It was chaos in the castle next day. Colin Creevy, a first year who was an over enthusiastic photographer and a die hard Harry Potter fan boy was found petrified marking the second attack, and the first sign that things were getting out of hand.
Richard decided to spend some time with Neville, the only person who was able to use primary magic in the school to research . Too bad he was too much scared to be of any help.
"This is getting ridiculous Neville, " Richard commented as he tried to coax Neville out. The guy was wearing crystals and talismans and onions and whatever else he could find for 'protection' from the heir of slytherin. " You are a pure blood for Merlin's sake. If anyone's going to be targeted, it me. I never knew my parents. So I am most likely to be a muggle born."
"He went after Filch first because he was a squib. Everyone knows that I'm practically a squib. "
"You made the cherry grove, remember?" Richard had to remind him. "You definetely aren't a squib."
Still, the fear that spread, specially after the petrification of a student had taken over the school. Students wandered in groups, never travelling alone, while teachers and prefects roamed the halls constantly.
As if that would make a difference. Richard had to stop himself from scoffing as Percy Weasly walked the corridor flashing his prefect badge while keeping his wand at hand.
"Well, what do you reckon they will teach us?" Dean questioned as they walked towards the great hall, his voice tinged with excitement. "Wonder who is leading the club though?"
Too bad, they didn't know the truth. Richard chose to attend the Dueling club despite the fact that he knew it was being hosted by Gilderoy Lockhart.
The large tables had been removed from the great hall with a single stage set under countless candles. And on the stage, dressed like a flamboyant peacock, and Richard meant it as an insult, was the faker himself.
"Gather round, gather round can you all see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!" He clapped his hands in satisfaction as he began introducing the club.
There was a reason as to why Richard attended the dueling club, despite his own ability in spell throwing, blocking and his deep rooted hatred for Lockhart.
Despite his knowledge on hexes jinxes and shield charms, he didn't have his own dueling style. A dueling style is needed to create combat structure with a good response mechanism. It's like learning a martial art. A person can throw a punch without ever training in martial arts, but he won't be able to block attacks, and connect movements or bring the maximum output because it has no structure. Every move must be thought, considered and executed in a small time frame which can end up overcrowding the brain.
But with a set style, one is already in a default state of readiness while only requiring minor adjustments to respond or move.
If he could practice against someone experienced...Richard's gaze wondered onto Snape, who was already on the stage prepared to face Lockhart. But knowing that it was a pipe dream, he instead looked at a fifth year Slytherin student.
"Expelliarmus"
Just then there was a bright flash, and Lockhart flew off the stage before colliding with the wall then unceremoniously sprawling onto the stage floor.
'Heh'
There were a few snickers from the Slytherin side as well. But still, the man proved his determination for showmanship by standing up and trying to smile nonchalantly.
"Well, there you have it. That was a disarming charm. And as you can see, I have lost my wand.."
Truly, if the man had the same amount of determination to actually learning spells instead of faking around, then he might have accounted for something.
"Alright, now enough demonstrating. I will now split you up to pairs, and professor Snape will help me with this."
As students slowly broke off to pairs, Richard walked towards the tall seventh year.
"Mr Montague why don't we partner you up with-"
"I'll do it"
Richard appeared next to Lockhart as he was trying to pairup the person he had chosen. However Lockhart appeared skeptical.
"Why don't we pair you up with a third year, Mr Montague is much more experienced than you so-"
" it's okay" Richard interrupted again before the guy actually talked something of sense. "We are just practicing, right? Besides we know eachother. "
"All right then, you two. And.." he quickly wandered away leaving Richard and the seventh year facing eachother.
"Who're you?"
Montague cut Richard off before he could speak.
"Don't think we've ever met, what year are you?"
Richard decided to introduce himself, as a proper gentleman should.
"Richard Cloverfield, second year Griffindor, nice to meet you-"
"A muggle born aren't you?" The moment Richard introduced himself, a smirk made its way up Montague's face. "Well, it's always a pleasure to show your kind where you should be."
"Wands at the ready!"
Richard didn't comment further. Instead his focus was already set to the duel. Montague looked ready to inflict as much damage on to him as possible, especially considering that he was a griffindor possible muggleborn student. And Richard expected that.
As Montague copied Snape's stance, Richard also held his wand in a fencer's pose.
One
Two
Three
"Expelliarmus!"
Richard dodged making the red bolt sail above his head. Just in time for him to respond to the follow-up.
"Everte statum "
"Protego"
Considering the fact that his entire spell book was filled with a dozen spells he found practical, Richard had always focused on defence. Even in his duel against Tonks, he had used his superior physical capabilities to dodge and weave, letting her tire herself out.
The magic blast dispersed along with the transparent shield making his opponent pause for a second. Only a second though.
"Ventus"
"Protego"
"Densaugeo"
"Protego"
"Incarcerous "
"Protego"
"What's the matter kid?" Montague's voice cut over the sound of spells. "Why are you hiding? Come on now, this is the part you try attacking."
