章節 25: 25 Dueling
Susan rushed back into her dorm with a grin plastered on her face, surprising Hannah who was just getting out of bed.
"Hannah! You won't believe what just happened!" Susan exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement.
Hannah was taken aback by Susan's sudden burst of energy, this early in the morning. "What is it? What happened?" she asked, curious but still tired.
"I asked Lucas to teach me dueling, and he said yes!" Susan replied, her grin widening.
Hannah's eyes widened in surprise and she said with a barely noticable frown of jealousy . "Wow, that's amazing!"
"I know, right?" Susan said, not noticing her roommate's expression in her excitement "I can't wait to get started. Just the two of us all alone."
Hannah watched the crimson blsuh on Susan's face. She nodded, trying to push aside her own feelings of jealousy and genuinely be supportive of her friend. "I'm sure you'll learn a lot from him," she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. "Just remember to stay focused and practice hard. Dueling can be tough, but with Lucas's guidance, you'll do great."
Susan nodded, her excitement showing no signs of waning. "I will, Hannah. I really want to get better. I don't want to be a burden for Aunty."
Hannah's heart softened as she saw the sincerity in Susan's eyes, pushing aside her own desires. 'I will find my own Lucas. And maybe it doesn't work out for them. No, what am I thinking? Of course I hope it works out for her. Calm down Hannah it will be alright.'
----
A little later at the Slytherin table two girls were eating breakfast.
Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass.
"You know Daph. I met a boy a few days ago, who reminded me of you." Tracey said with a somber look.
Daphne Greengrass looked up from her plate, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. She was already pushing the limits in term of expression. She wasn't called the ice queen of Slytherin for nothing, "Oh, really? Do tell," she replied, intrigued by Tracey's remark.
Her sad look replaced by a mischievously smile, leaning in a bit closer. "Well, his name is Lucas, and he's in Hufflepuff. He's a great listener and also gives good advice, you would totally like him. Maybe even 'like like' him." she began, watching Daphne's reaction carefully.
Daphne's eyes narrowed slightly, clearly interested in what Tracey had to say. "Lucas, you say? What's so special about him that reminds you of me?" she inquired, her curiosity piqued.
"Oh not at all, he is the total opposite of you, open with his feelings, easygoing and very social .All the other Hufflepuffs only said nice things about him. And just maybe because he is so unlike you, you might actually like him. You saw him yesterday dueling Weasley."
With a sigh Daphe answered "Tracey, I already told you I have no time for a relationship."
Her friend pouted but did not stop "Come on Daph, you would be perfect together."
"How did you even meet, to have such a favourable opinion of him?"
Tracey's expression turned sad again and she looked down at her almost empty plate. Fork in hand, she began to play with her food as she started to recount what happened. "I met him a few days ago after running into Draco. He said... He was his usual self, saying this and that" her expression turned sour and she aggresively stabbed her food "You were still in bed and I didn't want to whine to you again. Afterwards I ran to the Great Hall which was mostly empty and there I met him. He came over to me after he saw my state and cheered me up."
"He cheered you up?" Daphne asked "That's good? What did he say, if you don't mind me asking?"
Tracey's sad expression faded, replaced by a small smile as she recalled the moment. "He just talked to me, you know?" she replied. "He didn't judge or criticize. He was just there, offering a listening ear and understanding. I don't know how, but he made me feel better, like everything would be okay."
"He sounds like a good friend to have," Daphne said gently. "Maybe I should meet him and see for myself."
Tracey's face brightened, and she gave Daphne a hopeful look. "You should! I think you'll like him, and who knows, maybe there will be more in the future."
Daphne sighed helplessly, giving up on arguing with her friend "Maybe"
----
Later that evening in the same room the dueling club was held.
Lucas was currently standing opposite of Susan on top of the long table.
"So, how much do you know about dueling?" Lucas inquired, curious about Susan's experience. He wanted to know how much noble children were actually taught before attending Hogwarts.
"You do know that I come from a noble family, right?" Susan replied with a hint of pride.
"Yes" Lucas acknowledged
"Well, my aunt hired teachers for me in all kinds of subjects, including combat spells. They covered all spells up to the third year, and some fourth year spells were exceptions," Susan explained.
"Sounds like you've already got a solid foundation," Lucas remarked. "Then how about we go for a practice round, just for me to see how your standards are."
Susan nodded, accepting Lucas's challenge. She raised her wand, readying herself for the practice duel. "Alright, let's do it," she said to herself, trying to suppress her nerves.
Both took a few steps back.
"Ready when you are, and don't hold back."
Susan nodded before starting the duell by shooting a disarming spell "Expelliarmus!"
Lucas deftly sidestepped Susan's disarming spell, countering with his own "Expelliarmus!"
