After training ended, Adrian waved his wand to make the dummies retreat neatly to the corner, then gathered the students.
"It seems I need to give out two prizes," Adrian said with satisfaction, observing Harry and Percy, who had not a trace of color on them.
Harry and Percy's eyes immediately lit up.
What rewards would they receive?
Under their expectant gazes, Adrian pulled two wooden dummies from his pocket and handed them to Harry and Percy respectively.
Everyone else looked at this scene with envy.
"This is..." Harry looked at the wooden dummy in his hand that had become motionless, his eyes filled with some confusion.
It looked similar to the dummies they had trained with, the only difference being that their faces had roughly carved features.
"Your reward," Adrian explained, "The control phrase is 'Come to Life.' Oh, and remember—" He raised his own wand demonstratively, "—point your wand at it when you say the words. Intent and focus are crucial."
Harry and Percy exchanged a meaningful glance.
Harry held the dummy in his left palm while gripping his wand with his right. He pointed the tip at the small figure and spoke the words with clear conviction: "Come to Life!"
The wooden dummy's limbs jerked as if struck by lightning, and it sprang from Harry's palm with surprising agility. The moment its feet touched the stone floor, it began to expand like a rapidly inflating balloon.
In the blink of an eye, it had grown to about Harry's height, and its face had also changed—it looked roughly like a wooden carving of Harry. Even the lightning scar on his forehead was reproduced.
"Incredible," Hermione breathed from the sidelines with curiosity and envy. "What exactly do these dummies do? Are they similar to the training dummies we just faced?"
"Yes, roughly the same," Adrian nodded, his attention focused on Harry and Percy as they stared in fascination at their wooden dummies. "They can serve as practice partners for spell work, sparring partners for dueling techniques, or..." He paused with a mysterious smile, "well, you'll discover their other uses in time."
At this moment, dummy-Harry's wooden joints made soft sounds as it suddenly bowed elegantly to everyone, its movements so fluid they didn't seem puppet-like at all.
"This is extraordinary," Harry exclaimed, his voice bright with wonder. "Hey, I think I can control it,"
Everyone looked at him in amazement.
"Just like that," Adrian shrugged. "You can control these dummies to do dangerous things in your place."
Percy, who had been observing the demonstration with attention, finally raised his own wand. Following Harry's example, he pointed it at the figure resting in his palm and spoke the activation phrase with careful pronunciation: "Come to Life!"
Soon, a wooden dummy bearing his rough face appeared in front of him as well.
"Honestly," Percy said thoughtfully, his gaze shifting between his duplicate and Adrian, "it's rather unsettling to see another version of yourself standing there. How was this made?"
The classroom immediately fell quiet, with everyone curiously looking toward Adrian.
"A balance of transfiguration, animation charms, and magic," He said cryptically, "plus a considerable amount of imagination and no small degree of patience. The theory alone would take several Advanced Transfiguration classes to explain properly. Perhaps you'd like to research it yourself, Percy? I'd be interested to see what conclusions you reach."
Percy nodded slowly.
In fact, Adrian didn't intend to explain the operating principles of the wooden dummies to the students present, because even Percy would find it somewhat difficult to understand.
"Very well," Adrian announced, clapping his hands together. "That concludes our session for today. Tomorrow at precisely this time, we'll continue our work with the Shield Charm. I trust you'll all practice the techniques we've covered, though I suspect most of you will ignore my advice about avoiding private dueling sessions." His tone carried a note of resigned amusement. "Until tomorrow, then."
After leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Adrian walked briskly down the corridor, humming a little tune.
Honestly, teaching students was something that brought him joy.
Especially when those lovely students successfully cast a complete Shield Charm under his guidance.
Perhaps he was someone with a strong desire to teach?
Oh well, he did indeed have a strong teaching instinct.
He had discovered this when he first took taught Harry herbology and potions in his shop. However, this wasn't a bad thing.
When Adrian passed through the courtyard, he suddenly stopped.
The snow in the courtyard was very thick, and he saw a figure walking through the snow—a small figure almost buried by the accumulation.
"Professor Flitwick?" Adrian called out, "What brings you out in this weather?"
At the sound of his name, Professor Flitwick looked up from his battle with the snow, his face brightening considerably when he spotted Adrian. With new energy, he began wading through the snow toward Adrian.