Richard lowered his shield for a second.
"Expelli-"
"Stupefy!"
"Protego"
Richard lastly changed spell midcast blocking the stunning charm the last moment. He looked at the grinning Slytherin student observing his body movement for any hint of attack while formulating a plan.
The purpose of this duel was not winning. No if it was, then he would've just used his bloodline spells to just wipe the floor with the guy easily.
He reminded himself, the point was to establish a dueling style for himself, so that he could duel like a normal wizard. And from the last few exchanges, he learnt many things. First was that Defence remained paramount.
"Go on, try me,, ill even give you a free shot."
Richard ignored the taunts. He needed a shield, or at least something to parry the offence before he could switch to offence. Maybe a smaller protego?
Meanwhile Montague attacked once more.
"Diffindo"
"Protego"
Richard understood the problem. As long as the shield was infront of his wand, he had to remove the shield charm before attacking. What if it was to the side? Richard could feel an Idea forming in his brain.
...................
Meanwhile the hall was slowly being placated by the two professors. The first dozen seconds had turned the great hall into chaos. The number of people who had actually duelled could be counted by a single hand. The others had turned it into a literal brawl.
"Perhaps, it is better to supervise a duel between a controllable number of students before letting them all fight against eachother?" Snape suggested with a tone thick with sarcasm as he guided a prefect to break away two girls who were clawing eachothers hair out.
"Never mind that professor Snape, students will have to learn either way." Lockhart replied while trying to remain calm, though his face said otherwise. He was just wishing that the chaos would soon die down.
"Hmm"
For a moment, his gaze stopped. And Snape followed to see a sight that made his lips curved into a scorn.
A fifth year Slytherin student pairing up against a Gryffindor second year. The second year was hunkered down under a small shield charm as he defended against the older student's barrage of spells.And it looked like the fifth year was taking his time, making sure to humiliate the second year before taking him down.
Snape was about to step in. Because regardless of his bias to Slytherin and his hate for Gryffindor, he was still a professor and he was not idiotic enough to leave it be as it was.
"Protego manus"
A shield charm, much smaller, shimmered along the boy's wand arm, and he used it to deflect the fifth year's spell before releasing his own. And the surprising part was that the spell actually managed to hit the target.
"Tentacula"
The older student's hair began to writhe and wriggle proving that the spell was successful. The older boy, Snape recognised him as Sebastian Montague looked stunned at first, and then his face morphed into a furious expression as he began hurling spells like a madman. But what suprised him was the second year. Despite the barrage, he was still duelling. Deflecting each spell and returning spells that didn't damage the older boy, leaving only superficial effects. The second year would have won the duel half a dozen times, if not for the spell he used ,which made it all the more....
"Interesting"
...............
"Tallentengra"
"Colovaria"
The black cloak of his duel partner turned bright pink as the spell found it's mark again. Richard used the shield charm that covered his wand arm up to the tip of his wand to deflect another spell, and use the same motion to cast another color changing spell, this time hastily blocked.
The shield was a genius idea. By placing it at his forearm, he could effectively create a mobile defence he could use without obstructing the path of offence. All he had to do was to move his arm a little and bat away the spell.
It was similar to parrying. Infact, the way he dueled at the moment, the attack right after the parry resembled the reposte in fencing.
Once that idea came to his mind, Richard couldn't get it out. He wanted to try it out even further.
'Let's try opposition'
As Montague threw his spell, Richard angled his arm, the shield and the wand in a way that would deflect the spell but still keep the wand directly aimed at Montague.
"Colovaria"
The spell neatly found its mark turning the pink cloak red, and Montague's face turned from angry to livid.
Good thing he didn't go for any disarming moves, else the duel would have ended then and there.
Still, it proved one thing. Fencing techniques worked, at least in dueling. Richard read about them a little. So he decided to apply the theory to his dueling style.
Parrying. That was important. While he could technically bat away spells with his wand tip, it was too precise. Instead the modified shield charm proved better than that.
As for attacks, short spells, no large movement in high speed dueling.
As for movement, keep body movement to minimum, and remove reverse dodging, because spells travel in linear motion.
Richard let his mind work out the details in a second before adjusting his pose.
Instead of just standing, Richard turned his body sideways, reducing the area of contact to a minimum, before tucking his other arm behind his back. Knees bent slightly and the spine straightened with tension while the right arm held the wand tip at face level, loose like a whip.
"Ventus"
The wind hit him hard, almost making him loose balance. That was the price for not paying attention during the duel. With his mind so focused on jinxes, he had forgotten about the AOE charms.
"Augmenti"
"Glacius"
"Diffindo"
Richard parried it while casting the next spell. With his basics down, he didn't need this anymore.
"Expelliarmus"
'Flick'
The wand flew from Montague's hand and flew in a perfect parabola, before falling into Richard's open palm.
He looked at Montague who was looking dazed. He ignored the other students who were watching him with astonishment. His lips were stretched into an arrogent smirk.
"I win"