Practice began right away on the first day of the training camp.
First came morning running, then a buffet-style breakfast. After that, the morning was spent on core training and repetitive drills.
In the repetitive drills, everyone trained according to their position. For example, Chasers like me practiced passing with the Quaffle, Beaters swung their bats or practiced batting with Bludgers, and Seekers worked on reflex training by letting a practice Snitch escape about fifteen inches before snapping it up in an instant.
After that, we all ate a buffet-style lunch together, then took a break by relaxing in the hotel lobby with newspapers, having tea at the café, or getting massages at the spa salon. Around 2 p.m., we gathered again, did a light warm-up, and then moved on to mock battle-style practice.
Facing the full Slytherin team was the opposing mock enemy team, Aggressor. Their lineup consisted of Wood as captain and Keeper, the Weasley twins as Beaters, Cedric as Seeker, and a mixed four-House Chaser lineup of senior Farley, senior Higgs, and Ravenclaw's Roger Davies.
For the record, senior Clearwater acted as the referee, and Percy handled ball retrieval.
Naturally, at first the hastily assembled Aggressor side was being pushed back. In particular, among the Chasers, passes simply would not connect at all between senior Farley, who was rusty, senior Higgs, a former Seeker who was not originally a Chaser, and senior Davies, who came from a different House.
However, after Davies suggested a change in tactics and formation midway through, they became a surprisingly formidable team, and toward the end it turned into a close match.
The most dramatic improvement came in the Chaser matchup, which had been their weak point. They apparently decided to abandon defense and rely on their Beaters and Keeper instead, switching to an aggressive, counter-focused strategy that actively aimed for goals, which paid off.
In fact, senior Higgs, who boasted exceptional breakthrough power as a former Seeker; senior Davies, who specialized in pinpoint-accurate shots; and senior Farley, who grasped the overall situation and applied pressure with precision, meshed remarkably well. Their individualistic, fast, and bold Ravenclaw-style play was more threatening than expected.
As usual, our Slytherin team still had higher Quaffle possession, but while we scored 10 goals from 20 shots, they scored 7 goals from just 10 shots. It was a classic quantity versus quality battle.
That said, it was not without trouble.
"Ow!?"
When Fred's Bludger struck senior Warrington directly, senior Montague committed an outrageous act by hurling his bat from behind in what amounted to a revenge attack.
"Penalty goal for Team Aggressor!"
As expected, referee senior Clearwater blew the whistle and called a foul, but the irritated seniors Warrington and Montague snapped back.
"It just slipped out of my hand, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I said I'm sorry."
"See? Warrington's apologizing too. It was just a mistake."
Grinning smugly, the two of them pestered the referee with an argument straight out of a bully's playbook: "We apologized, so let it go."
"That's a lie! If your hand slips, the bat usually drops to the ground! Why did it go flying straight ahead!?"
"Uh, inertia?"
Seeing senior Montague brush off Fred's perfectly reasonable rebuttal, senior Clearwater stepped between them to mediate.
"Even if we accept what you're saying, Montague, rules are rules. The fact remains that your bat hit Fred's head and caused careless and excessive damage."
Senior Warrington immediately reacted.
"By the way, why do you call him Fred by his first name, but Montague by his last name? Just because he's your boyfriend's brother? Isn't that a bit obvious?"
By dragging the referee's personal relationships into it and questioning her neutrality, senior Warrington tried to gain the upper hand by shifting the argument.
Honestly, I could feel the atmosphere souring rapidly.
"Well, I figured this would happen someday. Looks like it finally did."
Whispering beside me as we watched from a distance was senior Gemma Farley. Like me, she led the moderate faction, and the reason Slytherin's current pure-blood extremism was kept in check was largely because she had become a prefect, and even her ex-boyfriend, senior Flint, held her in some regard.
That said, there were certainly Slytherins who did not take kindly to it. Having found a convenient excuse, it seemed like all the dissatisfaction they had bottled up finally erupted at once.
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
Looking around, most people were watching from afar. Senior Wood and senior Flint both looked like they wanted to side with their respective juniors, but after gauging the expressions of seniors Clearwater and Farley, they seemed to think, "This is going to get messy, better not," and backed off.
Only Cedric Diggory tried to step in to mediate, but senior Farley stopped him beforehand.
"Once it's come this far, logic isn't going to stop them."
