Chapter 6: EgoChapter Text"Mate," said George, "you look like shit."
James Stark glared at him. "Fuck off."
"No need to be rude," said George casually, sitting down across James, uncaring of the stares he drew from the surrounding Ravenclaws. "So what's got you in this mood?"
"Couldn't sleep," James groused.
"Yeah, I get that," George said. "Graham likes to bring over that girlfriend of his at night whenever he reckons he can get away with it. It's bloody gross is what it is."
"Graham?"
"Yeah, Jack Graham. Our year, Gryffindor, looks a bit like a dumpling."
"Right, yes, that one." James, after a moment, shuddered. Probably making the mistake of imagining Graham at night with his girlfriend. "Davies likes to do that sometimes."
"Oh?" George said, leaning in.
"I cast a Silencing Charm on him whenever he tries," said James. "I don't really know what he does with his girlfriend. Nor do I really want to know."
"Well, knowing his atrocious Quidditch skills, I've no doubt that he aims for the wrong hole every time," George said, and James choked on the orange juice he was drinking.
"What are you doing here anyway?" James asked, changing the topic.
"What, am I not allowed to visit my friend who's looking like rubbish?"
"Depends on whether you're here to cheer me up like a friend should, or to rub it in my face."
"A bit of both, I reckon."
George took a moment to stack his plate with pancakes and drizzle a generous amount of syrup onto it. James had stolen a bowl of mixed berries from the group of girls sitting next to them and was tossing them in his mouth like popcorn. George was slightly distracted by a pretty blonde Ravenclaw that passed by the two of them.
"Stand in line like the rest of us," James said, idly stirring his cup of tea.
"She looks familiar."
"Yeah, your brother's dating her older sister."
"Her sister's Penny Clearwater?"
"Mhm," said James. "You've never met Victoria?"
George shrugged. "Maybe I did and just forgot."
It might be a bit rude, but honestly, George didn't bother remembering people that weren't interesting to him. James was interesting. Harry Potter was interesting. Percy Weasley decidedly was not interesting, and if he weren't part of his family, George would probably forget Percy's name unless he was constantly reminded of it.
"Ready for Arithmancy?"
"When am I not?"
George, to his surprise, actually enjoyed the subject. He'd been more than suspicious when James invited him along. Fred had turned down the offer, going with the less study-intensive Divination instead. Admittedly, George had struggled at first, but with James' help, he'd had the last laugh over Fred, who continued to grumble about Trelawney's senseless lectures.
They stood, and James released an almighty crackle from his spine as he twisted his body. They left the Great Hall, a little before the rest of the student body would, barely beating the crowd. Their bags trailed after them, floating in the air — because bugger what the professors said, they deserved to use magic in the hallways.
"Good morning, gentlemen," Professor Vector said as they arrived to class. "Any new projects, Mr. Stark?"
It was ironic, George thought, that the strictest teacher in the school — except maybe Snape, and possiblyMcGonagall — would adore James Stark, Ravenclaw delinquent, as her star student.
"Yes, actually," said James, removing a sheet of parchment that was placed carefully between the pages of his Arithmancy textbook. Curious, Professor Vector approached him, and James handed her the sheet. Her eyes scanned through the document.
"A Lumos variant?" Vector reread several portions. "With elements of heat… the Hot Air Charm. A Lumos that produces no light? I'm not sure I understand."
"It doesn't produce visible light," James said. "Theoretically, the spell will produce microwaves."
"Microwaves?" George asked. "Isn't that some sort of oven that muggles use?"
"The microwave oven uses microwaves to cook food, yes," said James.
"So this spell cooks food?" Vector asked, handing it back.
James gave a small smile. "Among other things."
"Professor," said Clearwater from the door, having apparently watched the interaction. Vector turned to her. "I also brought something I'd like you to see, if you're willing."
"Of course," Vector said, taking parchment from her. George could barely make out the cramped writing, with neat diagrams and explanations attached. Quite unlike James' creative process; while James' handwriting was neat, his sketches were not, and he had little sense of organization on his page, with random thoughts and comments placed wherever there was space on the parchment.
"Is she challenging me?" James whispered.
"Are you going to take this lying down?" Cedric whispered back, and George snickered.
"Very impressive," Vector said finally; Clearwater straightened as she took back the parchment. "Very impressive indeed. If I must guess, this is a variant of the Confundus Charm."
