As Sirius and the other three were about to walk through the door, James blocked the way, " Hold on. I need to try a few things. I'll close the door, and I want you to try to open it," James said without further explanation slamming the door in their faces.
Sirius, Lupin, Toby, and Peter looked at each other with strange faces. James first welcomed them into his abode, and second, he slammed the door in their faces.
'This guy...' thought Sirius as he reached out and tried to open the door. However, no matter how hard he pushed it wouldn't open.
"Why won't it open?" muttered Sirius as he tried harder, but it was useless.
"Let me try," said Lupin, as he tried, but he too failed to open the wooden door.
After a minute, James, noticing that no one was coming in, opened the door and noticed his friends looking at him.
"Come on. What are you waiting for? Come in," he said as he looked left and right for Filch and his cat.
When they entered, James closed the door. By doing this little experiment, he was able to verify that no one could enter while he was using the room. He doesn't know why this is. Maybe because it's the room he asked for and not someone else's.
"What do you think?" asked James with a smile as he noticed the dumbfounded expressions of his friends.
At first, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of the door in a previously empty wall. They had only seen a large room on the other side.
Now, they could see how large the room was. On par or larger than the Gryffindor common room. A huge central space is ideal for magical duels, a part where there were shelves with several books and sofas to read quietly.
There were also two small tables, both with two magical chess boards and their respective chairs.
"How is there such a big room...?" asked Toby with a surprised expression written all over his face. The wooden door didn't look that big. He never imagined there would be a room bigger in size than the classrooms.
"It's amazing..." muttered Peter as he looked at each area closely.
"How did you find such a room? Besides, it's just what you were looking for..." said Lupin suspiciously. He knew James was looking for a room where he could practice, but so far he hadn't managed to find anything. It was too much of a coincidence that such a perfect practice room would appear behind that magical door.
They all looked at James waiting for his answer. With no other choice, he told them in a nutshell how he stumbled upon this mysterious room by accident and a lot of luck.
"You lucky bastard!" shouted Sirius as he grabbed both of James' shoulders.
"This room is perfect! It's the new Marauders' base!" he said, excitedly as he started shaking James.
"Yeah, yeah, easy," said James, escaping Sirius' grip, "Now, let's get started with practice," he added, pulling out his wand and walking towards the center of the room.
"How about a duel, Potter?" asked Sirius with a smile as he drew his wand and positioned himself in front of James several feet away.
"That's what I was looking for, Black," agreed James also with a slight smile. Finally, he would be able to put his new defensive charm Aeromanteo to the test.
Lupin, Peter, and Toby looked on in excitement. They had long wondered how a showdown would go between Sirius the heir to House Black, and James the heir to the Potter family, who knows a great many charms.
The three of them were leaning more in James' favor since he taught them Flipping, but they never saw him in a duel. So they didn't know what could happen in a match against Sirius, who is also very talented and comes from one of the oldest pureblood families.
Both James and Sirius bowed slightly in respect. Then, they raised their wands like swords in front of them.
Both coming from pureblood families they knew the basic etiquette of formal dueling.
"On the count of three," said Lupin.
"One... Two... Three!" he exclaimed.
Sirius acted immediately, "Flipendo!" he shouted, and a loud pop was emitted as a dazzling flash of light shot out from his wand in James' direction.
The offensive charm Sirius was most proficient in was Flipendo which ironically was taught to him by James. He knew a few others, but they weren't as useful as Flipendo, plus he had practiced it a lot, in case he encountered Rabastan and his gang.
James watched the flash heading his way intently. He was quickly calculating where he should effectively cast Aeromanteo.
Sirius' speed was no match for his father, who was an experienced duelist, so it was easier to react to his speed.
When the flash was seconds away from hitting him, he quickly exclaimed, "Aeromanteo!" The wand moved gracefully, tracing a pattern in the air as a stream of air attempted to form around him. However, he miscalculated the timing. The Flipendo impacted hard on his left shoulder.
James was pushed backward, stumbling a few feet before coming to a firm stop. Luckily, Sirius wasn't a Flipendo expert. Otherwise, he could have been sent flying many feet.
