"Come in! Come in! Please take a seat!" A small white-haired 'man' said from on top of a stack of books. His long wooden wand lay in his hands as he flicked and swished it gracefully like a conductor. As Harry, Susan and Hannah walked inside they all looked on in awe as chairs and tables all flew across the air from the back where they formed a semi-circle around the desk that the professor stood on.
"Apologises for that young wizards and witches! I had an early fifth-year class revision before breakfast, they needed quite a large amount of space to work on their duel spellcasting," He said with a high-pitched laughter.
A hand shot up immediately at his words and Harry looked at who it belonged to and smiled 'Nice to see Hermione is doing okay,' he thought with a smile, but upon taking a closer look he noticed she had bags under her eyes and was pretty pale 'Maybe not...'
"Yes my dear, did you have a question," the short professor asked as he pointed towards Hermione.
"What is Duel Spellcasting? I haven't seen it written down in any of the books we've been assigned," Hermione asked.
"You won't need to worry about that for a few more years but since you brought it up I'll explain it to you," he said cheerfully.
'But he's the one who brought it up?' Both Harry and Hermione thought as they looked at the odd dwarfish character.
"As you know once you get into Third Year you will be paired up, and you and your partner will be expected to go out and exorcise curses, yes?" He said getting nods from everyone surrounding him.
"Duel spellcasting is the act of working in sync with your partner and casting spells that combined will have a much greater effect," He explained.
"For example, if I were to send a Confringo towards a curse, my partner would use Ventus to make the flames grow hotter and stronger, do you understand?" He asked everyone.
"It doesn't sound that hard, why does it count as an advanced technique?" Harry asked abruptly.
"Don't let its simplicity fool you, if a spell is not sent at the proper time then it is unlikely they will combine and instead will result in a disastrous explosion... some of the time," he replied.
"Now enough of this advanced material and let's begin with your first-ever Hogwarts lesson, how exciting!" He said with a flick of his wand and s wide grin.
"I am Professor Flitwick and I shall be teaching you charms, in this classroom, you will learn how to fight and defend yourself and the person standing next to you," Flitwick said grandly. The smile then melted from his face as he looked towards the Gryffindor side of the room. Harry followed his gaze and saw Ron Weasley lying on the table having a nap; Harry was surprised he hadn't heard him snore yet, but considered someone must've cast a spell on him as he could see his mouth moving.
With a flick of his wand, the table moved away from Ron making him drop to the floor and wake up abruptly. Ron was greeted by the sounds of laughter upon his awakening much to his displeasure; Hermione had a small smile on her face at the redhead's misfortune, something that he noticed and locked on to. Hermione quickly schooled her expression and once again went blank-faced as she pretended to take notes even though the lesson hadn't started.
"Now that Mr Weasley is awake we can begin our lesson, now ever since the war the rules have been changed in Hogwarts, utility spells will no longer be taught in class and will only be given as homework, we will only be going over offensive and defensive charms beginning with the stunning charm and it's many variations," Flitwick said loudly. Harry wondered why Ron looked at Hermione with such a venomous expression, she hadn't done anything to him —not that he knew anyway. 'Perhaps something happened last night?' He thought to himself.
"Now open your books to page 12 and we shall begin," Flitwick asked.
Harry did so and on the page, he saw the first in a long list of stunning charms that had different levels of power and effects. "We shall begin with a relatively weak stunning charm, this can be used to easily subdue Grade 4 Cursed Spirits and even daze a Grade 3 should you encounter one," Flitwick explained.
"The incantation is 'Obstupescere', can you repeat after me," he asked.
"Obstupescere!" The classroom repeated loudly.
"Very good very good, now the wand movement for the spell can be found in your books, start practising your motions and then we can move on using the spell," Flitwick said with a happy expression on his face.
"He's a little bit strange..." Hannah commented as she looked at the short professor.
"I think we're all a bit strange," Harry said.