"It works to disorient," Clearwater said. "It has an area of effect, rather than concentrating on one person. As such, the effect lessens the more people are in the area, but…"
"But a regular Confundus Charm will already do that," said the bored voice of Lyra Malfoy as she walked into the room. "You just have to be powerful enough."
Victoria Clearwater utterly ignored her.
"Still quite impressive," said Vector. "Take five points for Ravenclaw."
George could've sworn that Clearwater glanced back to look at James. James clearly noticed as well: his parchment crumpled a little in his grip before he got a hold of himself. George frowned internally. James had never seemed to care much about Clearwater until recently.
The tension generated by James' and Clearwater's subtle war was broken when Lyra slumped into the seat to the right of Cedric, her head hung back dramatically, as if even showing up brought her agony. "Why did I take this class..."
Soon, the rest of the class trickled in. There weren't that many in their year — Vector was pretty strict and, as was rumored, gave out a lot of homework, so many students opted for other electives instead. There had also been a few that dropped out of the class after the first couple of days.
If they'd stayed a bit longer, they might have learned that Professor Vector really didn't care about the completion of homework compared to one's understanding (much to George's relief). She handed out homework as remedial work; those who showcased sufficient knowledge of the class didn't have to complete it. If not for this fact, James Stark — whose homework was routinely drawn on, turned into paper airplanes, exploded, and so forth — would not be Vector's favorite student in their cohort.
"Welcome, everyone," said Vector, mentally tallying the attending students. "Yesterday we finished our reading of chapter five of Numerology 2, which pertained to geometrical favoritism, if you recall. Today we'll be going through the contents of chapter six, and if time allows, we'll begin discussing chapter seven as well."
George almost groaned. No homework was nice, but the fact that they were scheduled to go through the entire textbook in only three months said something about Vector's teaching practices during class-time.
Vector expected her students to read ahead during their own time, with a more detailed explanation covered in class. George followed along in James' copy of the book — James, for his part, just folded his arms and stared at the professor, a calculating look in his eyes. His gaze occasionally flickered to the sample diagrams and calculations on the blackboard, but for the most part, he settled for listening to Vector.
However, George nonetheless glanced every so often at Clearwater, and whenever she raised her hand to answer a question correctly, George saw that the corners of James' mouth would tighten, though only slightly. It wasn't like James at all. He was never a jealous sort. Other people's superior knowledge or skills never bothered him.
"You alright?" George finally leaned in and asked.
"Peachy," said James.
He didn't sound it.
"...And can anyone tell me the minimum number of sides that are required to stabilize this configuration?" Vector asked. "Miss Clearwater?"
"At least nine," she said promptly.
"Quite so. Although you can reduce the number through more advanced methods —"
"Six," James interrupted. "It's possible to arrange hexagons in three-dimensional, warped conformations to minimize strain."
Vector paused. "Indeed," she said. "Although I would appreciate if you didn't interrupt me when I'm speaking."
If George spoke out of turn like that, he'd have lost points for sure.
"This is beyond the curriculum, and you will not be assessed on it. It is covered in your N.E.W.T. curriculum, should you choose to take N.E.W.T. Arithmancy."
"Calm down, mate," Cedric said, leaning in. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," said James curtly.
"I don't believe you," said George bluntly. If he listened really hard, he reckoned he could hear James' teeth grinding.
"My apologies," said James abruptly, and George blinked. "I didn't intend anything by it."
George watched as James smoothed out his face into a blank mask and acted the perfect student, seemingly paying the entirety of his attention to Vector and the blackboard. But it wasn't real — it couldn't be, could it? Nobody could change their emotions so abruptly. One possibility was that he was using Occlumency to control his emotions — at least, George thought it was. Bill was the only Occlumens in the family, and his explanation on what it actually was hadn't been particularly detailed.
"Oi," he whispered, "what's Occlumency?"
James gave him a bland glance. "It's what you use to protect yourself from Legilimency."
"That's it?"
"Basically."
"Bill said it can be used for a bunch of things, like controlling your emotions."
"Yeah," said James. "I suppose you could. The mental techniques you use for Occlumency can be used to control your thoughts and emotions… But it's not Occlumency doing it. Flying skills provide the same foundation for playing Beater or playing Chaser. Something like that. It is useful if you want to sleep dreamlessly, for example."
