ALLURING || D.M.

Chapter 43

Her legs trembled, but this time it wasn't because of the blond. The improvised training chamber in Malfoy manor was but a constant echo of harsh spells and shouted orders. A whip-crack of three curses collided midair, making her press her back to the makeshift hill, her heart hammering in her chest. Lilianne wondered if she would ever benefit from learning to duel in uneven ground, supposedly meant to mimic the unpredictability of real combat.

Rowle was supervising, she'd learned they had a harder time when he did, purposefully jinxing the kids to test their focus, their adaptability. No warning either, you just had to dodge whatever came. It was indeed lucky that the room in question had a ceiling so high, as it allowed them to roam the morphed floor without hitting their heads.

Parents walked around the transformed area, rhythmic commands edging everyone's patience. It had been two hours of this, and while their robes remained impoluted, faces stern at their offspring's mistakes, sweat clung to the running bodies as they jumped about, evading, hiding, cursing. "Faster" Rabastan barked as his son duelled Cassius, making use of the new barrier spell his sister taught him. He was sent back when Lethe hit the blond in the back, giving the boy enough time to get lost in the mounds of rock.

He breathed hard, silently grateful he convinced his mother to not come to trainings anymore, otherwise not bearing witness to his faults, like wanted. His wand tight in his grasp as his body begged for rest, blinking awake as he counted the scorched marks from where hexes had gone wide.

The thing was, no spot was forever safe, they had to move, otherwise the others would find them. Lilianne stood firing hexes at whatever was in the radius of her path to her new hiding stop. Lethe's 'flippendo' barely missed her back by a whisper of space. Her head turned at the sound, sending a blast her way as she ran faster. She hated attacking, but at this point she'd learned not doing so was weakness, and showing weakness meant more drills besides the unmissable humiliation.

Her father walked in front of her, not crossing the white chalk line that limited the duelling space, he rose an eyebrow at her, he had told her maybe a couple days back he did not want to see her hiding every exercise. She bit down on the inside of her cheek, moving from her spot to find Septimus fighting Lethe while reducing Livia to gasps of fright. If Lilianne was reluctant to be overly aggressive, Livia froze mid-duel. The blonde Hufflepuff girl barely about to start her third year was not even familiarized with spells in the first place.

She went after Septimus, him being the most satisfactory prey. Four 'flippendo's in a row, as her eyes roamed the place, careful to not to miss anything. "Hold your stance!" Thane warned the Travers boy as he took a step back, being jinxed by two people at once. Corvinus watched as his son collected himself, hexing one by one as he deflected their respective attacks.

Cassius appeared behind him, and though overall he seemed to like the Travers boy, it did seem like a good laugh. Harmless 'expelliarmus' had Septimus looking back, "Hey" he fussed, moving to a better angle, "Stop it" he said after the fourth, the girls even more determined to get him. "Tear them down, damn it" Corvinus reacted, standing up from his chair, "Think, think! It's not that hard" You do it then, his son wanted to say but the slight slip of focus cost him to go flying back to concrete.

It was not clear whether it was Lethe or Lilianne who had done it, but the dark-haired girl soon pointed at the brunette. "I helped you" Lilianne reminded her, not dropping the duelling stance they had spent an entire week perfecting. "Didn't ask for your help" Mulciber bit as she cursed again and again.

Cassius had gone back to hiding as the two girls paced the space, jumping and climbing the space without neglecting the other's hex. Her legs were killing her, all the running and climbing hard rock taking a tool on her resistance, 'protego' was like always her best strategy but a few more curses had been forced to join, to expand her versatility.