendered helpless while waving his limbs in the air.

She looked back to the professor in confusion when she mentioned being an Unspeakable. She'd heard her brother mention that before but she wasn't quite sure what it was. She wished she could send a message to Will, but she knew it would only raise attention to her and... she really didn't want her father knowing she was at Hogwarts.

She went to her desks to try to cask levioso, and after watching the wand movement from the professor she let let out a soft sigh to try and calm her nerves. Her first real spell... well, while in school anyway. She didn't really like everyone's eyes in her, since she was learning this for the first time when they'd known it for years.

She cast it carefully, her eyes going wide in shock as the feather floated upwards with the tilt of her wand. She'd done it! It was still amazing to her that she could even cast magic, yet she'd done this on the first try!

"Now, let's try something a little larger." Hecat said, casting the tables away and making one of the students fumble to the side when he'd been leaning on it. Diane stepped in front of the dummy she brought forward, cringing a bit as it looked a lot like the dummy her father had used when she was young.

"Let us begin with basic cast..." Hecat said, waiting until she cast it, before continuing. "See how the dummy deflected your cast? This time cast levioso first, then the basic cast."

Diane nodded, and figured that must have something to do with the golden shield floating around the dummy. When she cast levioso it shattered, and she quickly cast her basic spells afterwards to make the dummy spin midair with the power of the spells. She sighed in relief when it fell to the ground,

"Very good, but the best way to practice is by dueling." Hecat said in satisfaction.

Diane looked over as the boy from earlier approached, a smirk on his face as he stood beside her.

Dueling... she really didn't want to- it was what she'd had to try and do in her training. She nearly flinched at the idea, her heart pounding in her chest anxiously. Maybe... she should just get this over with. Finish the duel as fast as she could, then she'd be fine!