the girl with all of the choices

t h i r t y - e i g h t

3353 words

february seventeenth- charms and consequences

It had been a month since we started Dumbledore's Army, and it was going great. We had already perfected our basic defensive spells, Expelliarmus, Stupefy, and others like that. 

We had a meeting today at 3, but I wanted to practice, so I showed up 20 minutes early. 

I was better off than most of the other members. Poor Neville couldn't even master Expelliarmus. Because I knew most of these things already, from Tonks, of course, I didn't really get to improve much. When I was training with Tonks, she would work on my individual skills so that I could always improve. I never expected Harry to do that, but I would admit that my skills had reached a plateau.

Once I got to the Room of Requirement, I set up the dummy so it wouldn't go easy on me. I needed to see how I would hold up in somewhat of a real duelling environment. 

It quickly began to come after me, so I started to hold it off. I used every spell I could remember, Expelliarmus, Impedimenta, Stupefy, Langlock, Protgeo, finally turning it into a heap of ashes with Reducto. 

I hadn't realized it, but while I was countering its' jabs Neville and Harry had slipped into the room. 

"Blimey, Addison," Neville said with awe.

I turned to them, meeting the eyes of the two Gryffindors, jumping a bit as I realized I wasn't alone.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the taller boy said sweetly. 

"It's okay, Neville," I reassured him. 

"You're really good at that," Harry said abruptly.

"Tonks is a good teacher."

"Has she ever taught you the Patronus Charm?" Harry asked.

"A bit. I can produce a shield Patronus, but I haven't been successful with a corporeal one," I explained, heat rushing to my cheeks in embarrassment. 

"Do you want to help me teach it today?" he questioned sheepishly. 

I looked up at him in awe. 

"Why would I do that?" I asked, genuinely curious to know the answer. 

"You're obviously brilliant at this," he said. "Plus, I'm sure everyone is tired of listening to me talk."

"They signed up to be taught by you, Harry, not by me. I have no experience doing any of this in the real world," I argued. I was flattered by his offer, but I really didn't want to teach everyone.

"Then you can get some experience," he retorted. "Right now. Come on, let's go." He made his way over across from me, pulling out his wand defensively.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"I'm practically You-Know-Who," he said. "I've fought him before in the flesh, and every single version of him he made before he could do that. Duel me. Then you'll have experience."

"I'm not duelling you, Harry."

"I'll only use spells you know. Come on! Think of it as an individual evaluation of your skills!"

I looked at him and hesitated before pulling up my wand and shouting an incantation at him. 

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!"

My spell deflected off of him, vaporizing into the air. 

"I didn't know we were starting already," he teased with a chuckle. "Go again, but this time, don't hold back."