"I like him..." Susan said quietly before sticking her nose into her book and practising the movement of the spell. Harry didn't bother as he had long since figured out that the movement was a crux designed to make it easier for them. With the control he had over his magic, the only thing he needed to worry about was his intent and what he wanted the spell to do; he had to have a clear vision in his head otherwise he wouldn't be able to do it wordlessly.
"Alright, now I believe you've had enough time to practice your movements, now onto the spell!!!" He said excitedly as he flicked his wants and once again the chairs and tables all moved into the air —throwing the students out of it— before stacking and depositing them at the back. Flitwick then hopped down with surprising grace before placing a suitcase at the other end of the classroom. "Now I don't want you to worry but I do have a lot of cursed spirits in this suitcase..." he informed them.
"What!?"
"Are you bonkers?!"
"He's gonna kill us!?"
"Finally some fun!"
"I wanna leave now!"
Those were just some of the reactions of the class to Flitwick's news. Those who were Muggleborn such as Hermione and a few others had bad experiences with curses; they had almost been killed and in Hermione's case her entire family was killed by a cursed spirit. Harry could see how badly she was shaking so he quickly approached behind her and casually put his arm around her making her jump slightly. This caused Hermione to get quite a few dirty looks from the females of the class, but this went unnoticed by both of them.
"Don't worry it'll be fine, you're not weak anymore are you?" Harry whispered to her. While she was still shaken she nodded her head and appreciated Harry's words; though she did blush slightly at being so close to him.
"Now now it'll be fine, I am a professional, Grade 4 Cursed spirits are cowardly and even a muggle with a bat could beat one, so who is first?" he asked.
"I'll go first, professor!" Hermione stated as she walked forward with her wand in hand.
"Excellent Miss Granger, 5 points to Gryffindor for showing us courage and bravery," Flitwick said happily as he stood next to the suitcase.
"Are you ready Miss Granger?" He asked and Hermione nodded her head. The professor raised his wand and with it the suitcase opened and a small flying creature only a little shorter than the professor came flying out.
Hermione stood firm with her wand and pointed forward "Obstupescere!" She shouted as she went through the motions. A light blue jet of light shot from her wand and made contact with the Cursed Spirit, however this did nothing but irritate the creature as it turned its attention to Hermione.
"Focus Miss Granger, you must have a clear picture in your mind in regards to your spell," Flitwick advised from the side.
Hermione though could only think of one thing when she saw the creature. She remembered the Cursed Spirt tail impaling her mother who had tried to run to help her father whose body was being ripped apart.
"Obstupescere!" She shouted again, though the spell had no effect once again and the spirit got closer to Hermione making her shake even more.
"Obstupescere!!!" She shouted more desperately but due to her shaky hands a spell didn't even leave the tip of her wand. The cursed spirit was close now and Hermione found herself moving back unable to get the words out for another spell. She then ran into something and assumed the worst before closing her eyes.
"Obstupescere." The creature fell to the ground with a disgusting sound as Harry pointed his wand at the creature.
"Very good Mr Potter a perfect replication of the spell if I do say so myself! Also well done Miss Granger it cannot be easy to face one's fears like that, 10 points to both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor!" Flitwick said with a smile as he removed the body back into the suitcase.
"Now who's next!?" Flitwick asked.
Meanwhile, Harry moved Hermione over to the other end of the class where he sat down with her on the floor "You feeling okay?" He asked.
Hermione looked up at Harry and gave him a grateful smile "I'm a little disappointed in myself if I'm honest, I hoped I'd stop feeling like this once I could defend myself, but it doesn't feel any better," she said her voice cracking slightly. She looked away as she wiped her eyes slightly before looking at her feet.
"I imagine things like this will take time, don't be so hard on yourself for not getting it right straight away," Harry said trying to comfort her.
Hermione couldn't help but giggle slightly "Oh? So they take time for everyone but you apparently," she said.
A wide grin stretched across Harry's face "Well I'm going to be the strongest wizard of this age, so I'm a little different," he replied.
