Chapter 51: Defense Club Part 2
Susan opened her eyes to a familiar world not so different from her own. The presence of the towering castle was a dead giveaway. But the scenery around wasn't. Dead bodies, missing limbs, burnt faces and a bloody soil was all her eyes could see. Not a trace of blue could be seen in the sky, instead, it was a pitch black color, as if all the happiness had disappeared from the world, even though she could tell somehow it was morning.
Ice shards could be seen everywhere, yet it was clear it was unnatural; even more, she could see someone standing in the distance, but when she approached him, he was frozen solid. Susan noticed that all of the dead bodies she saw so far wore black cloaks, their faces hidden behind a silver mask.
She didn't notice a single trace of life, at least not until she heard a heart wrenching scream, her head immediately turned to the source. She thought the world around her couldn't get any worse, but it seems it was set on proving her wrong.
There, sitting next a motionless body, was a blond girl she was too familiar with. The only difference was that instead of her usual calm countenance, her face was twisted in grief, eyes streaming a river of tears. Susan herself started crying, her legs grew week. She couldn't bring herself to see whom she was grieving over, but her body moved without her permission.
She sat down next to the crimson haired boy, who was breathing so weakly it was barely noticeable; what she assumed was no doubt his last breath judging from the countless gashes he suffered. She found herself sitting next to him on the ground, just as he suddenly opened his eyes and offered her a weak smile. He took her hand in his with great difficulty, his lips moved, but no words came out. His other hand went to his own neck, to reveal a green locket with an S pattern, which he clasped. It suddenly emitted a green glow that disappeared almost instantly, before her whole world faded to black.
"-an.. Susan… SUSAN!" she was jolted awake by her roommate, who was looking at her with worried eyes.
"Hannah…?"
"Are you alright?" Hannah asked her. "You've been crying for a while… Wait, were you asleep?"
"Yeah…" She said softly, the images still fresh in her mind. "It was just a bad dream…"
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hannah offered, but Susan noticed how early it was and felt guilty about waking her friend up.
"It's silly, really. Don't worry about it." Hannah noticed Susan was uncomfortable, so she just shrugged it off to not embarrass her any further and went back to sleep. Susan, however, couldn't for the rest of the night. She couldn't stop thinking about her most recent dream.
It was still five in the morning; not a single student could be seen in the Hogwarts' corridors at that hour. The very few Ravenclaws that were up were studying in the privacy of their rooms. Obviously, there was an exception to this rule.
"Susan?" she was startled out of her thoughts by a familiar voice.
Kaiser did not expect to see her of all the people awake at this hour; he knew how much she liked her sleep. He got worried when he saw her out of the common room in his map, and decided to see what was up with her.
"Hello!" She said 'cheerfully', but Kaiser knew her enough to notice the difference. Susan, for her part, did her best not to think about her most recent dream, years of Occlumency training seemed to pay off.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a nightmare, and couldn't sleep afterwards." Kaiser could sympathize, having experienced the same thing countless times already. "What's your excuse?"
"I usually get up at this hour." He shrugged.
"Seriously?" She asked incredulously. "Why?"
"It's just a habit I picked up. It also helps me get a few hours of practice before lessons." Her eyes widened in realization. Of course he would get up to practice. A war was brewing, and there were already numerous attempts at his life. She felt ashamed of herself for taking it easy while he suffered silently.
"Do you mind if I join you?" she asked softly.
"Sure, why not." He wouldn't be practicing any dark magic, so it shouldn't pose a problem. Not that practicing dark magic was bad, mind you, but he wouldn't feel comfortable performing any spells in front of her. At least, not yet.
They walked together towards the lake, exchanging small talk.
"How do you practice exactly?" Susan asked curiously.
"I cast a set of spells every day, until I'm completely comfortable with them, then I move on to the next." He explained.
"Well, if you've been doing this since your first year, which I have no doubt you have…" she gave him a knowing look. "Then you must have mastered dozens of spells already!"
"Um, yeah." He said awkwardly. "But my magical reserves have increased a lot recently, and I've been trying to adjust my spells." She nodded, purposely not questioning how his 'magical reserves' suddenly grew, as she already knew the answer.
"Let's start with the stunning spell, shall we?" she nodded. Kaiser was impressed to notice she could cast it nonverbally as well, but he could clearly notice she still used wand movement, meaning she didn't reach full mastery of the spell just yet, or was it a force of habit. He voiced her thoughts to her, and suggested she starts reducing the movements little by little, until she doesn't need them anymore.
