This left Harry with little else to do but train. He knew he couldn't push his exercises too much, his body was still technically malnourished, although significantly less so than before. Harry had instead been studying as many spells as he could get his hands on. Professor Flitwick was more than happy to assist, and gave instructions on four basic spells for Harry to practice, given that they were likely to be the most important spells in a duelist's toolkit. They were the disarming charm Expeilliarmus, the stunning charm Stupefy, and the summoning charm Accio, as well as the banishment charm, its counter.
Expelliarmus had been very easy for Harry, and he picked it up within only a few castings. It felt right to him, and the motion and incantation simply flowed from his body without thought or effort. A few times he even felt the spell rocketed from his wand before he had finished saying the words, although Harry wasn't as sure about that. The other three were proving to be trickier, although he had managed to successfully perform them once each, thrice for the banishment charm. Harry's couple experiences overpowering his knockback jinx had prepared him for it, and he understood why this was used instead. It was not only less taxing on his magic reserves, but also was easier to control the direction and speed of whatever he sent away.
Harry was attempting Accio again, trying to summon a pillow from the couch to his hand. With a point of his wand and the correct pronunciation, the pillow shot forth across the room and plowed itself directly into his face, knocking him down.
"Congratulations Harry! That was a very good summoning charm." Luna's chipper voice said from the other side of the pillow.
Harry looked towards the door and saw her there, walking towards him. "Well, I wasn't aiming for my face, but I guess I did manage to actually summon it."
"You'll get it in no time, you only just learned it existed last week, and they normally wait until fourth year to teach it." Luna said, giving him a pat on his shoulder.
"Yeah, that's what they all say." Harry said, playfully rolling his eyes before standing up.
"The others are still busy, they didn't want you to be alone, so they sent me." Luna said, pulling him over to the couch.
"It's still just so strange, why does everyone think I'm the heir of Slytherin? I'm not even IN Slytherin." Harry asked.
"Well, Slytherins are supposed to be cunning, maybe you're so cunning you managed to cunningly disguise yourself as a Ravenclaw?" Luna asked, putting her finger to her chin.
"Ha, guess I deserved that one. It's more or less what I told the sorting hat to NOT get put in Slytherin." Harry laughed half-heartedly.
"Oh! Yay! Score one for Luna." Luna said, shooting one of her dainty hands up into the air in victory.
"Yep, score one for Luna. How are classes going? You spend a lot of time with us, but I never manage to actually ask." Harry said, looking at his blonde friend.
"Oh, they're going fantastic. I've made it to the top of the year actually, thanks mostly to the time I spend with you guys. Even when you aren't directly tutoring me, you guys keep teaching me all kinds of things, making my classes much easier than I thought they would be." Luna said, smiling at Harry.
"Oh, I'm glad. Sorry I can't be more help though. I'm great on the practical side of magic, but pretty pants at the theory side. Hermione, Padma, Susan, and Daphne have to check over my work all the time when I turn in papers." Harry said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Oh, you're plenty of help Harry. Your help with confidence in casting is great, plus you seem to be able to know exactly what I'm doing wrong to correct me." Luna said, keeping her smile on him.
"Oh, well thanks I guess." Harry said, giving a small smile as he flushed red.
"I see why all of the girls like you so much." Luna said simply.
"Oh not you too. Don't I get teased enough?" Harry asked defeated, as Luna simply laughed.
The early days of December saw three major events happen. Sadly, first was the petrification of one Colin Creevey, a Gryffindor first year who was friends with Ginny. Because of this, Hogwarts was put into lockdown, with no one allowed to leave the castle while they investigated who or what could be causing these incidents. The final major event was that Professor Lockhart decided to host a Dueling Club, in an attempt to teach students how to properly defend themselves from attackers.
Harry was torn on what to think about the Dueling club. On one hand, Harry truly enjoyed his dueling lessons, and his practice spars with Flitwick and a few of the older students had been some of the highlights of his time at Hogwarts. On the other hand, it was Lockhart running the class, a man who Harry was quite convinced had never actually successfully cast a spell in his life. At the urging of not only the Sphinx Club, but Professor Flitwick, Harry relented and went to the meeting.
"Greetings students, while I likely need no introduction, allow me to do it regardless. I am Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin recipient and honorary member of the English Dueling Society, and welcome to the second year meeting of my new Dueling club. Here I intend to give those who are interested some extra lessons in how to properly defend themselves. Now, I believe we shall start with a demonstration. I will duel with our special guest, Head of Slytherin House, Severus Snape." Professor Lockhart said, waving his arms towards the dark presence that was the Potions professor.
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