The Speaker and His Wraiths

Lessons

A Different Kind of DA

"Alright, hi." Harry smiled at the group of twenty six, an entire year's worth of people. He'd divided the sessions by year, and he'd decided he'd set aside a day for each year every other week. Seven days of lessons, seven days without lessons. With, without, rinse and repeat.

When Hermione had suggested he teach over half the school Defense since Umbridge wasn't, he'd immediately balked away from the idea. Being the Speaker for a group of equals was one thing; becoming a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for practically the whole school was another thing entirely.

Yet here he was because Hermione had managed to gang all the rest of his nine up against him. Apparently the Slytherins were as mad as the Gryffindors, the Ravenclaws were at their wit's end, and the Hufflepuffs were angry their hard work meant nothing in the face of bad teaching.

So there he stood, in front of every single kid in his year, a massive dueling chamber all around them.

"Alright. As I've done with the seventh and sixth years, and am doing with every group this week, we're studying Expelliarmus first." Harry announced. "You may think this is an easy spell, but I'd like to prove you guys wrong. Please step forward if you're confident in your Disarming abilities."

Harry watched Padma Patil step forward, Lisa Turpin, Theo, Blaise, Boot, Corner, and Hermione. He smiled at them.

"Good. Now, form a line. You'll take turns attempting to Disarm me." Harry stepped backwards so they could form a haphazard line, and beckoned Hermione up first. "Whenever you're ready."

Harry slid his wand into his hand, and he watched Hermione stare him down. She was hoping to catch him by surprise, but she wouldn't succeed.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione whipped her wand out last minute, and Harry grinned.

The hand at his side gripping his wand tugged forward, but Harry did not lose his grip. He didn't even stumble; his wand arm just jerked as if someone had grabbed his hand and pulled. Hermione gaped at him in surprise.

"Next, Theo!" Harry called, grinning. Hermione moved back to the students who were not in the line, and Harry was amused to see they were equally astonished, if not more so.

Theo assessed him carefully, and then raised his wand. Harry watched Theo settle himself, breathing in deeply much in the way Harry did while casting defensive spells, and then Theo exhaled.

"Expelliarmus." Theo said it firmly, with power, and Harry was yanked maybe twice as hard.

He took a single step forward, his wand held in his hand firmly but not tightly, and then stepped backwards again. Theo did not gape, but his eyes did widen. He looked rather astonished like that.

"Impressive." Harry grinned, "I've never had to take a step like that." Theo's eyes shined, but he nodded with fierce determination. He was going to Disarm Harry one day, Harry just knew it. "Next! Patil."

Padma did even more poorly than Hermione. Harry didn't even jerk, and he barely felt the pull of her spell. Boot and Corner were on Hermione's level, maybe a bit above, and Turpin was above all of them. None of were even close to Theo, though.

"Now that I've demonstrated how easy it is to keep hold of a wand, I'd like everyone to pair up." Harry's declared. "One of you will practice Disarming, the other will practice trying to keep your wand in your hand. The secret to this isn't just to hold on to your wand. Doesn't matter how tightly you hold it, you'll lose it if you don't pour your magic into keeping it with you. We have twenty-six people of us, so someone will be with me."

"I will." Theo said immediately, making Harry grin.

"Excellent. Pair up everyone!"

Everyone split off into groups of two, and Harry was pleased to see several of them chose random students from other Houses rather than their friends. It reminded him what he was fighting for.