"At least I know you won't be the humblest wizard of this age," she said with a small smile.
"Is Hermione making a joke, that's the first I've ever heard of it," Harry said with a mock gasp.
"Shut up," she said pushing him away.
As Harry and Hermione laughed students began to look at them. Two students in particular looked at them with large amounts of jealousy, though one was admittedly a lot more innocent than the others. Ron Weasley however looked at Hermione with a large amount of anger —bordering on hate. He felt that if she wasn't there when he had first introduced himself to Harry then things wouldn't have been so sour between them and they'd be best mates already. He had to keep trying though, Harry didn't know how dangerous Mudbloods could be Ron had to save him, even if it was from himself.
*Stay away from Mudbloods Ronald, you have no idea when they'll turn into a Cursed Spirit and go on a rampage*
He shivered as he remembered the words his mother had told him before he had gone to Hogwarts. She had told him how worried she was because the rest of her children didn't believe her in her beliefs but Ron did and so it was up to Ron to keep his family safe at Hogwarts.
After all of the students had a chance to cast the spell multiple times Flitwick clapped his hands "Splendid! Splendid! Alright everyone we seem to have run out of time, now keep practising the spell as next lesson we will go over its variants and how it can be applied, also for homework you'll be doing the levitation charm, practice it and if you need to help my door is always open, but remember you will be expected to perform said charm at the start," Flitwick shouted for the whole class they hear.
Students started gathering their stuff and filing out of the classroom. Harry who was with Hermione helped her gather her stuff and walked out with her, where Susan and Hannah were both waiting. "What lesson do you have now?" Harry asked Hermione.
"We have Innate Magic?" She said questioningly as she wasn't sure what that lesson was.
"Oh that's where we will be developing our innate magical techniques or discovering if you have any," Hannah explained.
"And if you don't?" Harry asked.
"Then it's a free period, though they still expect you to study," She replied.
"Sounds like fun, when do we get to do it?" Harry asked as on his timetable it said he had DADA.
"We alternate classes so I believe it's Tuesday and Thursday for us," Hannah replied.
"I'll see you later Hermione, come find me at dinner," Harry said with a smile as he waved at her. Then with Hannah and Susan at his sides, they set off towards DADA.
Defence against the dark arts was a weird class, to say the least. The Professor was a man called Quirinus Quirrell, a man who made Harry nervous. He didn't understand why but even looking at him sent Harry on edge, which was insane because the man was a stuttering mess that couldn't teach. He was also pale and sickly looking which made Harry wonder if he shouldn't call for the school nurse.
In this class Harry expected it to be learning spells, but it was more learning about creatures and cursed spirits, and then learning associated spells to counter them. To Harry, it seemed like a more specialised version of charms. Harry was excited for this lesson except Quirrell didn't seem able to teach it so he got bored pretty quickly and started doodling on his parchment.
Though it seemed to drag on forever the lesson finally ended and they were allowed to head towards their next lesson which was one Harry was most looking forward to. He even resorted to dragging Hannah and Susan by their arms to get to the classroom quickly though this led to them having a mishap on the stairs which led them to a part of the castle that was empty.
"Look what you've done now Harry, we are lost!" Hannah said with a huff as they walked.
"We aren't lost, it's fine," Harry said waving her off as they turned a corner and walked into another dead end.
"Okay maybe we are a little lost," he said with a nervous chuckle before spotting a ghost down the corridor.
"We can ask him for directions!" Harry said with a smile as he jogged towards the ghost that seemed to be dressed in a suit of armour, the ghost was turned around and seemingly stabbing at something on the floor.
"Excuse me, we are lost and were hoping you'd be able to point us towards the duelling classroom," Harry asked as he walked closer. Susan and Hannah walked next to him but they felt nervous, they felt the atmosphere get colder as they approached the ghost, it sent shivers up their spine and made both of them want to leave.
"Harry maybe we should just go back..." Susan whispered as he held his arm tightly.
"Yeah, Harry something doesn't feel right..." Hannah said as she could see her own breath fog in front of her.
