0166 The Dummies

Words : 2088 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

The Slug-Vomiting Curse struck Percy's silvery barrier with the force of a battering ram. The spell exploded against its surface in a burst of sickly green sparks that scattered in all directions like dying fireworks dissipating harmlessly into the air. Fred slowly lowered the arms that had been protecting his face, his hands were trembling slightly from the adrenaline surge. As the reality of what had just crashed over him, his expression shifted through complex emotions. "Well..." Fred's voice carried an unusual note of sincerity, stripped of its usual mischievous tone. "Thanks, Percy." Percy didn't even turn to accept the gratitude. His attention remained fixed on the wooden dummy, his wand still raised defensively. When he spoke, his voice was crisp and businesslike. "Hold your wand tight," He said coldly, his eyes never leaving their opponent. "That thing's spells are quite strong." "Yes, sir!" Fred's response came with a cheeky salute that was pure Weasley twin sarcasm, but his fingers tightened around his wand. From his position in the corner of the classroom, Adrian had already retreated to corner, leaning against the cool stone wall with the casual air of someone watching an entertaining performance. His posture was relaxed, almost looking lazy. "Friendly reminder," He called out with nonchalance, "the Slug-Vomiting Curse cast by this dummy cannot be dispelled. Anyone hit by it might spend an entire day vomiting slugs." Upon hearing this, Ron's face instantly turned pale, his stomach began churning with remembered disgust, the taste of slugs crawling across his tongue like a living nightmare. "A whole day?!" The words burst from Ron's lips in a whisper, followed by a loud swallow. Harry glanced at his best friend with concern, seeing Ron's pale complexion and the way his hands had begun to shake. "Ron, are you alright?" he asked quietly, moving closer. Ron attempted what might generously be called a smile, though it looked more like the grimace of someone experiencing severe gastric pain. "Whatever you do," he managed through gritted teeth, "don't let it hit you, or you'll be in serious trouble." His warning became prophetic. The next second, the dummy began moving again, this time targeting Harry. The tip of the dummy's wand glowed once more, and a spell shot out, heading straight for Harry. "Watch out!" Hermione's cry rang across the classroom. But the Harry reacted extremely quickly, the moment he saw the dummy's wand begin to move, he was already in motion, and threw himself to the side in a roll. The spell streaked through the place where he had been standing, close enough that he could feel the energy singing past his ear like an angry wasp. As he came up from his roll, his wand was already in his hand, pointing steadily at the dummy. "Expelliarmus!" The Disarming Charm erupted from Harry's wand in a bright beam of scarlet light. His aim was perfect, the spell struck the dummy's weapon with a sharp crack, sending the artificial wand spinning through the air to clatter against the far wall. Immediately, the faces of every student in the room lit up with victory and relief. However, Their celebration was early. The dummy simply raised its empty hand, and the wand flew through the air to slap back into the its grasp. "That's not fair! Didn't you say it would only use two types of spells?" Even as Ron protested, his wand was already moving, as he sent a Stunning Spell with all the force and accuracy he could muster. The dummy raised its wand to produce a transparent barrier that appeared just in time to deflect Ron's spell harmlessly to the side. "Unexpected situations in real combat are unavoidable..." Adrian's voice drifted from the corner where was watching all this with a smile. "Alright, everyone, stop standing around!" Percy's voice rang out with natural authority. He positioned himself at the front of the group. "Attack together!" In response to his words, Spells erupted from a dozen wands simultaneously, creating a dazzling display of magical fireworks that filled the air with crackling energy and bright light. The dummy was caught in this magical crossfire that no single opponent could hope to survive. Despite its impressive reflexes and the protective power of its Shield Charms, the sheer volume of incoming spells overwhelmed its defenses. It dodged, deflected what it could, but there were simply too many attacks coming from too many angles. Its end came suddenly and decisively. A Severing Charm that from Harry's wand sliced through the chaos and struck the dummy at its midsection. The blade cut through the wooden dummy separating the upper and lower halves with a clean, decisive stroke. Finally, the dummy toppled in two pieces. "We won!" Ron's cheer erupted from his throat with relief and triumph. He leaped into the air with enthusiasm as his earlier terror was forgotten in the rush of victory. The Weasley twins also came together in a thunderous high-five that resonated through the classroom like a gunshot. "Well done," Adrian said with genuine satisfaction as he stepped forward from his corner position. "Consider yourselves passed. The pre-class game is over." His words should have marked the end of their first lesson, a successful conclusion to what had been a more challenging exercise than any of them had anticipated. The students also began to relax. But magic, as they were about to learn, rarely followed the rules of ordinary expectation. The severed dummy, lying in two pieces on the floor, began to stir. Then, from the cleanly cut sections where Harry's Severing Charm had done its work, countless tiny vines began to emerge. The vines quickly intertwined and bound together, reconnecting the dummy's upper and lower halves. In the span of a few seconds, the dummy's upper and lower halves were reconnected by this organic support. The dummy from the floor showing no trace of the injury it had just got. To confirm its complete restoration, it even seemed to twist at the waist. The classroom fell into stunned silence. Every student stood frozen as their minds struggled to process what they had just witnessed. "Indeed," Adrian said casually, "my dummies have a certain degree of self-repair capability." "Now, everyone choose a dummy for individual training," Adrian said lightly waking them up from their shocked trance. Everyone hesitantly looked at the dummies. While