"You're an Occlumens, right? How come you don't sleep well?"
James's brow furrowed and he hesitated. "I don't know."
With that vaguely disturbing statement, James lapsed back into silence, leaving George to be bored on his own. If he'd sat in James' seat, he would've been able to talk to Cedric without drawing Vector's attention. He sighed before half-heartedly focusing on Vector's lecture.
Once again, Hermione could only marvel at the soft bundle of cloth in her hands.
When Harry wore it, any part of his body covered would disappear. Yet, despite her hands being hidden underneath the cloak, the cloth remained opaque, a beautiful, shimmering silver. It was as if the cloak knew the difference between being carried and being worn.
Lyra appeared to be in a very good mood indeed, as she almost skipped her way to the Room of Requirement. Hermione followed, feeling some worry and a bit of jealousy she tried to quash. It would've been nice if she could bring her parents… She dearly wished she could share the awe that she felt on her first night at Hogwarts with her mum and dad.
Lyra paced impatiently in front of the blank stretch of wall, before a door popped into existence. She threw open the small, inconspicuous door and walked into a circular room, at the center of which was the Vanishing Cabinet.
Hermione hadn't known about this object until today. By apparent coincidence, Lyra had found the other of the pair at some antiques store, and had nagged Mrs. Malfoy into buying it. Again, Hermione felt some jealousy, this time at the fact that the antiques markets that she went to only had ugly t-shirts and other rubbish that smelled of cigarette smoke.
"You've met my mum, haven't you?" Lyra asked idly, standing in front of the cabinet.
"At Diagon Alley," said Hermione. Lyra glanced at her wristwatch and waited.
At precisely half-past seven, Narcissa Malfoy stepped out of the cabinet with great dignity. Hermione marveled at how smooth and graceful she was, despite the fact that she was literally stepping out of a piece of furniture. Mrs. Malfoy was dressed in smooth black robes with silver accents, the barest sparkle of jewelry completing the picture of a wealthy aristocrat.
"Lyra," she said warmly, even as Hermione's friend dove into her arms.
"It's good to see you again," said Lyra.
"It's only been three days since our last meeting," Mrs. Malfoy said, amused. "But it's good to see you too."
"Three days?" Hermione said, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah, hello, Hermione, dear," Mrs. Malfoy said, peeling away from Lyra. "And yes. Lyra, being the spoiled little princess that she is, takes the opportunity to sleep in her own bed at home instead of the Hogwarts beds."
"Mum," whined Lyra. "I don't do that." She turned to Hermione. "I've Transfigured my dorm bed into a bigger and better one. Ask Clearwater what she thinks of it." She grinned, then clapped her hands. "Right. We've brought you something to hide with."
"Is that an Invisibility Cloak?" Mrs. Malfoy asked.
"It's not just anInvisibility Cloak," Lyra said. "It's a Potter family heirloom, apparently. Seriously good quality. So, uh, try not to get hit by anything while you're wearing it."
Mrs. Malfoy rolled her eyes and she draped the cloak over her shoulders, becoming a floating head in the darkened room. "I'll not see the Cloak damaged, don't you worry."
They stepped out of the Room of Requirement, the door shrinking into nonexistence behind them.
"I can't believe I agreed to this still," said Mrs. Malfoy from beneath the Cloak. "Covering your mother in drapery like some unwanted furniture, good grief."
"Hey, you said you wanted to spend more time with me," said Lyra, her joy so clear it was almost infectious.
"So I did," said Mrs. Malfoy, the smile audible in her voice even if she was invisible. "It will be interesting to walk through these halls again, I admit. And I am intrigued to see you duel, too."
Hermione rather liked it when Lyra was genuinely happy like this. Despite often making jokes and not taking things very seriously, Hermione rarely saw pure joy in her. There was always an undercurrent of seriousness there.
"I wonder who will be supervising," Hermione said.
"Perhaps Flitwick," Mrs. Malfoy said. "They say he was a dueling champion in his youth. Though Severus might be in attendance as well."
"What makes you say that?" asked Lyra, from curiosity rather than any sense of disagreement.
"Severus was a most voracious duelist when he was younger," said Mrs. Malfoy. "He came close to defeating me several times."
"But not quite?"
"Not quite," Mrs. Malfoy said. "I can't wait to see the look on his face when he realizes that I'm in attendance."