"So we're just leaving it?" Cedric asked.
As he spoke, senior Farley twirled the ends of her glossy black hair around her finger and raised the corner of her mouth with a slightly mischievous smile.
"I've got a good idea."
**
Ten minutes later.
"Stupefy! Stunning Spell!"
"Impedimenta! Impediment Curse!"
A red flash burst from the tip of Fred's wand right in front of us, only for senior Warrington to block and evade it.
"Glisseo! Slipping Charm!"
"Densaugeo! Tooth-Growing Curse!"
The Tooth-Growing Curse fired by senior Montague was sent flying off in a completely different direction by senior Clearwater's slipping spell.
"Furnunculus! Nose Boil Curse!"
"Bracchiabindo! Arm-Binding Curse!"
"...…"
How did it come to this?
As Cedric, Draco, and the rest of us watched with blank expressions, a flashy duel unfolded before our eyes.
Senior Wood and senior Bletchley, watching nearby, were completely into it, cheering and heckling with things like, "Go, Fred!" and "Graham, your philtrum is physically stretching!"
Meanwhile, senior Davies of Ravenclaw acted as referee, with Percy and senior Farley standing by as the medical team.
I mean, Hogwarts students really do love dueling, don't they?
"So this 'good idea' of senior Farley's…""It's just a duel, really.""…Like a dueling trial?""Exactly. Since the gods always side with the righteous, the result of a duel is divine judgment."
Isn't the wizarding world's value system kind of stuck in the 19th century?
"Is this really okay for a prefect?" I asked.
Senior Clearwater, after all, was Head Girl. Even though she wore a reluctant expression, she was firing off some pretty nasty spells.
When I asked that, senior Farley replied, "That's exactly why."
"No matter how much authority you throw around as a prefect or Head Girl, or how logically you corner someone, if they don't accept it themselves, it just festers beneath the surface, doesn't it?"
"Well… I suppose that's true."
If people could change just from being warned, they wouldn't have let things build up this far in the first place.
"That's why Penny is trying to prove it with her own body."
That even a Muggle-born can become this strong. Even without titles like prefect or Head Girl, I can fight. Come at me anytime. I'll take you on.
"It's not because you're a prefect or Head Girl that people don't look down on you. It's because you're strong enough not to be looked down on that you can be a prefect or Head Girl in the first place."
In a way, it might be connected to what was once called noblesse oblige, the noble obligation of the aristocracy.
"Wingardium Leviosa! Levitate!"
In senior Farley's line of sight was senior Clearwater, who had uprooted a nearby tree and lifted it into the air with a levitation spell.
"Incendio! Burn!"
"Hey, wait—"
"Hold on—"
Against the flustered pair of Slytherin Beaters, senior Clearwater set the tree ablaze with a fire spell and hurled it at them with a fearless grin.
"Well, in short, violence solves everything."
With senior Farley's extremely unsettling words, the matter was finally settled.
***
After demonstrating such an overwhelming difference in power, no one even thought about defying the referee anymore. Practice continued quietly and efficiently afterward.
There is an old Roman proverb that says, "If you want peace, prepare for war." In that sense, the idea of Peace Through Strength might be one version of the truth.
It is best if you never have to use force, but proving you can beat someone to a pulp if you choose to also works as a deterrent. That was what the older students like Farley said.
"But wait."
During our break when we were talking about that, Cedric, who had been listening beside us, suddenly asked Farley a question.
"Instead of dueling, wouldn't it have been more peaceful to settle it with something like a hundred-meter dash?"
…Ah.
Farley froze in place with a smile still on her face.
"I don't like perceptive juniors like you."
I take back what I said earlier. In the end, it really was just people using fancy reasoning to disguise their nosiness while enjoying a good fight.
Well, I do understand the feeling. Entertainment matters.
By evening, practice had ended. We wiped sweat with sports towels, wrung out our drenched shirts, groaning about how hot or exhausting it was before heading straight for the spa.
"Aah, I'm alive again."
"This is paradise."
Just the two of us, Farley and I, loosened our sore muscles as we sank into a luxurious marble spa bath. It was slightly early for the time of day, so we had the entire place to ourselves. The bath was wide enough that we could easily swim in it.
Besides the large bath, the spa had an ocean-view outdoor flower bath and a hammam-style Turkish bath with scrub specialists and masseuses to heal our tired bodies.