fighting many-on-one was fine, in a one-on-one situation, they would most likely get hit by the dummy's Slug-Vomiting Curse. No one wanted to experience the Slug-Vomiting Curse. "I don't want to get hit by that spell..." Ron's whisper carried genuine trauma, as he leaned closer to Harry. Harry nodded in agreement. Even with his experience and training, he couldn't guarantee that he could completely defend against or dodge the dummy's attacks. Seeing the hesitation in the students, Adrian's expression shifted to one of amused understanding. "Don't worry, everyone,". He said approaching one of the dummies with confidence and had it point its wand at himself. "Actually, these dummies don't know the Slug-Vomiting Curse. What they used just now wasn't the Slug-Vomiting Curse either, but merely a coloring charm." As soon as he finished speaking, the dummy shot out a green spell that hit Adrian. Everyone was startled. However, the expected scene of wildly vomiting slugs didn't occur. The area where Adrian was hit simply gained a green mark—nothing else happened. "If you get hit," Adrian explained with satisfaction, "you'll just get a green mark like this on your body. Nothing more dramatic than a temporary stain." Only then did the students realize that Adrian's earlier claim about the dummies casting unremovable Slug-Vomiting Curses was just a lie. "Now, everyone pick a dummy you like," Adrian urged with enthusiasm. The training ground immediately became lively as everyone began selecting their dummy partners. Seeing this, Adrian nodded with satisfaction. Next came the real content of the gathering. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Adrian announced once the initial selection process had begun. "I know some of you have no understanding of dueling whatsoever. But don't worry—over the next few days, I'll teach you some dueling techniques and commonly used spells that will serve you well in any magical confrontation." He paused observing the students, and taking in their varying levels of experience and natural ability. "The first spell we'll practice today is the Shield Charm," Adrian continued, his tone shifting to that of professional instruction. "You should all know this is a charm used to protect you from incoming magical attacks... Well, that's stating the obvious, isn't it? In any case, it's absolutely crucial for survival in magical combat, and I'll teach you some advanced techniques for using this spell effectively." The students nodded with varying degrees of understanding. Most had encountered the Shield Charm in their regular Defense classes, but few had received in-depth instruction on its practical applications in real combat situations. "Next," Adrian said, gesturing toward the waiting dummies, "the dummies in front of you will shoot coloring charms at you throughout our practice session. By the end of today's gathering, whoever has the least amount of color on their clothes will receive a special reward." The mention of a reward sent a ripple of excited murmuring through the group. Students began whispering to each other, speculating about what Professor Westeros might give as a prize. "What kind of reward?" Hermione asked directly with curiosity. Adrian's smile became mysterious. "Something useful for a dedicated student of defensive magic," He replied, offering just enough information to maintain interest without revealing the specifics. "You'll find out when you've earned it." The ambiguous promise was enough to ignite the competitive spirit that lay dormant in every student. Subsequently, all the students threw themselves wholeheartedly into the training exercise with such intensity that surprised even Adrian. To Adrian's genuine surprise and considerable satisfaction, every single student present successfully managed to cast the Shield Charm. Admittedly, most of their Shield Charms weren't perfect examples of the spell's potential. Ron's barrier, for examble, resembled Swiss cheese more than a solid protective wall, with several holes large enough for spells to pass through. Others flickered uncertainly or appeared only occasionally, requiring multiple attempts to maintain any kind of consistent protection. But despite these imperfections, each shield was functional enough to deflect at least some of the incoming coloring charms, and that represented genuine progress. The training session developed its own rhythm and energy as students adapted to the demands of sustained magical combat. The Weasley twins, predictably, found a way to complicate the straightforward nature of the exercise. They had somehow managed to learn the coloring charm used by the dummies during the training session and began using their newly learned spell to attack each other rather than focusing on defense against their assigned dummies. Adrian watched their antics with tolerant amusement rather than sternly correcting. This was, after all, just a small informal gathering rather than a formal class. If the twins preferred to learn through chaotic experimentation rather than arranged practice, that was their choice. The important thing was that they were engaging with the magic and developing their skills, even if their methods were unconventional. The session continued for another hour, with students rotating between different dummies and experimenting with various defensive techniques. Some discovered that movement was as important as magical shields, learning to dodge and weave while maintaining their protective charms. Others found success in timing their defenses precisely, waiting until the last possible moment to erect their barriers. When Adrian finally called an end to the training, the results were both predictable and surprising. Most students had the color marks of their learning process. The Weasley twins were, unsurprisingly, almost entirely covered in green. However, two students stood out from the colorful crowd due to their appearance. Harry and Percy remained completely unmarked by the training session, their robes were as clean and black as they had been at the beginning of the lesson. This outcome was also within Adrian's expectations. Percy, there was no need to say much about such an excellent Student. And Harry, having studied under him in the summer vacation, was also extremely skilled with the Shield Charm. ________________ You can read more chapters on: /IamLuis

0166 The Dummies

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