She spent two hours, practicing the very same spell, making tremendous progress. Kaiser was surprised by how talented she was: he knew first hand how difficult it was to free oneself from the shackles of wand movements and verbal incantation. Little did he know, the true reason for her progress was a shift in her mindset. She wished to avoid the vivid scene she experienced at all costs, and the only way to do so was to get stronger.
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The news about the club were kept secret, they've all agreed that only a select few should be invited at first until they established themselves. They had no doubt that blood supremacist students would try to sabotage their progress once they got wind of it, and it's not like they could refuse every Slytherin student. They did plan on accepting members from all the houses, but not without any foundations.
The plan was for each one of them to reach out to their year-mates in the same house, individually, and convince them not to spread the information, promising that the need for secrecy would be explained once they attend the first meeting.
The Ravenclaws were the easiest to deal with, as the idea of a club where they get free help for practical spells was already alluring for them. As soon as Michael asked them, they agreed immediately, to come to their first gathering, at the very least.
The Hufflepuffs were a bit trickier. When they got approached by two popular girls of their year (namely Hannah and Susan), it was very difficult to refuse. However, they needed to be selective about whom they should invite. While the majority of Hufflepuffs were "hard working", it was only limited to their official courses, preferring to spend the rest of their times on other fun activities instead of practicing boring spells. Not to mention those who tended to gossip were scratched from the list early on.
The Gryffindors, however, were the most challenging. It was no secret that they were the laziest house at Hogwarts, and unless you invoked how courageous a Gryffindor should be, you could hardly get anything done with them. Not to mention, they weren't the most brilliant bunch, as the previous years have clearly demonstrated, at least the whole Chamber of Secrets incident. Therefore, they decided to ask the more studious ones, like Dean Thomas, or the more loyal Gryffindors like Neville Longbottom. The twins invited their partner in crime Lee Jordan as well.
As for where they would practice, Kaiser thought about the Room of Requirement at first, but eliminated it afterwards. Even though no one but him could access it since he came to Hogwarts, he wanted to keep the knowledge private for now. Also, accessing a room the headmaster had no idea about wasn't very clever.
They settled for an abandoned classroom at the seventh floor, which they had cleaned with the house elves' help, and have equipped with training dummies and everything else they'd need. It was very spacious, and could easily hold fifty students comfortably, especially once the extension charms were cast on it by professor Flitwick.
It was 6:30 PM, and Cedric was pacing nervously, mumbling something to himself. He didn't notice Kaiser, who slowly crept behind him.
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" sending a stinging hex his way that missed him by an inch, and consequently taking Cedric out of his miserable state. He shot an annoyed look at him, as if asking "what was that for?".
"You looked lost." Kaiser shrugged before he could ask. Michael couldn't stop himself from laughing, however.
"Why'd you come so early? There is still thirty minutes before the meeting?" Cedric asked, not noticing the fact he was there thirty minutes early as well.
"We wanted to get some extra practice before we begin."
"Hello!" Hannah and Susan arrived next. They weren't wearing Hogwarts' uniform, instead settled for more comfortable clothes.
"So, who wants to go first?" Kaiser was wearing a simple black gym t-shirt and pants, along with muggle trainers. He took out his wand and held it in his hands, shooting a sinister grin at Michael.
Michael gulped, but got into position nevertheless. He pointed his wand warily at Kaiser, thinking of which spell he should use in this situation. He settled for a stunning charm, hoping it would at least distract him.
Kaiser, in contrast, was unconcerned, seemingly enjoying his nervousness, which pissed Michael off to no end.
"On my signal." Susan said, checking if both of were ready. When she got the confirmation, she announced: "Begin!"
"Stupe-"Michael didn't even get the chance to finish his incantation, before his wand was yanked from his grasp, and floated towards Kaiser, who did so slowly, until it reached his free hand. "Nice wand." He smirked.
Everyone else was looking at him dumbfounded, except for Cedric was impressed by his choice of actions. Michael, on the other hand, could not understand what actually happened. He did feel the contact of foreign magic right before he lost, but could only assume it was a spell he was unaware of.
"What the hell was that" Michael asked, unable to wrap his head over the existence of such a cheat.
"Oh that? Just the Levitation charm." Kaiser said nonchalantly. "You know, 'Wingardium Leviosa'?" He swished and flicked his wand in display.
"No, seriously, what spell was that?" Michael asked, annoyed even more than before.
