It was finally time for the visiting schools to arrive. All the students were jam packed outside the great hall in anticipation of their arrival. It was as spectacular as I remembered it being the first time around. The magnificent herd of Pegasi carrying the Beauxbatons carriage was a sight that most will never forget in their entire wizarding lives. The flair and noble aura that was carried by these creatures was enough of a testament about their owners. Just as the minds of our students were processing this thought, some of the students were quick to notice the ripple being created on the surface of the river that was usually calm all year round. The emergence of a majestic vessel from under the water surface had everyone mesmerized. It was an imposing sight that spoke volumes about the passengers it carried.
Just as everyone was getting curious about the people whose mode of transport itself had built up so much hype, the cold voice of Professor Snape asking us to return to the great hall and get seated to welcome our visitors in a manner where they do not look down on the school because of our existence was heard.
Me and Hermione were quick to take our seats in the hall before everyone started rushing in and making a mess of something so simple just for the chance to seat themselves with a better view of the incoming students. Once everyone settled down, Dumble's was quick to welcome the incoming schools. The fanfare was just as it had been the first time around. Once everything had settled down the main topic of discussion was finally taken up by Dumble's, the tri-wizard tournament.
He announced the great history of the tournament, the importance of participating, the friendships it had helped build over the years between various schools and the dangers that came associated with it. Then came the decision of restricting the age of participation in view of previous tournament results and mortality rate. As expected, it was met with a resounding opposition of almost every hot-blooded Hogwarts student. The students who had just arrived from both schools however had no reaction. It was only after a stern warning by Dumble's that the noise gradually subsided. He once again emphasized his decision, and everyone had no other choice but to accept it.
The fanfare and festivities subsided early for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw as the students soon returned back to their common rooms. The rest had the party on quite late at night as we would be made aware of this fact by a smug look on the faces of the Slytherin students the next day at breakfast.
I had spoken to the twins last night after returning back to the dormitories. As they already knew of my plan to have them leave the school next year, I started to tell them of their work for the upcoming year. I asked them to make this year filled with as much experimentation as possible and complete the fine tuning of almost everything that will be needed to put on the shelves when we open our stores next year. Seeing me tell them to go full on they had a worried look on their faces. I quickly explained to them that the reason I was so confident that they could have a free hand this year with almost no fear of doing something bad was because the medical staff for the year had greatly been increased this year due to the upcoming tri-wizard tournament and me and Hermione having completed our O.W.L's would mean that we were at least capable of reversing most basic pranks without having to inform madam Pomfrey.
Today both me and Hermione had our afternoon off and so I took this time to tell her about my plans. I had earlier told her that I would need her help with three things but had not elaborated. It was time for her to know what she would be facing in the coming year. The first piece of magic that I had to perfect was one of the three unforgivables, the imperious curse. This was enough for her to lose all the composure that she had maintained up till now. Without waiting for her to scold or dismiss me entirely, I continued.
The second spell is something that will help me breathe in all most any situation without the need to depend on the presence of air. I was sure that she would be able to help me in finding something much more practical and impactful than the last-minute Gilly weed I had last time. It was not just for the sake of the tournament but also to increase my own arsenal with some better auxiliary spells. I could see that Hermione was following me, but she was still processing the first spell I had listed.
The third spell I really needed to perfect this year would also be one the most crucial spell I will have in my arsenal once I will have to finally face Voldi all over again. A spell that I had seen only once in both my lives but never knew until I finally died how it was beyond genius to have in your arsenal. I still did not know what it was called or if even Hermione could replicate it, but it would surely become my best defensive spell in a true battle.
It was when the school had been infiltrated by the order and Snape and the Carrows finally had their backs against the walls. Professor McGonigal had finally let go of any considerations and showed her battle prowess when she fought with Snape right in the middle of the great hall causing him to flee. I had seen it in his memories that Snape genuinely was not able to fight back without risking injury to himself and therefore had decided to flee, but while he had a hard time not a single spell hit him the entire time. The reason for this was not some protective spell but instead a diversion spell.
That spell had managed to divert two lethal spells towards the Carrows directly finishing them off. During the time when everyone witnessed it almost everyone had much bigger and dangerous things to worry about and therefore it went almost unnoticed. It was only after carefully analyzing everything that happened with me the first time around all these years and improving my own knowledge and understanding of magic that I was able to the understand the greatness of the half-blood prince in creating spells.
After all my studies of books on curses and destructive spells, I was able to understand why everyone does not just make a protective shield around them and fight or duel. It was because of the fact that most spells and curses that were defective in nature would render the shield ineffective after at most a few tries. While inside such a shield one could not go on the offensive as the shield would prevent your spells from going out as much as they stop the spells and curses coming from outside. This was why a shield is often casted quickly and only to block once you have no offensive in a fight.
So how could one win? The answer too was simple, you match your opponent's offensive with your own and whoever has the best offensive will win the exchange. Those who were a notch above others in fighting and dueling would however choose to divert the attacks so that they could immediately go on the offensive. This normal diversion itself required great control, great reflexes and massive amount of magic power. But Professor Snape was a genius even amongst geniuses. He went a step ahead and made a spell that could not only divert all spells and curses but also have the ability to direct it according to the wish of the caster and this was the spell I needed.
Hermione was my only hope to ever replicate even a fraction of that spell before I had to face Voldi this year.
Hermione had a troubled look on her face. I waited patiently. It was after an hour that she finally spoke.