Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings

Chapter 10 Locked Down

Over the weeks that followed, the DA met every Saturday at 10 AM to learn combat from Alice and spells from Harry. Every three weeks Alice would spar with them personally while harry would duel with them the week after. Alice always insisted they trained with real swords to get used to the weight though would always fight them with a wooden blade herself so she wouldn't cut them. She didn't seem to mind when they caught her with the sides of their blades. She got to know them personally and adapted to each of them adjusting pace and dexterity accordingly. Most of the time the fight went stale. She couldn't fight with them for more than 10 minutes each if she wanted to get though them all. There was one day though... and no one expected it.

Alice and Frodo faced each other with violent dexterity each giving their all to the fight. Frodo caught her sharp across the arm, blood began to leek from the small gash. Alice looked for a moment. A mistake. Frodo disarmed the wooden sword from her hand and  held them both at her.

'I win,' he said with slight pride.

'Maybe,' she said looking at him fixedly. 'But you need to keep your footing.'

Alice took both is hands and took the two blades from them before washing her foot beneath him causing him to fall. She dropped the blades and helped her brother to his feet.

'Maybe I should try steel next time,' she said smiling. 'you almost had me there.'

'I have enough scars, thanks,' he said.

That had been the first time anyone had disarmed Alice before. Most didn't really think it possible until them.

Alice looked at the wound and shrugged. She'd had worse. And it wasn't deep.

In the rest of the castle everyone was on edge. People would want in tight knit groups and many became paranoid and try to look everywhere at once incase of attack. People only felt safe in their dorms and (in the case of the DA) the room of requirement. The castle became shut off more than ever before and all future visits to Hogsmeade were cancelled. Every entrance and exit to and from the castle were guarded by paintings, statues, teachers and ghosts with repeated objections from Umbridge. Lessons became duller and the teachers seemed apathetic at best.

No one joked or laughed anymore. The hum of chatter had gone from the castle leaving a deathly silence in its wake. The only plus was that the home works had decreased. Though even that just made the castle even more unfamiliar.

People stopped talking to friends and family. Ginny would never even make a sound, instead choosing to ball herself up beside Frodo in the common room as he stroked her hair.

Hermione and Ron could bairly look at each other, like some great guilt filled them that they could not speak about. Ron resolved to sitting on hus bed playing with some lose treads on his pyjamas.

Hermione spent her time panicking silently to Alice. Who just listened. She had resolved to not speaking unless teaching or with the DA. She wouldn't do things anymore. The sparkle in her eyes had gone and in its place only the clash of swords or fire of an arrow could bring her any feeling at all. While she once used to sneak into the Hufflepuff dorm to spend time with Susan for a night she now she only helped her with her aim and stance in DA meetings.

And as for susan, she didn't even try to talk to her. She wouldn't even look her in the eyes.

Though harry noticed as the weeks went on, and it gave him the smallest glimmer of hope this would all end... the attacks had stopped. Though no one seemed to notice.