Chapter 168. Wesson's Holiday Guidance
"Bang!"
The Slug-Vomiting Charm slammed into the silver barrier.
The spell burst across its surface and scattered—clearly useless.
Fred lowered the arm shielding his face. When he realised Percy was the one who'd saved him, his expression turned complicated. "Er… thanks, Percy."
Percy didn't spare him a glance. He said coolly, "Grip your wand. That fellow's spells have some punch."
"Aye aye, sir!"
Grinning, Fred snapped a salute—but his wand hand tightened.
"Friendly reminder," Wesson had long since retreated to the far corner and was lounging against the wall as he drawled to the room, "the Slug-Vomiting Charm cast by these dummies can't be countered. If it hits you, you might be puking slugs all day."
At that, Ron's face went sheet-white, his stomach heaving.
"Puking all day?!" He couldn't help swallowing hard.
"Ron, you all right?" Harry glanced at him and asked under his breath.
Ron forced out a smile uglier than a grimace. "Just don't let it hit you, or you'll be in for it."
The next second, the dummy moved again—this time aiming at Harry.
The tip of its wand flashed, and the spell shot out, straight for him.
"Watch out!" Hermione gasped.
But Harry reacted fast. A neat roll took him past the curse, and as he came up, his wand was already levelled at the dummy.
"Expelliarmus!"
A jet of red light struck the dummy's wand hand dead-on; the wand flew free and clattered onto the floorboards.
At once, surprise lit everyone's faces.
But the dummy simply raised its hand, and the wand flew straight back into its grip.
"That's not fair! Weren't we told it only uses two spells?"
Ron shouted as he fired off a Stunning Spell.
The dummy raised its wand; a transparent barrier caught Ron's Stunner.
"Unexpected situations are inevitable in real duelling…" Wesson said with a squinting smile.
A sober look spread across the students' faces.
"All right, everyone, don't just stand there!" Percy naturally assumed the leader's spot and shouted, "Attack together!"
At once, sprays of multicoloured spells fanned towards the dummy like fireworks.
Under that barrage, the dummy kept dodging and throwing up Shield Charms, but at last a Severing Charm struck home and sliced it cleanly in two at the waist.
That Severing Charm had come from Harry's wand.
Well, that was to be expected.
It was only a dummy, after all—you couldn't expect one to hold out long under so many students.
"We won!" Ron whooped and hopped in place.
The Weasley twins slapped palms in celebration.
"Nicely done. You pass. That's it for the little warm-up before the lesson."
Wesson stepped forward, smiling as he announced it.
Just then, the halved dummy began to stir. From the severed edges of its body, countless fine tendrils unfurled and wriggled out.
The tendrils quickly wove and twined, reattaching the dummy's upper and lower halves.
In the blink of an eye, it stood whole again—going so far as to twist at the waist to check its "wound" had fully mended.
Everyone stared, dumbstruck.
Yes, Wesson's dummies did have a measure of self-repair.
"All right. Now, each of you choose a dummy and break into pairs for practice."
Wesson's voice brought them back to themselves.
They eyed the dummies, hesitant. Teaming up against one was fine, but one-on-one… odds were they'd eat a Slug-Vomiting Charm.
No one was eager to experience that firsthand.
"I don't want to be hit by that spell…" Ron muttered to Harry beside him.
Harry nodded in deep agreement. Even he couldn't guarantee he'd block or dodge every strike from a dummy.
Seeing no one step forward, Wesson chuckled.
"Relax, everyone," he said, walking up to a dummy and angling its wand at his own chest. "In fact, these dummies don't actually cast the Slug-Vomiting Charm. What you saw was a colour-change charm."
As soon as he finished, the dummy fired a green spell that hit Wesson.
Everyone jumped.
But the expected scene of him retching slugs didn't happen.
Only a green mark bloomed where the spell had struck his robes; nothing else followed.
Smiling, he explained, "If you're hit, you'll just get a green mark like this."
Only then did the students realise Wesson's claim that the dummies would cast an uncounterable Slug-Vomiting Charm had been a lie.
"Now, everyone pick a dummy you like," Wesson urged.
The training hall came alive at once as they hurried to choose their practice partners.
Seeing it, Wesson nodded in satisfaction.
Next came the real content of the meeting.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen," Wesson announced to everyone present, "I know some of you have no grounding whatsoever in duelling. But not to worry. Over the next few days I'll teach you a few duelling techniques and some common spells."
"And the first spell we're learning today is the Shield Charm. You should know it's meant to protect you… yes, yes, that's stating the obvious. In short, it's important; in a moment I'll show you a few tricks for casting it…"
"Next, the dummies in front of you will fire colour-change charms. By the end of today's meeting, whoever has the least colour on their clothes will receive a prize."
When Wesson finished, the room went quiet for a beat, and then filled with eager chatter.
Clearly, everyone was keen on that "prize" Wesson had dangled.
After that, every student threw themselves into practice with full focus.
Much to Wesson's surprise, all the students present managed to cast the Shield Charm.
Granted, most of their shields were far from perfect—Ron's had even formed with a few holes in it.
But at least they could fend off a few colour-changing shots.
Training wrapped up quickly.
Most ended up with splashes of colour on their clothes. The Weasley twins were practically green all over—midway through, they had secretly picked up the dummies' colouring charm, got the itch, and started blasting each other.
Wesson didn't stop them. It was only a casual meeting, after all. If they weren't in the mood to study in earnest, a bit of fun didn't hurt.
Only two people finished without a speck of colour: Harry and Percy.
That, too, was within Wesson's expectations—both were excellent students.
Percy needs no elaboration.
And Harry, having studied under Wesson, had become extremely adept with the Shield Charm.
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