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"He wasn't joking." Cedric supplied. "That was the levitation charm."
Michael, Susan and Hannah were looking at them, waiting for them to burst into laughter, but when neither did, they were outraged.
"What?! How the hell was that the levitation charm?!" Michael asked.
"Well, the levitation charm, as its name implies, allows you to levitate things and move them in 3-D sp-"
"I know what the levitation charm is!" Michael snapped. "Since when can you disarm someone with the levitation charm!"
"Since forever?" Kaiser looked at him stoically. "The question you should ask yourself is: why would you assume it wasn't possible?" Michael paused at those words, and started seriously considering the question.
"If it was so easy, why do people still use the disarming hex then?" Susan asked curiously.
"Because this technique only works on beginners." Kaiser explained. "It is too wasteful to use against experienced wizards, since it's almost guaranteed to fail."
"Really?" Susan frowned. "I can't even think of a way to counter that."
"A simple low energy finite is more than enough, especially when you factor in the distance between the caster and your wand." Kaiser patiently explained.
"How come when Susan asks, he explains everything enthusiastically, but when it's me, he's such a jerk?" Michael asked Cedric, who smiled wryly.
"She is his cute girlfriend, and you are… yeah." Cedric supplied happily, getting back at him for laughing previously. Susan's face almost reached the crimson shade of her red hair from blushing, while Kaiser did look uncomfortable. He stuck his tongue out childishly at the both of them.
"Want to try again?" Kaiser asked him. "I won't use the same trick." He added when he noticed his hesitance, to which he nodded.
"Begin!"
"Stupefy!" Michael sent a stunner at him, and prepared to move out of the way, when he noticed there was no spells coming from him. He was aware Kaiser could cast silent spells with lightning speed, so he looked at him suspiciously, until he noticed that his stunner disappeared once it approached him. 'Counter Magic!' he thought immediately. It wasn't that uncommon, they were taught about the subject in third year, learning a few counter spells themselves. It didn't surprise him much that Kaiser would know the stunner's counter curse.
It seemed that Kaiser was challenging him to get past his 'counter magic' techniques since he chose not to retaliate. The best course of action, as he knew, was to overwhelm the opponent, since one misstep means that one of his spells would connect, either ending the duel or giving him a good opportunity to do so.
Diversity was the key: if he only cast the same spell over and over again, the outcome was as clear as day, especially since counter spells hardly consumed any Mana compared to the original one. And so began Michael's flurry of hexes, ranging from stunners, disarmers, stinging hexes, to prank spells like tripping spells… Yet neither had any effect on the defendant.
Kaiser was standing eight meters (26 feet) away from him, wand pointed forward. He did not move since the beginning of the duel, as wand movements became moot for him a long time ago. Whenever Michael would cast a spell, Kaiser would analyze its runic sequence, determine which parts should be negated for optimal performance, before casting the counter spell he'd prepare. Months of practice with Flitwick weren't for naught, after all. He doubted there was anyone at Hogwarts', apart from the seventh years, who could give him a challenge.
Hannah and Susan, even Cedric, who had participated in an international dueling tournament before, were looking at him with admiration. What he was doing was no easy feat, and they knew it was something they couldn't achieve.
After two minutes of casting, Michael decided to switch strategies. It was clear he couldn't even force him to use a shielding charm, so he decided to send spells he couldn't counter.
"Aguamenti!" a jet of water flew towards Kaiser who smiled at his decision. The jet of water was hardly dangerous. At best it would distract him or slow him down, but that was Michael's goal. Unfortunately for him, Kaiser would always defeat his expectation.
Kaiser merely cast a movement bewitching fielding to deflect it, leaving him in the very same position he started with. He decided it was time to end the duel. A ball of water materialized in front of him, before it shot with astonishing speed towards his opponent.
Michael had the good sense to erect a protego the moment he saw the ball, saving him from getting knocked over, which the attack would've achieved without a doubt.
Kaiser was not idle, however, as he sent a shield breaking charm at him immediately, followed by a disarming spell consecutively.
Michael's wand made its way towards Kaiser again, ending the duel with his victory.
Michael sighed at his incompetence as he took back his wand.
"Don't let it bother you too much." Kaiser offered.
"Well, you did wipe the floor with me, so..."
"You lost because I had more practice and experience than you." Kaiser shrugged. "You can't expect to excel at something if you dont put in any efforts." Kaiser offered mercilessly.
Kaiser wasn't showing off by defeating Michael in such manner, he was merely showing him the most obvious ways someone who trained could beat him with, and he hoped Michael got the message.