"Mrs. Malfoy, is that… wise?" Hermione asked. "I don't know if that's against the rules…"
"Most assuredly," Mrs. Malfoy said. "But Severus clearly doesn't care about the rules either, when he can get away with it. As a Gryffindor yourself, I imagine you know well about Severus' propensity to ignore or enforce the rules as it suits him."
Hermione's thoughts on that matter must have leaked onto her face, because Narcissa Malfoy laughed softly.
"So, Hermione, will you be dueling tonight?" Mrs. Malfoy asked.
Before she could answer, Lyra placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Of course she is," Lyra answered in her stead. "We wouldn't want to let all your training go to waste now, would we?"
"Training?"
"I've been teaching her a little of this and that," said Lyra, a hint of pride in her voice. "She's surprisingly good at it, no matter how much she denies it."
"I'm not," Hermione protested, prompting soft chuckling from thin air. "I'm nowhere near as good as you or James or Cedric…"
"They have more experience than you, dear," said Mrs. Malfoy. "And James is a fantastic duelist."
"Know who's better?" said Lyra.
"You, on the other hand," said Mrs. Malfoy, "have let it all go to your head. You might do well with a humbling defeat or two."
"James is a lot more arrogant than I am."
Hermione hesitated, not wanting to talk badly of her friend.
"And he's a lot worse than usual about it," Lyra added, saying out loud what Hermione had been thinking.
"Oh?" Mrs. Malfoy asked.
"Yeah," she said, frowning. "He's just more prideful lately. I performed a charm better than him the other day and it put him in a bad mood." She frowned. "He's in a bad mood a lot lately."
Narcissa Malfoy remained quiet and Lyra fell into a thoughtful silence. No one talked the rest of the way down to the Great Hall, where the Dueling Club would be held. As they walked through the massive entranceway, they saw the long tables had vanished, replaced by a long, golden catwalk on the center, and a large golden stage where the staff table would usually be. The many thousands of candles floating high in the ceiling had dimmed, giving the hall a much more mystical appearance.
"They've certainly spent some time on aesthetics," Mrs. Malfoy said. "I daresay they succeeded, if their goal was to impress."
The students began trickling in; some were already having mock-duels in the midst of the crowd, being a general nuisance to all. Both older and younger students came in, murmuring amongst themselves, though there weren't many as this seemed to be an introduction to dueling. Hermione spied a tall figure in a black robe flow into the room, the students parting before him. Beside her, Hermione heard Mrs. Malfoy stifle a laugh as Severus Snape scowled at the students scurrying out of his way.
"Oh, Severus," she murmured, "never change, will you?"
"I dunno," Lyra said. "Would be nice if he wasn't such a bitch."
"Lyra," Hermione said, then blushed as Mrs. Malfoy laughed.
"You'll be a prefect," Mrs. Malfoy said to Hermione, who flushed further.
"I mean… I would like to be?" Hermione said weakly.
"I can tell," Mrs. Malfoy said dryly.
Hermione saw a mop of fiery-red hair on a lanky frame and grinned. She waved. It took them a moment to notice. Harry elbowed Ron in the ribs, pointed at Hermione, whispered something, and came pushing through the crowd over to them.
"Perhaps I'll go greet Severus," Mrs. Malfoy said mildly as the boys approached.
"Hey, Hermione," said Harry. "Hi, Lyra."
"Professor Snape's attending," Hermione said, and Harry's smile turned upside down. "Oh, don't pull that face. Mrs. Malfoy said he was a voracious duelist when he was younger."
"That's even worse," Ron said. "This just means he finally has an excuse to humiliate us."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "He's got more sense than that, Ron."
As Ron and Harry looked around for more newcomers, Hermione turned towards Professor Snape. She couldn't hear anything, but she saw the dour professor jump in surprise, almost turning his wand on the invisible assailant. Then she saw him scowl, and Hermione thought she heard feminine laughter.
"Your mum's more like you than she cares to admit," Hermione said to Lyra.
"Don't tell her that. Wait, is that James?" Lyra said, standing on her tiptoes to look over the heads of everyone in the way. "I think it is."
"Does he see us?" Hermione asked. She couldn't see much, being shorter than Lyra.
Lyra withdrew her wand and waved it in a loose circle. "Expecto Patronum."