"Oh, thank Merlin," Professor Flitwick panted when he finally reached Adrian. His usually tidy beard was thoroughly frosted with snow, and his robes were soaked through despite their water-repelling charms. "I was beginning to think I might need to set up camp halfway across the courtyard. The snow is particularly vindictive today—I've just returned from Hogsmeade, and the walk back was more adventure than I'd bargained for."
He brushed vigorously at his robes, sending snow to the ground around his feet, though the gesture seemed more symbolic than effective given his thoroughly drenched state.
"What about you?" Professor Flitwick asked, "I had though you'd returned home for the holidays. You really should have mentioned you were staying—we could have made the trip to the Three Broomsticks together. Butterbeer by a warm fire would have been far more pleasant than this solo expedition through what appears to be a frozen wasteland."
"I arrived this morning," Adrian explained, then paused as a thought struck him. "Professor Flitwick, I wonder if you might be interested in supervising a dueling club?"
Professor Flitwick frowned. "I should have mentioned that I have no intention of participating in Lockhart's—"
"No, no, no," Adrian interrupted quickly, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "Not Lockhart's production, I assure you. I'm referring to a small, private gathering I've been organizing during the Christmas holidays."
He excitedly stepped forward, nearly sinking into the snow pile.
"Now that," He said with genuine enthusiasm, "is entirely different! Why didn't you mention this earlier? Of course I'll supervise—I'd be delighted to help!"
Seeing Professor Flitwick's rapid change of attitude, Adrian couldn't help but smile.
"Actually," Adrian continued, somewhat apologetically, "we've already held our first session. Tomorrow will be our second meeting. Though I should clarify—this isn't a traditional dueling club in the formal sense. We just focus on practical spells and defensive techniques useful in duels."
Professor Flitwick's expression shifted to one of fake indignation, though his eyes still twinkled with amusement. "You organized a session without consulting the Charms professor? How could you forget me? I taught you half those spells yourself, young man."
Seeing this, Adrian could only smile.
He had thought Professor Flitwick seemed uninterested in dueling clubs before, assuming he had some objection to them. Now it seemed his objection wasn't to dueling clubs themselves, but to Lockhart.
In any case, Adrian's Christmas holiday gathering had gained a new supervising professor—Professor Flitwick.
Over the following days, Professor Flitwick joined Adrian's small gathering.
The students naturally welcomed this warmly—everyone knew that Professor Flitwick had been a dueling master in his youth.
His performance indeed lived up to his title of "dueling champion."
With Professor Flitwick's help, Adrian's guidance of the students became much more manageable.
Through gathering after gathering, the participating students' dueling skills improved markedly.
Finally, Christmas Eve arrived, bringing with it the last session of their holiday gathering.
The final practical training session was memorable for many reasons, but none more so than the spectacular duel between George and Fred Weasley. The twins, who had been developing their magical skills in directions that would have horrified their mother, put on a display of creative spell-work that had everyone watching in attention.
Their duel was less about winning than about showing off increasingly inventive applications of standard spells.
The exhibition continued for several minutes, each brother trying to outdo the other in terms of creativity rather than destructive power. By the time they finally called a draw, both were grinning widely despite being covered in various magical effects.
After George and Fred contributed their spectacular duel, everyone gave enthusiastic applause.
Adrian stood in the center of the classroom, surveying the surrounding students with a gratified smile. "Today is the last day of the holidays and the last day of our gathering. I hope this time has been as meaningful for all of you as it has been for me."
Professor Flitwick beside him was also smiling.
Through this period of practice, the students attending the gathering had improved tremendously. He had seen this with his own eyes.
The classroom filled once again with applause, though this time it carried a note of melancholy. Good things, it seemed, always came to an end too quickly.
"Professor Westeros," Hermione called out as the applause faded, her hand raised in the familiar gesture of an eager student, "when will we be able to continue these sessions?"
All the students turned their attention to Adrian—indeed, this was what they were most concerned about currently.
"All I can say is... stay tuned," Adrian winked. "Our gathering hasn't disbanded, just paused."
Hearing this, everyone felt somewhat reluctant to part. Only they themselves knew how much this gathering had improved their abilities.
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