It was clear to Harry that she was nervous but that admission left him more than a little taken aback. The last thing he ever expected to hear from her was that she did not want to hurt him, especially since his experiences of her previously had not been pleasant until he had gotten used to her in this timeline, something that had taken quite some time before the incident with the other Slytherins. Perhaps she truly did not want to hurt him or she was scared that he would see it as her truly wishing to harm him. Either way, it didn't bother him but he knew there was little he could do for her if she held back.
He chuckled and shook his head.
"I can't help you unless you show me what you've really got", he pointed out. "Trust me, I'm sure I can handle whatever it is you will throw at me".
Bellatrix looked at the boy and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Confident much?", she asked.
"You have to be confident in your own abilities to succeed", Harry returned with a grin.
He noticed that it was starting to get under her skin slightly as he goaded her with a little arrogance and he had a little brainwave.
"Come on", he sneered slightly. "Why don't you show me why everyone is so afraid of Bellatrix Black?" Bellatrix frowned, but took the bait and began sending spells at him at an extraordinary speed, a speed which caught Harry by surprise and hastily raising a shield before setting into a rhythm of dodging and batting the aside.
What was clear to him was the potential the girl had. She was not overly powerful but she was as fast as any he had dueled with and for a few brief moments he got a glimpse of what the girl had become in his time and how dangerous she could be.
Hel held up a hand to halt her in her efforts to maim him and she stopped, breathing heavily to the point of her chest heaving and a layer of perspiration forming on her skin.
She had impressed, there was no doubt and he was thanking his lucky stars that he knew how to defend against some of the spells she shot at him which were way beyond the average student still at school. "Good", he praised sincerely. "But I did notice a few things you do you could improve on in you the way you fight", he added.
Surprising him again Bellatrix merely nodded humbly and waited for him to explain. She did not argue or deny that there were improvements she could make and Harry had to pinch and remind himself that this was merely a sixteen year old girl, not the same loud and obnoxious woman that had spent fourteen years in Azkaban as he knew her to be.
"First thing is you become quite predictable in what kind of spell you are going to use", he began, still feeling a little odd that he was giving her advice.
"Do I?", she asked with a frown.
Harry nodded.
"You have a pattern of using a curse followed by a jinx and then an impact spell of some sort, but the combinations of spells are different" he explained.
Bellatrix continued to frown as she thought about what had been said and eventually nodded her agreement.
"I do, don't I", she sighed disappointedly.
"It's easily fixed", Harry returned dismissively, knowing it was not a difficult problem to deal with.
The girl smiled again and waited for him to continue.
"You also stand a little too square on at times and makes yourself a bigger target", he pointed out. "Particularly when you are throwing more powerful spells".
Bellatrix nodded.
"It sometimes feels like I'm off balance if I don't", she conceded. "Another thing that is easily fixed, you just need to lower your stance a little, it gives you a better footing and makes the other person have to adjust their aim".
"You really know your stuff don't you", she replied. "Even the small details".
Harry simply shrugged and huffed amusedly.
"The last thing is that you sometimes have a tendency to elaborate your wand movements and I can see what you will cast before you do it", he explained.
"I didn't know that", Bellatrix muttered.
Harry nodded.
"The movements I notice the most a the circular ones, especially that eye-gouging curse that your great uncle invented", he continued.
She frowned again and shook her head. "My Grandfather gave you our family magic books didn't he?", she questioned knowingly.
"Maybe", Harry returned with a grin.
Bellatrix sighed in exasperation.
"But again, you don't make many mistakes", Harry stated sincerely. "You have a few points that we can work on though, but nothing major".
"Ok, so where do we begin?", Bellatrix asked, clearly keen to begin amending her errors.
Harry thought for a moment before conjuring a training dummy and positioning himself behind her.
"I want you to start with the curses that have circular wand movements", he instructed.
She began firing off an array of spells immediately and Harry simply watched her for a few moments, enjoying the grace and majesty in which she dueled with. He stopped her again and shook his head.
"You're still making them a little too elaborate", he explained, though not in a condescending way. "Watch me", he offered.
He took his stance in front of her and began firing off curses with blistering speed that left the girl in a state of awe at the power, speed and precision of the boy as he cast his spells.
He himself paused after a few moments and turned to face a wide eyed Bellatrix.
"That's amazing", she declared, just above a whisper. "I don't think I could ever cast like that".
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