From the tip of her wand burst a beautiful silver cat that circled above their heads twice before flying towards the entrance. The students watched the animal soar through the air. It sparkled brilliantly, like a ray of morning sunlight shining through rolling fog in a lush valley. Hermione wasn't too sure, but it felt like a comforting warmth had descended upon her shoulders like a mantle.
"Lyra," Cedric said, as they approached. "You finally mastered the Patronus?"
"Took you long enough," said James, seeming to be in a good mood, a rarer occurrence as time went on.
"Had better things to do than learn this useless charm," said Lyra as the feline bathed her paws. Then she looked at some unseen object of interest and pounced, disappearing into mist in the process. "Hm. Must've gone off to fight the dementors hundreds of miles from here."
"You'll be glad you learned it one day," said James. "Only a matter of time before they send dementors after you."
"I'd love to see them try," said Lyra, unconcerned.
"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Ron, looking around.
"As long as it's not—" Harry said, but trailed off, groaning. Hermione turned and saw Professor Lockhart on the elevated stage, waving at the students, trying to calm them down.
"Can everyone hear —? Good, good," said Professor Lockhart. "Then welcome, everyone, to our little dueling club! Headmaster Dumbledore has given me permission to start this up, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves — as I have done countless times in the past."
"Now let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," continued Lockhart. "He assures me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself, and sportingly agreed to help me with a little demonstration."
Hermione glanced at Professor Snape, whose face might very well have been carved from rock. She felt a little sorry for Professor Lockhart, but frankly, the more he talked, the more he dug his own grave.
The two professors stood on opposite sides of the catwalk, their wands held at the ready. Hermione winced as Professor Snape's Disarming Charm sent Professor Lockhart into the wall. The Slytherins cheered, and Hermione was fairly certain she heard Lyra cheer as well before an invisible figure smacked her.
"Excellent — ah — demonstration, Professor Snape," Lockhart said, his smile a bit shakier than usual. "I could've blocked that, of course, but for educational purposes I thought it best to let it connect…"
"Looks like there's one person Snape hates more than you, eh, Harry?" James said, leaning in. Ron snorted a little.
"He's such a fool," Cedric said with a sigh. "I don't understand what was going through the Headmaster's mind when he hired this man."
"He was probably thinking, 'I really need to find another Defense professor before the Ministry chooses one for me,'" said James. "Or he was just stoned. Whichever."
"Why do you keep insisting the Headmaster does drugs?" said Hermione, both annoyed and amazed. Cedric and James shared an unreadable look as Lyra gave a low laugh. Lockhart's voice cut them off.
"Into pairs you go!" he said. "Divide yourselves up, find some space —"
Harry and Ron looked at each other, before suddenly, Professor Snape was looming over them, a sneer on his face.
"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he said, his eyes scanning the students around him. "Weasley, you can pair with Finnigan."
Harry shuffled closer to Hermione.
"Oh, I don't think so," said Snape. "Potter… Mr. Malfoy, come here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger — you can partner with Miss Bulstrode."
Hermione's heart plummeted as she faced off against a mean-looking girl with at least half a foot and three stone over her. Her weak smile was not returned by the girl, who just gained a malicious glint in her eyes.
"You'll do fine," said James, then he paused. Lyra had partnered with Cedric — now flipping James the bird — and James' eyes widened in horror as he realized that Professor Snape was the only one who didn't seem to have a partner.
"You'll do fine," Hermione mocked, and James gave her the stink eye before walking over to the impersonable professor with bravado. She turned instead to her opponent, who sneered.
"Everyone with a partner? Ah, even you, Professor Snape!" Lockhart laughed. Hermione felt bad for James, knowing that Professor Snape would be in an even fouler mood. "Well, everyone bow!"
Hermione bowed politely to Millicent Bulstrode, who didn't even bother with the act. She ground her teeth at the sheer disrespect she was being shown. She wanted to be that way? Fine. Hermione would show her.
Master a few spells, rang Lyra's voice in her head. What's the point of learning three different versions of slowing or freezing charms?
"On the count of three — one, two —"
Bulstrode whipped up her wand and sent a bolt of rather nasty-looking red light in Hermione's direction. Hermione squeaked, barely dodging out of the way as her body turned sluggish in her response to fear.