"I'm up next." Susan said, looking at Kaiser with determined eyes. She knew the chances of her winning were very low, but hoped to give him a challenge at least.
Kaiser knew he could definitely not use the same trick as the previous duel. For starters, the finite spell did not require wand movements, and he was certain the daughter of the Bones family would be able to cast it silently. He was also unsure of what spells she knew, so she might surprise him with some complex ones he'd be unable to parry. Though the true reason is that he wished to experience the Bones family shield, but he was unsure if it was classified as dark magic or not.
"Begin."
Susan quickly cast a stunner, while Kaiser sent an disarming charm at her. He could obviously cast faster than her, but the distance between them ensured that she had enough time to react in time. She followed her spell with a silent Protego, as an ethereal shield sprang to life, deflecting his spell and sending it back. Kaiser was already on the move the moment he noticed the shield, therefore, he easily sidestepped out of its way, but not before sending a tickling charm at her. While the latter was harmless, Susan couldn't determine the nature of the spell immediately, therefore she had to hold her shield for a couple more seconds, wasting her Mana on the process.
Kaiser decided to up the difficulty for a bit. With a silent Aguamenti, a two feet large ball of water was conjured, but unlike the previous time, he didn't send it at his opponent. Instead, he manipulated it into a shield, which he used to parry her next spells.
Susan assumed it was transfigured water instead, so she tried to destroy the integrity of the transfiguration, which would make it reverse to its original state, but was surprised to find out he was using real water instead, meaning it should have taken a considerable chunk of his stamina to do so.
She conjured a rock as well, a spell she had master a long time ago in case she needed an obstacle for the 'unshieldable' spells, and put everything in her power to send it at him. She didn't expect it to work, but maybe it would force him to drop his spell.
Surprisingly, Kaiser didn't dispel his shield, he seemed to cast a few spells silently, changing the water's structure somehow. When the rock hit it, it didn't make a dent, instead it brought with it the surface of the water that expanded inwardly, eating at its momentum, until it was canceled.
If Susan's eyes were as wide as saucers when she saw this, imagine her reaction when the rock bounced back at her with greater speed. She panicked, as she knew an ordinary shield wouldn't be able to save her. However, it didn't last long, as she immediately collected herself. She pointed her wand forward, and with an intense look, a blue shield was erected just before it hit her. The projectile crumbled upon contact, but it seemed Kaiser was craftier than that.
As it fell to the ground, it seemed to reform into the shape of a snake, that lunged at her feet, wrapping itself around her. Just as she was about to cast a vanishing spell, a disarming hex her, ending the duel. He dispelled the snake, before helping her up and returning her wand.
"Well played." Kaiser nodded, smiling 'wisely', and patted her head. Susan didn't protest, but was blushing from his actions. Hannah and the rest just rolled their eyes.
Susan challenged Michael afterwards, which obviously ended with his defeat. It frustrated him to no end to lose to a 'girl', and Kaiser's merciless teasing about it certainly didn't help. He was lucky Susan couldn't read his thoughts, or she would've shown him what that 'girl' was capable of.
They were soon joined by Tracey and Daphne, accompanied by their Ravenclaw year-mates, and unsurprisingly: Cho Chang. Cedric insisted they invite her among the first, and no one seemed to understand why. Well, at least, they pretended to.
Next came the Gryffindors quite loudly, and Kaiser swore that if he ever had a secret project, he'd never invite them again. It's a good thing that even if word got out, it wouldn't have much consequences for their overall plans. It would certain up the difficulty, but it wouldn't be an impossible situation. The Hufflepuffs came next.
"Right. Now that everyone is here, I believe it's time we give you guys some answers." Cedric said. "For those of you who read the newspaper, you'll find that in the recent weeks since the attack on the world cup, it has done nothing but praise England's stable situation, and Cornelius Fudge, the current minister of Magic, for his glorious efforts to keep the peace we have enjoyed since the end of the previous war." Noticing that he had their attention, he continued. "I believe everyone here is smart enough to figure out that something fishy is going on, though to be fair, maybe they are just trying to keep everyone fro panicking, but that doesn't change the fact." He took a deep breath.