Susan reacted quickly, conjuring a Shield Charm to block the spell just in time. Her determination to improve her dueling skills was evident as she swiftly cast a Stunning Spell in return, "Stupefy!"
Lucas, never one to be caught off guard, evaded the Stunning Spell and retaliated with a well timed "Depulso!"
Susan attempted to mimic his movements and evade the magic, but her reflexes weren't fast enough, and the Banishing Charm struck her leg, propelling her backward while spinning uncontrollably.
The room was extensively enchanted with cushioning charms, so nothing serious could happen.
The world was spinning for Susan as she opened her eyes again.
As the world whirled around her she tried to regain her composure. Lucas was already by her side, extending his arm to help her up. However, Susan's disorientation caused her to miss his arm the first time she reached for it, and she felt her face flush with embarrassment.
Lucas smiled warmly, kneeling down and taking her hand directly. "No problem. It happens to the best of us," he reassured her, before helping her to regain her footing. "Just take a moment to catch your breath, and we can continue."
Susan nodded gratefully, taking a deep breath to center herself. Her embarassment slowly faded, as did her blush and the world stopped spinning.
"Ok, there are a few things you can work on. Firstly, incantations. Try to get familiar with your spells to the point you don't have to yell their names. It makes it harder for your opponent to prepare for an upcoming spell. Secondly, reflexes, if you can react faster to an attack you can counter faster, makes sense right. And lastly, movement. In other words, train your body. You were too slow and inflexible to dodge my spell. These are the most crucial aspects of dueling I think." Lucas lectured her on her shortcomings. "You mentioned earlier you knew the spells up to year 4, how many are you confident enough to pull off in a duel?"
Susan listened attentively, impressed that Lucas had already found areas where she could improve in "I should be able to use all spells from this and last year effectively, the third year ones and up, I'm not that good in."
"That's good. I suggest you start with the first year ones and practice them until you can use them chantlessly, while doing that, you can also start training your body, stick to easier exercises at the start. The training should improve your reflexes automatically a little bit, but you can also work on them seperately."
Suddenly Lucas' expression completely vanished, like someone turned off his emotions. His face turning stone cold and he looked at Susan like she was a cold lifeless robot.
Susan trying to gather her courage to ask Lucas if he wanted to train together was unaware of his abrupt changes. She looked at the floor unable to meet his eyes while she fiddled with a strand of her brown hair. "Do you want to.. train together? You don't have to if you don't want to. It's no big deal, but if you want..."
Susan stopped her sentence the moment she looked up. What greeted her were eyes so indifferent that she wondered if the person looking at her was still alive. Susan felt her heart sink as she watched Lucas's cold and distant demeanor. She couldn't understand what had happened, what went wrong. Her mind was racing with questions. As she began to panicking, thinking about what she did wrong, a monotonous voice brought her back to reality "I think it is best we end this now."
Lucas stared at her coolly, he watched her tearing up before running out of the room, all without changing his expression. Once she was out of his sight he entered his mind and went back into that secret room.
Once he was inside he saw the same hexagon with his other self inside, but with far less translucent strings floating around.
"It got worse again. This time I lost my grip totally."
"Just a little longer, I'm on it."
"I can see that, but I fear it won't be fast enough now that you totally cut me off. I can only pretend to have emotions for so long."
"How is the situation outside?"
"We lost Hermione, alienated the other protagonists and just recently scared off Susan. We also met Snape."
"WHAT? That's worse than I thought. How did you loose Hermione, I thought that wouldn't be possible?"
"Holly is smarter than we thought, if it weren't for her I could have done anything to Hermione without anyone noticing. And with me being cut off I couldn't convince her that our relationship was mutual."
"Why didn't you use Legilimency?"
"Oh please, the risk far outweighed the reward. Maybe if I were still connected then I would have gone for it, however, I judged it to be the better course of action. And I did not permanently cut her off, if my calculations are correct she currently should be fighting with herself, whether she should forgive us and come back."
"That's not what I planned!"
"We should have thought about that before we ran amok in the summer."
"*Sigh* Ok. Anything new about Holly?"
"Still a mystery, but it shouldn't surprise us if she is the Horcrux."
"How likely do you think it is?"
"62% she is a Horcrux, 37% it is Harry and 1% they are both."
"What about Snape?"
"He should only have been able to confirm that we are a Legilimens he didn't probe how strong or how much we know. Dumbledore most likely told him to just observe us."
"That's good. Do I need to worry about Susan?"
"Not really, she still has a crush on us, so she will write it off as her own mistake."
"How are the books going?"
"We already have 5 from the restricted section with one more coming in a few days, as well as several from the normal library."
"Are any of them medical books?"
"No"
"Why not? Don't you want to help mom?"
"I think you forgot something. I Do Not Have Emotions. I Do Not Feel Anything"
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