Dysfunctional

61 - The Hallowe'en Surprise

Thursday, October 30

The excitement in the Combe Abbott was palpable - it had been quite a while since they had done something fun after two months of long stretches of boredom, despite the Order meetings and Potterwatch.

Remus and Tonks had set up the duelling room: there was a neat row of chairs on either side against the walls for spectators. The large room was otherwise kept empty, devoid of practice dummies and anything that could be summoned or exploded in their faces - everyone had to depend on only their wandwork for the duel.

Percy had not turned up, and Kingsley could not make it due to some last minute work at the Ministry but the rest of the Order had all made it in time, including Sirius, who announced his idea of doing a practice round first so the younger members could learn a few tricks by the time they were ready. Considerably, it had put everyone in quite a tizzy.

Sirius was sat with the older members, on one side of the room and on the other, the younger members were gathered together, all smiles and restless energy.

Tonks signalled the start and Catherine and Gwenog Jones went first. While Gwen's array of spells were impressive, Catherine was able to defend herself effortlessly and put her opponent down within exactly six minutes into the duel as Lee had announced, having been keeping time for their matches. Gwen sulked but Catherine said bracingly, "That was impressive, Gwen."

Sirius smirked, "Gwen's a bit rusty. She could have my arse handed to me if she was at the top of her game."

Gwen perked up and grinned impishly. "Someone remembers our Quidditch match against the Ravenclaws, 1976."

Sirius and Remus erupted into laughter, the latter remarking, "Vividly."

"Aren't you both supposed to play in the same team?" inquired Tonks, baffled.

"Oh, we played together alright," said Sirius. "We just never could agree on some things."

Gwen rolled her eyes at his statement, her grin still in place.

Hestia and Remus went next. They seemed evenly matched as they duelled for far longer before Remus won, disarming her fair and square.

Sirius was quite amused to watch Tonks and Proudfoot go at it last. While they were by far the most trained duellers in the room, there was some vain rivalry going on between them that was only too noticeable in the way they duelled.

"Quit faffing about you two!" shouted Sirius in exasperation after having been forced to watch them for more than ten minutes straight.

Really, as Aurors, they could do better than use Dancing Feet Jinxes against the other, while pointing and laughing at the terrible jig they were forced to do. The younger lot were howling with laughter, while Remus and Catherine sighed in unison. Hestia and Gwen were chuckling at their embarrassment when Proudfoot finally freed himself and retaliated with a hex that made Tonks stumble over and fall flat on her face.

"He didn't need to hex her for that," commented Sirius, smirking. "Leave her on her own for a while and she'd likely have done that herself."

Tonks had apparently heard him for she rounded on him, shooting him a nasty look. Sirius' eyes widened in alarm and he had only a moment to put up his Shield charm, protecting him from whatever she had thrown at him. "No attacking spectators!" he groused to which Tonks shot back, "Then shut it!"

Proudfoot took the opportunity to disarm her, leaving Tonks quite incensed. "Thanks a lot, Sirius," she hissed, her hands on her hips.

"You need to get better at not letting insults get to you in the heat of a duel," remarked Sirius frivolously, watching her take her seat next to him from the corner of his eye. Tonks merely huffed in irritation.