"The simple fact is: the previous war has never really ended. The Death Eaters that had been imprisoned were the famous ones, while the rest were released because, for some reason, they were under the Imperius Curse. Let's not even get into how ridiculous that excuse is. As you all know, thanks to professor Moody, the imperius curse isn't that hard to get out of. In fact, for those skilled in the mind arts, getting out of one, especially one that lasted for a while, isn't that hard. And it's common knowledge that ancient families teach their children Occlumency the moment they can speak. Regardless, the message of blood supremacy itself has never died. Not to mention, the death eater attack on the world cup wasn't the only one. Last year, there was another one, but it was never made public knowledge."
"So, you're expecting a war might break out again?" Dean asked uncertainly.
"Don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that a war is in the horizon. I am saying that the future is uncertain, and it doesn't hurt to be prepared." Cedric answered. "Which why we've decided to open this club, with hopes to improve our offensive and defensive skills."
"So, you are raising an army to fight against death eaters?" one of the Ravenclaws said, looking at him with suspicion, though it was obviously the bad thing to do, as every Hufflepuff in the room glared at him, daring him to say another word.
"No." Cedric answered. The others were waiting for him to elaborate, but he didn't, and just kept looking at them. "Listen, we already made our goal clear to you: we only wish to improve. If, at any point you feel uncomfortable, you are free to say 'No', or to leave if you deem it necessary."
"So, who is going to teach us?" Anthony Goldstein asked.
"Professor Flitwick promised to help us occasionally when he has the time, otherwise, it would be volunteers. For the first session, Kaiser and myself will be in charge of-"
He didn't get to finish that sentence, before one of the older Hufflepuffs interrupted him. "Kaiser? As in the fourth year Kaiser Lunar?" he looked at him incredulously.
"What's wrong with that?" Susan asked defensively.
"What's wrong is that he's barely a fourth year!"
"A fourth year who passed his OWLs in charms, Transfiguration, and DADA the previous summer, and got all Os. What's your point?" she glared at him.
"Dave, can you cast spells silently?" Cedric asked him.
"No. We've only started learning how in seventh year…" he answered weakly.
"Kaiser could do it when he was in his second year. Right now, he doesn't even use wand movements anymore, even when trying out new spells." Michael argued. "Let's not even mention his other achievements. I think he's more than qualified." Kaiser, on the other hand, didn't not seem concerned. He knew this kind of thing was bound to happen, which is why he protested against their suggestion, but they claimed there wasn't anyone qualified who'd volunteer at first.
Kaiser's year-mates obviously didn't have a problem with him, as they knew first hand how qualified he was. The rest whispered amongst themselves for a while, but they didn't protest any further. It seems they established they needed more information about him, so the best course of action was to give him a chance, and judge him afterwards.
"For this session, we will start with Silent Casting." Cedric said, earning frowns from everyone in the room. "I know what you're thinking. That's it's a seventh year skill, and therefore too advanced for us to start with. The truth is, you couldn't be more wrong. You see, the reason why it's taught at the seventh year, is because it's not that important academically, and usually takes a lot of time to master just a few spells silently. Which is why they only teach it at seventh year, and usually spend a few sessions on it at most."
"Our real objective, however, is thought casting." Kaiser continued. "It is ultimately possible to cast spell without verbal incantation or wand movement. This particular skill is the most difficult, simply because of how much time it takes. But once you master the first few spells, the rest becomes easy."
Next, Kaiser gave an introduction, mainly for the sake of those who had no idea what silent casting means, explaining the advantages and principles behind it. Kaiser also did a demonstration, asking one of the students, a seventh year to cast the stunning hex, the stinging hex and the banishing charm at a dummy, at the fastest speed he can muster. The result ended being three and half seconds spent to prepare the spells.
Kaiser did the same, the difference being he only spent a second a few hundred milliseconds on the spells, which was a huge difference. It meant that in a real fight, your opponent would be able to throw nine spells at him, while you could use three at most, all of which would have to be shielding charms to stay safe.
They discussed afterwards the best ways to practice silent casting, with Kaiser mainly offering few tips he learned from both Slytherin and Ravenclaw's libraries. Needless to say, he didn't give out anything sensitive.
They did not spend that session trying to cast silently, instead, Kaiser proposed they try to reduce their volume when casting spells, until they could whisper. While it wouldn't give be true silent casting, it would still give them the tactical advantages silent spells gave. (your opponent not knowing what spell you would cast. ) Not to mention, it would help at the same time with their silent casting, since it would gradually free them from the shackles of incantations.
Overall, their first meeting was a success, as some of their friends actually succeeded in casting spells silently for the first time. They practiced the shielding charm next, before calling it a day and dispersing, but not before making plans for another meeting.