"This castle is filled with ghosts it should be fine right?" Harry said with a nervous smile, however just to be careful he let his wand fall from his sleeve and told the two girls to stay back.
"Excuse me... Mr Ghost, can you stop acting scary and maybe help me out a bit..." Harry asked as he walked closer to the ghost. He looked down and was finally able to see what the ghost had been stabbing repeatedly; a small creature with large ears and rags on its body was on the ground in a pool of its own blood.
*SCREECH*
"Protego!" Harry cut his wand across the air forming a bubble of protection as he saw the Ghost whip around cutting the air with his sword intent on killing Harry. As the sword made contact with his shield it shattered immediately throwing him down the hallway to the feet of Hannah and Susan "Guys I think we should run," Harry said before getting up and dragging the dazed girls away from the Ghost knight who was now morphing into something else with flesh and muscle merging with metal.
Harry turned around and fired a powerful Confringo towards the ghost but he simply walked through it. "That's just unfair!" Harry shouted as they kept running back down the corridor.
"They're ghosts Harry they won't be affected by elemental spells!" Hannah shouted at him like he was an idiot.
"Obstupescere!" Harry shouted and a blue jet of light slammed into the ghost though it only stopped it for a minute before the ghost continued forward. "Why is it attacking us they shouldn't be aggressive!" Susan said fearfully.
"I'm not sure it's a ghost anymore..." Harry said as he looked around. The ghost had become more corporeal and did not look like a gallant knight anymore instead morphing into a monstrous Cursed Spirit.
"That's a cursed spirit!" Hannah shouted as she started running faster throwing stunning spells at it with Susan to no effect.
"Does this mean elemental spells work on it now?" Harry asked.
"Yes/Yes!" Susan and Hannah both shouted they turned a corner but when they reached the stairwell they saw that the moving staircase was not there and they were trapped.
"We are going to die! On our first day!" Hannah said defeatedly as she leaned against the marble railing.
"Lone cloud in the storm."
"Thunder and Flash."
"Illuminating Bolt."
"Begone with the Thunderclap."
"Fulminos Mortis!" Harry shouted and as the Cursed Spirit came to take them a humongous bolt of lightning shot from Harry's wand, with such power that he was nearly sent plummeting towards his death if not for holding onto the bannister. The bolt of lightning hit the Cursed Spirit sending it crashing into the castle walls and breaking through to the outside.
"Did I get it?" Harry asked as he waited for the Cursed Spirit to climb back up through the hole he had made.
Both Susan and Hannah looked at Harry in awe but this was broken when the latter started slapping him "What the hell was that!" She shouted.
"A spell I found in the Potter family grimoire, though it wasn't even close to being that strong when I practised it," he said as he stroked his chin.
"That's because you multiplied its effectiveness with a chant! Do you really not know anything about magic, how did you even use such a high-level spell without knowing about it!?" Hannah was at her wit's end, it was like travelling around with an idiot except the idiot could do everything better than her, but he was still an idiot.
"A chant? pretty neat," Harry said as he helped Susan and Hannah off the ground.
"We should probably report the ghost to one of the teachers..." Susan said in a quiet voice. She blushed slightly as Harry picked her up as her body was pressed against his.
"Yeah we can do that, but we can go to duelling first right?" Harry said with a puppy dog expression.
"We need to go to Dumbledore!" Hannah said firmly.
"Ugh fine, I better not miss duelling," Harry said with a pout.
Though the pout quickly disappeared as he turned around "Stairs are here," he said as he started walking down them with two near traumatised girls behind him.
(AN: So the chants will be different based on the element or type of spell as well as families, but they basically work the same way as in Jujutsu and increase the spells effectiveness, I think chants are pretty cool so I wanted to add them. I hope you liked the chapter, these chapters will be kinda slow but once we reach Halloween shit be crazy, also expect canon to go out of the window)
If you like my stuff consider supporting me.
Patreon.com/Captainalfie78Works