'Aeromanteo?' thought Lupin, Peter, and Toby doubtfully as they watched James being pushed back by Sirius' charm.
Sirius also found the unfamiliar charm James used strange but didn't think too much of it.
'I must get closer. That way my Flipendo will have more power,' Sirius thought as he closed the distance demonstrating great speed.
"Flipendo!" shouted Sirius again pointing at James.
Being closer, it was harder to react, and more reflexes were needed, still, James tried. As the charm was about to hit him, he exclaimed again, "Aeromanteo!"
He didn't manage to deflect the charm completely, but it was close. He aimed at his shoulder again and managed to hit only half of his shoulder, almost managing to deflect it completely.
This time he took fewer steps back. Sirius realized that James was putting a new charm into practice and was only defending himself. This annoyed him and made him frown.
As the heir to House Black, he had great pride even though he didn't share his family's supremacist thoughts.
'Well, enough practicing,' thought James, noticing Sirius' annoyed expression. He would have plenty of time to practice. He was now in a formal duel and had to show proper respect.
Before Sirius could angrily cast another Flipendo, James acted with lightning-fast speed.
"Expelliarmus!" he shouted as a dazzling flash of scarlet light shot from his wand and shot toward Sirius.
Sirius couldn't react to the incredible speed of the red flash. When he was hit his wand flew high out of his hand. Not only that, he was pushed several meters backward, until he tripped and fell on his backside.
The atmosphere fell silent. Lupin, Toby, and Peter could not believe that the duel was over so quickly. Sirius only cast two charms, and James needed one to defeat him.
What surprised the three of them and Sirius himself the most, was that James used the Expelliarmus. A charm they would not see in their first year.
Also, this charm is supposed to only disarm the opponent, but James managed to push Sirius back several steps. Achieving the same effect as Sirius' Flipendo, which further emphasized the difference in strength between the two.
James with a disarming charm achieved two effects in one. Disarm and push.
What they didn't know was that James held back. If he cast Expelliarmus at full power, he could have sent Sirius flying, as it is one of the most mastered spells in his arsenal.
'How does a second-year charm know...? I didn't know the disarming charm could push you back several feet,' thought Lupin, looking at James in amazement. The other two were having similar thoughts.
"Are you okay?" asked James, approaching Sirius and giving him a hand to stand up.
"James..." said Sirius as he accepted the hand and slowly stood up.
"That was amazing! How many charms up your sleeve do you have, bastard?" said Sirius enthusiastically. James sighed in relief. He thought Sirius as heir to one of the noblest and oldest houses would be angry since he lost, but it seemed he wasn't that narrow-minded.
"Some..." replied James, scratching his cheek.
"We've got all night. Hey you, guys. Come on!" shouted Sirius, calling out to the others who came over.
"Let's have a battle royale!" he suggested, and they all agreed. The only rule was that they could only use charms that they all knew. Otherwise, James would have too much of an advantage.
Several Hours passed. Besides having fun in a battle royale casting Fumos, Flipendo, and other charms, they practiced more seriously.
Sirius even started reading the standard spell book, grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk. Heading straight to the chapter where she explained the theory of the disarming charm. He couldn't fall behind James.
James on the other hand with Peter's help practiced Aeromanteo. Peter of all the Marauders was the weakest, so his Flipendo charm was easier to deflect than Sirius'. This allowed James to keep improving his Aeromanteo cast and Peter to keep improving his Flipendo cast.
"Guys..." said Toby, calling everyone over.
Sirius, who was putting theory into practice with a magic dummy looked over at Toby. James and Peter, who were attacking and defending also stopped facing each other and turned their heads towards him.
"What happened?" asked Lupin, emerging from a cloud of smoke.
"It's 5:12 in the morning..." replied Toby as he looked at an antique clock that was next to the bookshelves.
"Shit! Has it been that long already?" asked Sirius, who had visible dark circles under his eyes.
They all had sleepy faces, but they had had a lot of fun practicing, dueling, and trying new spells.
'Only two hours to sleep...' thought James regretfully as he prepared to return to the dormitories.