Second Year Classes (Charms)

After eating lunch Hermione, Daphne, and I head to Charms together. It's a good thing half of our classes are shared with Slytherin. Although it means we run into Malfoy more often I think Daphne as a friend outweighs the negative.

Walking into Charms a few minutes early I'm surprised to see almost half the class is already here. They are all chatting even between houses. They are talking about what they think will happen in Dueling class.

Sitting down I pull out my books and look at Hermione, "I kinda feel bad for the Professor, the class will be more focused on Dueling than Charms. But I guess there are quite a few charms used in dueling."

Hermione shrugs "Nothing we can do about it. I hope the class goes well though."

A few minutes later Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville show up. Neville and Seamus look depressed as they slump behind the other three. Their girlfriends are obviously also in this class but they are already sitting with friends, I wonder if they signed up for dueling?

I wave at them to show them where we are. Harry sits next to me since Hermione didn't let me sit between her and Daphne. Which is fine since I was only joking earlier.

The discussion of the Dueling class goes on with the scattered complaints of people who either didn't sign up or the people who got denied. Only seconds before the start of class does Flitwick walk in with a happy smile on his face obviously excited for the class as well.

He stands in front of the class on his heightened stool at the podium and sets down his book.

"Today in light of our first Dueling class in so many years. I will be teaching you the shield charm. This may seem like more of a Dueling class than charms, but I'm sure none of you will care, correct?" The room is filled with kids pecking like chickens nodding their heads and sounds of approval.

The class clammers again in delight and some in dismay. Flitwick lifts his book high letting it smack on the podium making a loud *Thump* quieting the class.

"Protego is one of the oldest spells in existence it is also incredibly pliable. There are only three spells it can not block in the right hands. Do any of you know the three?" Flitwick asks with eyes wandering over the class.

Hermione and I put up our hands with Hermione vigorously throwing it up wanting to be called.

Flitwick's eyes landed on me "Mr. Black, why don't you tell us?"

I stand up as I speak "There are actually four Professor." His eyebrows raise at my words and a smile grows on his face.

"There are the three unforgivable, the Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, the Killing Curse, and the one Professor Snape became famous for in the war..." I pause dramatically as a few students gasp but I continue looking at Flitwick with a fairly serious face.

"10 points to Gryffindor, an additional 10 if you remember the name of Snape's Curse." He says smiling while pulling out his papers.

"That would be sectum sempra. The curse of the eternal cut." As I finish my words I sit back down.

Flitwick claps his hands "Fabulous, 20 points to Gryffindor. It is such a niche curse I didn't even think of mentioning it. Yes, those are the four curses you must avoid at all costs. We will not be learning about them here, but you must know how to defend yourselves."

"Protego is most effective when you know what the enemy is casting. For example, if your opponent is casting stupify and he verbally casts it you should focus on strength. If they cast confringo you should focus on reflection. If it's expelliarmus you should protect your hand well."

"If you fail to predict properly, your shield may break and you could get hurt. This does not hold true if your opponent is considerably more powerful. If they are, they will be able to easily block any spell you throw at them."

A random Gryffindor raises her hand and Flitwick points to her "What are we supposed to do then? Just give up?"

"No my dear. You have to catch them off guard. It may be with a good reflection or more commonly with a chain cast. I know at least one student in this room who can chain cast." His eyes fall on me which surprises me a bit.

'The old man told him about me?' My thoughts fall on Dumbledore for a second but are pulled away by the girl.

"What exactly is chain casting?" She asks.

Flitwick ponders for a second but his eyes fall back on me "Young Soren, why don't we give them a demonstration."

I nod my head "Of course Professor." I stand up and walk to the main corridor of the room. The center area is about five feet wide, more than enough safe distance from other students.

Flitwick walks out from behind his desk standing about fifteen feet away from me. "Alright now class. While I want you to see a chain cast I also want you to watch how I block it."

He faces me as he pulls out his wand "Now send a chained spell at me. I will block it without reflecting so you won't have to worry."

I pull out my wand pointing it at him "Then I will begin Professor." He nods.

"Stupify. Expelliarmus." I chain the spells sending them both out in swoop down and then a small flick.

With a soft wave of his wand Flitwick says "Protego." and blocks the first one. Then he does a quick swipe blocking the second one, swatting it like a fly to the ground.

"Excellent job, I didn't expect a different spell for the second one. You would have had me if I was a lesser wizard." He says humbly.

I give a wry smile knowing he used no effort blocking my spells.

"You may sit down." he turns to the class "Now, did you all see how I used Protego?"

"First I nullified his stupify, and then I chantlessly used it to deflect the expelliarmus. If I did not know how to chantlessly cast Protego even I would have been hit. By using a fluid motion to cast multiple times you can catch an opponent off guard."

"That being said if you are good enough at the shielding charm you will not be hit. Once you get to higher levels of dueling you'll find your opponent's false casting. That's when you chant one spell but actually cast another."

"Once you master Protego you will have an immeasurable advantage in dueling class," he says with a more serious face. "Once you have mastered it I will begin to teach you how to change the spell further to better fit your situation. Hopefully, that will be before the end of the year."

I laugh to myself as I have already gotten close to mastering Protego. It was the first Charm I ever tried hard to learn. Hell, I can cast it chantlessly almost at will with an eighty percent success rate. I have never tried modifying it, I would like to try it eventually. But we will see in Dueling class.