Melody Riddle and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 28: Teaching

"Try not to worry about the spell hitting you," I advised Pansy. I'd started teaching her a few defense spells that afternoon, and she mostly cringed with every spell I sent her way. "The point of defense is for you to be able to keep yourself safe from an enemy while you think of a spell to use against them — it's a sort of distraction method, you could say."

"That's hard to imagine when you know the spell is meant to hurt you," Pansy said nervously.

I paced thoughtfully, just then noticing the small audience that had gathered around me. I automatically looked at everyone in turn as I said, "It's true, you need to know exactly when a spell is meant to be used against you, yourself. However, keeping yourself calm is essential to being able to defend yourself. If you want to stay safe, you have to learn how to keep control over your emotions."

"Wouldn't it be better to let your emotions control your spell-casting?" one student blurted.

I looked over at him. He was a first year student, with curly brown hair. He blushed slightly under my gaze.

"That's a very good question, actually. What's your name?"

"Graham Pritchard," he said.

"Then answer me this, Mr. Pritchard. Why do you think putting emotion into a spell is better?"

"Well..." he looked very surprised by the question. "Because... because then there's a reason.. behind the — uh — spell... right?"

"Are you quite sure?" I asked.

He paused, "No."

"I'd suggest you offer a justifiable reason behind every answer you give in case a teacher asks." The boy blushed again and his friends chuckled slightly. "I personally agree with you, though emotion is helpful sometimes. Only one emotion would always be helpful, and that is courage. Courage drives you behind every single spell you make, otherwise they would all be meager little spurts of kid's magic.

"But what I mean by controlling your emotions is to control your fear. An enemy can practically smell it off of you, and any other emotion can be sensed as well when you put what you're thinking about into consideration. You can't be thinking 'oh I want to go home,' not when your attacker is standing in front of you feeling all your fear and trepidation pouring out of you. You have to focus your thinking on what spells to use against them while effectively protecting yourself. Just clear your mind of everything that clutters your brain except for the spells you know will assist you in that moment."

"And if the spell coming towards you is the Killing Curse?" Pansy asked.

I shrugged, "Well, then, do the next best thing and duck out of the way with. Just hope that it will rebound off of something, and hit the attacker instead."

Some people chuckled. Some blanched. I, however, smiled excitedly as I looked at everyone who'd gathered around to listen. There was something rejuvenating about other kids learning something from me. "To those who want some practice... let's begin."

⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛

Severus walked into the common room about forty minutes later, and stared in silent shock at the scene before him. Students were in partners, neatly strewn across the common room, casting spells as each other as well as defending. True duelling.

He looked over at me as I studied a certain fight, commenting things like "You had some good power behind that stunning spell, Pritchard, but don't wander your eyes away from Parker." Graham and Lissy are actually doing pretty well for first years. "Actually, Parker, that's Furnunculus, not Furnooncoolus." To the room at large, I shouted, "Pronunciation is key, everybody, remember that! Say something wrong, and it'll backfire!"