Chapter 21: Old Men Teach
*** Next Day, Great Hall
The atmosphere overall was far more tense than it had been in Harry and Hermione's first year.
Another kid, one of Harry's biggest and most annoying fanboys, Colin Creevey had been petrified as well which skyrocketed the levels of tension.
The first years roamed in big clumps, though Harry noticed one blonde Ravenclaw walking on her own most of the time.
Harry told Hermione about the offer of training that he had accepted and Hermione immediately wanted in.
"You know how much I would love to be trained, please can you ask Professor Dumbledore and Lord Black whether I can take part in your training!" Hermione pleaded with her best friend.
"Of course, training will be more fun with you there too." Harry said before going up to Dumbledore where he sat at the teacher's table.
"Professor Dumbledore, would it be acceptable if Hermione also attended my remedial lessons with me?" Harry asked, making his extra training with Dumbledore sound like catch-up work, possibly for History or Potions, Harry's two less-than-perfect subjects.
Dumbledore smiled happily, "Most certainly! Companionship will stop you from getting completely enveloped by work."
Harry nodded, "I trust she'll have the same exemptions from extra homework?"
Dumbledore nodded, "Both yours and Miss Granger's work are good enough that the teacher's agree that as long as you pay very close attention in class, you should both manage just fine." Dumbledore assured Harry.
McGonagall, who was sitting next to Dumbledore nodded, "Yes Mr Potter, you have been doing exemplarily in Transfiguration… I'm sure you'll do well in battle transfiguration when Albus and Arcturus get around to it. I'll hand you and Miss Granger your altered schedules after breakfast." Leaning in and whispering the last part to Harry.
Harry nodded gratefully, "Thank you Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall."
Harry went back to the Gryffindor table.
"So?" Hermione asked.
"You're in, McGonagall will give us our adjusted schedules after breakfast, but I know we'll be going immediately to Professor Dumbledore's office."
Hermione nodded, happy to be included in the extra training.
*** Dumbledore's office
Harry and Hermione landed up at Dumbledore's office barely behind the man himself and requested entrance to the gargoyle merely seconds after Dumbledore had gone up himself.
"Come in Harry, Hermione." Dumbledore's voice called out before Harry's knuckles could even rap on the door.
Harry opened the door but must have let some of the surprise show on his face.
"Don't be too awed kiddo, Albus has some identification wards attached to his entrance carpet, it's supposed to be a protective measure, but it's turned into a cheap way to earn respect from students." Arcturus casually stated.
Harry nodded to the two old men, "Professor Dumbledore, Lord Black, Pleasure to see you again, is Mr Flamel joining us?"
"Unfortunately Nicolas has more important things to do right now, especially since we'll be doing some physical training in the morning, however he will probably be present in some of our evening session to impart knowledge on alchemy as well." Dumbledore replied.
"Where will we be training?" Harry asked as Dumbledore and Arcturus got up from the chairs they were seated in.
"One of the many secret rooms in this castle, one said to have been enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw herself, what the elves call the Come and Go room." Dumbledore replied leading the kids up to the 7th floor and activating the room of requirement.
The door opened to a training room that had two big mats, several dummies and other bits and bobs.
Arcturus took over, "Despite being magical, physical fitness and dodging is still important, as training the body also trains the magical core and means you won't get so easily exhausted in a magical fight as many inexperienced tend to be."
Harry nodded, he had read as much.
"To start out with, I feel maybe a bit of a jog would be good for you two."
Suddenly the room expanded drastically and a huge jogging track appeared.
"Keep doing rounds until I tell you to stop." Arcturus said, looking slightly sadistic.
He had Harry and Hermione do rounds for almost 45 minutes, by which time Hermione had collapsed on the side and Harry was very slowly and painfully gasping for breath while jogging around very slowly.
"You guys really need to work on your endurance, if you get caught in an extended duel, you would wilt after about 15-20 minutes." Arcturus said disapprovingly, before moving on to having them do push-ups, sit-ups and various other exercises, leaving both children completely spent.
Overall Harry did much better than Hermione at the physical portion, because he was more athletic than Hermione, if only from Oliver's fanatical Quidditch practises and Dudley's Harry-Hunting.
Hermione was a bookworm through and through and did horribly at the physical portion and was desperately hoping the magical portion would be a little easier.
*** Evening, Room of Requirements
Dumbledore and Arcturus had asked Harry and Hermione to return to the room for their evening lesson.
"While the physical aspect of duelling is very underappreciated and important, most of your offensive will be in the form of magical attacks, however that does not just mean higher spell knowledge, because, while that is useful, if you can't cast quickly and accurately, you can't last. Not to mention Elemental Magic, Battle Transfiguration or Battle Alchemy, all of which we will be going into detail on later." Dumbledore lectured.
"But, for now, we will try to assess your current knowledge, try your best at attacking us, Potter, you try me, and Granger, you take Albus."
The two kids nodded before making their way to their mark and starting to fire at the two older men.
Hermione went through her expansive list of battle spells quickly, but doing every wand motion fully and switching between spells slowly, most of them very precise, however Dumbledore seemed to be swaying ever so slightly, taking him just out of the way of Hermione's spells.
On the other hand, Harry was going through several of his fastest spell-chains, casting furiously and going for casting speed to try and overwhelm the Black Lord.
Harry's aim was pretty good but not key in his strategy that was not based off particularly complex or powerful spells like Hermione but more focussed on casting speed and overall power of the string.
Arcturus had a much larger amount of spells to dodge, and batted away many of Harry's spells with his wand, moving slightly to try and avoid as many as possible but casting a quick shield with a wand that appeared in his left hand as well, to defend from many of Harry's spells.
Out of frustration that none of his attacks were connecting, Harry went for his biggest hit so far.
Elemental magic.
Harry threw a steady stream of fire straight at Arcturus, who had to move fast and respond with elemental magic himself, calling an ice-shield powerful enough to hold against the constant fire-stream and not melt into a puddle immediately.
Arcturus looked slightly impressed, "Elemental magic already, it seems you've been learning something on your own.
Dumbledore too seemed slightly impressed but the most surprising was the slow clapping coming from a different corner of the room.
"Well done, Harry!" the voice of Nicolas Flamel called out.
*** End of Chapter.
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