When I slipped into the flower bath filled to the brim with blossoms, the rich scent wrapped around my entire body. I sank in up to my shoulders with a delighted "Fooohhh," stretched out my legs and playfully dipped my toes in and out of the water while lazily gazing at the scenery. We may as well have been nobles.
Under the long horizon, the fiery red sun slowly sank. The sky gradually dimmed until the moon and stars shimmered overhead. Down below, torches and floating aroma candles lit by magic cast gentle light, creating an almost otherworldly scene.
"Hoooehhh—"
"Nnaaaahhh—"
"You two sound like grandmas."
While Farley and I soaked in bliss, Clearwater arrived late and snickered.
She carried a woven rattan basket in both hands, and inside were stylish mixed berry tea and fruit cake. Smiling, she floated the basket on the water between us.
"All right, here is your welcome drink and floating breakfast."
"It is neither welcome nor breakfast at this point."
Farley immediately shot back, then took a sip through the tea straw and squeezed her eyes shut with a blissful "Mmmmmm."
"A warm bath, a beautiful view, delicious drinks, and most importantly, naked beauties! I think I might be winning at life."
"Farley, please stop turning it weird at the very end."
"Come now, do not be shy, my sweet~♪"
"Elaina, you do not have to respond when Jamie gets like that."
Clearwater let out a helpless laugh while Farley pressed her smooth body against my slim frame, clearly enjoying herself too much. Then Clearwater's gaze shifted to my body and she stared intently.
"Elaina, you are more… than I thought."
"Depending on what you say next, I may seal you in concrete and drop you into the sea."
"No, I meant you have quite a bit going on."
I take back what I took back. Well spotted, Clearwater. I am no child anymore. I am a woman—
"Muscle."
"…What?"
Looking closely, Clearwater was gazing at the faint vertical line of abs across my taut stomach.
"So jealous."
Probably without thinking, her slender fingertips gently traced my skin, pressing softly from time to time as if confirming the texture.
"U-um, that tickles…"
"Hold on, just a little more… huh, not as solid as Jamie but surprisingly firm—"
Completely serious, Clearwater slipped into her own world and began an analysis. I turned my face toward Farley in desperate plea, but she only pressed a hand to her forehead with an exasperated look.
"Sorry. Penny gets like this when she enters researcher mode. Just be a guinea pig until she figures out your body composition."
"That is definitely the kind of movie where the test animals revolt in the end."
I joked, but at the same time noticed how the seniors seemed to share a bond deeper than the usual prefect relationship.
Thinking about it, a Muggle-born like Clearwater and a Slytherin like Farley being good friends was quite the peculiar chain of events.
"Come to think of it, when did you two become friends?"
"Hmm? Third year, I think."
"Oh, earlier than I expected."
Apparently they got to know each other when Percy, Clearwater, Farley, and Hufflepuff's Annelotte Carousel shared first place in the end-of-year exams in second year.
"To be honest, I thought Penny was just the nerdy Ravenclaw girl with glasses."
"Well, I thought Jamie was a loose Slytherin slut and secretly looked down on her."
"Right? Exactly."
"Please do not agree with that!"
I could not help but interrupt the pair as they casually insulted each other without any real offense. At the same time, I felt a kind of adult composure in how neither took the jabs personally.
"There was a time when Slytherin felt like the entire world to me."
Farley murmured, stretching her arms with a sigh.
"But people can become friends over the smallest chance. And relationships can fall apart just as easily for the most trivial reasons."
It was surprisingly sentimental coming from someone usually so slippery and hard to pin down. Her profile looked strangely mature and wistful.
They must have gone through many things I do not know.
We are only four years apart, but for teenagers like us, four years is a huge span of time.
"That's why I'm really glad we all came to camp like this. Even that fight earlier, you have to admit it was kind of fun."
"…"
Of course, seniors graduate before juniors. Next year, Flint, Farley, Clearwater, and Percy will all be gone from Hogwarts.
And I only have five years left myself. Seven years sounds long, but it passes in a flash while leaving all sorts of things unfinished.
Still, as the term ends we always think "I wish vacation would start sooner," while the seniors probably feel the opposite. Imagining that difference in sentiment gave me a prickly, uneasy feeling.
Thinking that, I allowed Clearwater to keep patting and poking at my body a little longer, even though it was out of character for me.
(End of chapter)
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