"Locomotor Wibbly!" Bulstrode snarled, sending orange light her way. However, the wand movements for that spell were long and tedious, and Hermione saw it coming. She stepped to the side, neatly dodging it, and settled into the dueling stance Lyra had shown her, casual and loose; though Hermione didn't think she could pull off a casual stance like Lyra could.
"I can do this," she muttered to herself, before shouting, "Stupefy!"
The spell missed, hitting some poor upperclassmen behind them. Bulstrode stepped forward, likely trying to intimidate Hermione, but she only found this to be the perfect opportunity. From this distance, she couldn't miss.
"Expelliarmus!"
Unlike Professor Snape, her spell only had enough power to send the wand clattering out of Bulstrode's hand, and the Slytherin girl stared for a moment at her empty fingers. Then she snarled, and lunged barehanded at Hermione, who dodged back with a gasp.
Then Millicent Bulstrode's outstretched arms and feral grin crashed into an invisible barrier that conjured itself in front of Hermione. The Slytherin staggered back, dazed, and Hermione blinked.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"No need to thank me, dear," came Mrs. Malfoy's silky voice from just behind her.
As Bulstrode stomped away in search of her wand, Hermione looked around, finding James and Professor Snape. To her surprise, James wasn't doing too badly, though he looked a bit frustrated, and Professor Snape didn't seem to be trying too hard.
Still, judging from the look Professor Snape was giving James, it was still an accomplishment. There almost seemed to be a small gleam in his black eyes, almost as if he were enjoying himself. But then he noticed everyone's attention on their duel, and it was like a switch flipped.
One moment it was only James firing off spells as Professor Snape almost lazily deflected them, the next it was Professor Snape firing off what must've been half a dozen spells in the blink of an eye. Two missed, one sent James' wand flying, and the other three put James to the ground, wrapped in rope, and hanging upside down. Hermione wasn't sure which spell did what.
"Now, now, Severus, let's not get too excited," Professor Lockhart said as the audience clapped and whispered in excitement. "But excellent show, truly! I didn't think that a fourth-year could push you so hard, ha-ha!"
Hermione swore she could hear Professor Snape's teeth grinding.
"Maybe I'll challenge you next, Professor Lockhart," said James, using some wandless spell to burn through the ropes and fall to the ground. He stood up and Summoned his wand back into his hand. Professor Lockhart's smile faded a bit.
"Excellent suggestion," Professor Snape said, sneering. "Perhaps you'll do better than I did, Gilderoy."
"Ah — as much as I'd love to, I'd have all of these students to watch over!" Professor Lockhart said. "We need to make sure they don't get injured, eh? In any case, I think I should teach you all to block spells before teaching you to duel. I'll need a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you two?
"A bad idea, Professor," Professor Snape said. "Longbottom causes constant disasters in the classroom. I'd imagine if we let him be the demonstration we'd be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley to the hospital wing in a matchbox." He sneered. "How about Potter and Malfoy?"
"They're second-years, they won't know the Shield Charm," said James. "Let Cedric and Lyra duel."
"Ten points from Ravenclaw," Snape said immediately.
"Oho," said Professor Lockhart, "now that's something a little more exciting! Mr. Diggory, Miss Malfoy?"
The two shrugged and got up on the stage, facing each other from twenty or so feet away. A thrill of excitement went through Hermione. She wondered if her admiration of Lyra would be dashed or reinforced.
Cedric settled into his position, and Lyra — Lyra didn't really do anything. She just stood there, wand held loosely in her hand, her stance casual, almost bored. As far as Hermione knew, the two had never dueled. She didn't know if Lyra regularly dueled anyone.
"Stupe —" yelled Cedric, the first to cast, but he stopped halfway through for some reason. He didn't seem sure why himself. "Incarc —" But again, it was as if his mind had stalled halfway through.
Hermione's first thought was the Confundus Charm, but Lyra's wand hadn't even twitched. Maybe Lyra had learned to cast it without wand movements, as many skilled wizards can do with any spell.
Cedric gave a petulant face. "Lyra."
"What?" said Lyra innocently, giving a light shrug. "Did you forget the incantations?"
Cedric tried again, this time without a verbal incantation, but Hermione could tell he was blocked again. He turned to Professor Snape, who was watching Lyra with sharp eyes.
"Professor!" said Cedric. "She can't use Legilimency, can she?"
"An opponent capable of such will not play fair," said Professor Snape, eyes not leaving Lyra, "but for this demonstration, I'm inclined to agree. Miss Malfoy, keep your mind to yourself. Do not interfere with Mr. Diggory's thoughts. It is not only considered very rude," he said, sounding like he wanted to roll his eyes, "but also against school rules."
Lyra shrugged again, unbothered. "Was just showing the kids one of the ways to block spells." And without waiting a beat she twitched her wand, something white bolting out of its end so quickly that even though Cedric dodged, his shirt was still singed from where it passed. "On your toes, Cedric," she said lightly.
It was clear to anyone watching that she could have ended the duel right then and there, but hadn't so as to keep it going.
"Petrificus Totalus!" said Cedric, jabbing his wand forward. Then another spell shot out after, wordlessly, and Lyra side-stepped both and flung some spell at him, the orange light zigzagging so jaggedly that Cedric hesitated three different times before it finally clashed with his Shield Charm along with the other four spells Lyra had cast in the time.
"Well done!" said Professor Lockhart, seeming impressed himself. "See how Mr. Diggory hesitated —"
But he was cut off as Cedric shot several spells at Lyra, his wand swishing so swiftly it was a blur —
Yet none of the spells needed to be blocked by a Shield Charm; they all dissipated halfway, one after another. Cedric frowned, clearly frustrated that he couldn't even land a hit, and cast some spell so powerful that Hermione's hairs on her arms stood on end. It blew past them, slower than his earlier spells but certainly more devastating.
Rather than dissolving the spell, Lyra slashed her wand through the air and turned sideways, narrowing herself as much as possible. The spell, it seemed, had been cut in half, just enough to let her slip between the two parts of it.
Hermione and all the other students her age were amazed, both at Cedric's powerful spells and Lyra's casual avoidance of them. She didn't even know you could cut spells in half like that.
Then Lyra made a spiralling movement with her wand, immediately throwing Cedric on the defensive, and some glowing-blue helix was blown toward Cedric's feet. It landed right in front of him with the physics of a rope, and before they could wonder what the purpose was — Lyra pointed her wand upward and slashed it down hard, as if wanting to hit a fly out of the air, and —
Hermione screamed. The ceiling broke apart, as if a heavy boulder had been thrown on top of it, and it came plummeting down on top of Cedric who widened his eyes as he dove and conjured a Shield Charm simultaneously. Even Narcissa made a small gasp.
But the heavy rocks fell right through Cedric, and the stage and the ground; and Hermione looked up and saw the ceiling was intact and it had been nothing but an illusion. And when she looked back down, Cedric was already wrapped in that glowing blue rope Lyra had conjured, having dove right on top of it — as Lyra had planned.
Hermione was the first to clap, and most of the room soon joined in.
"And she says I'm too flashy," said James, enjoying watching Cedric squirm on the ground.
"Well, it's a different kind of flashy," said Hermione, having to speak louder than the applause. "Hers are too, but they're subtle and misleading."
"Yes, well done indeed!" said Lockhart.
"Ten points from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff," said Snape, seeming annoyed. "For showing off."
"Oh, come now," said Lockhart, laughing. "That was a wondrous display!"
"Wondrous and useless to the students who need the knowledge," drawled Snape. "They cannot, yet at any rate, defend themselves in such a manner. Legilimency is an immensely difficult skill to learn; splitting spells requires fine precision and more power than required to block the same spell with a Shield Charm; the same would apply to Dispelling. A simpler path would be best for them now, I think, until —"
"Oh, nonsense!" said Lockhart, causing one of Snape's eyes to twitch. "Now they've seen what more advanced duels look like. Well, back to your pairs, everyone! Go on, keep practicing."
Snape looked as though he was sincerely planning Lockhart's murder.
The room got busy again with spellfire, but Hermione decided to sit it out this time, as did the others. Harry, Ron, and Cedric talked amongst themselves and James seemed to be stuck in his own thoughts again, his brow furrowed.
"You're a better duelist than I was at your age," said Mrs. Malfoy to Lyra. "I'm quite proud of you, dear. Though, again," she said as Lyra's lip twitched with satisfaction, "do not let it get to your head."
Lyra's face went flat.
"And you, James," said Mrs. Malfoy, turning to him. "Keep at it, dear, and you'll best Severus one day."
James' frown faded, and he smiled genuinely at the empty space Mrs. Malfoy stood.