Once again, excited chatter broke out amongst those in the hall and Sirius sighed deeply next to Harry.
"Well it's obvious who will win" he huffed playfully looking at Harry purposely.
Harry shook his head. "I have no intention of entering" Harry shrugged as he continued eating his eggs.
"But you'd win, easily", Sirius replied, completely surprised by Harry's declaration, as were the rest of the Marauders.
"Probably", Harry agreed. "And that's the main reason I'm not entering, I'd much rather watch" he added genuinely.
Sirius shook his head in disbelief.
"I'm not entering either" James revealed. "I prefer Quidditch and dueling on this level doesn't interest me after training with Harry".
"Moony?" Sirius asked as he found himself once again in a state of disbelief, he was sure that James would certainly enter.
"I'm in" the werewolf answered simply. "It's good practice".
"Not me" Peter answered before he was asked. "I'm no duelist, I leave that to you guys". "So just Padfoot and Moony then" James surmised. "And we'd all better think about asking people to that ball, girls like to plan ahead on these things" he said ruefully.
"There's ages before that Prongs" Sirius whined. "And besides I'll be going with Marlene so I have nothing to worry about" he added smugly.
James simply shrugged and smirked at the boy.
"That's up to you but I'm sure Marlene would be very upset if you didn't ask her properly and as soon as possible" he warned.
Sirius gaped momentarily before a look of realisation dawned.
"Damn" he grumbled, knowing that his friend was right.
His frown quickly turned into laughter and it took him a moment to compose himself.
"What's so funny" Remus asked, as the rest of the group looked at their clearly amused friend. "I just realised we are having a ball" Sirius answered as he wiped an errant tear from his eye.
"We've known that for a week now Padfoot" Remus pointed out irritably.
"Yeah, but now Harry has to date a girl" Sirius returned triumphantly.
The others turned their attention to the boy in question, all now wearing equal looks of amusement.
Harry groaned as he dragged his hand through his hair and allowed his head to hit the table with a thud as his new predicament registered.
"Who are you going to take?" James questioned seriously.
"I don't want to go" Harry grumbled. "I hate things like that".
"Well you'll have to, Mum will make sure you do" James returned gleefully. "Well it's not like they are going to publish it in the prophet" Harry huffed.
"No, but I may have written to Mum already to send some dress robes" James informed him. Harry groaned once more and began banging his head on the table in frustration.
The others simply laughed at their friend before Peter attempted to comfort him.
"Come on Harry, it's not that bad" the boy tried, patting him on the back. "I'm sure there's lots of girls that will want you take them".
Harry sighed and shook his head.
"Let's just go to charms" he demanded.
The group exited the Great Hall and began making their way to the charms classroom.
It seemed that what Peter had said held some merit as Harry became very aware of quite a number of girls staring at him expectantly as they journeyed through the corridors of the castle.
'At least it's not just because I'm the boy who lived' he thought to himself, though it did not make the upcoming ball any more appealing to him, particularly after his last and only experience of such an event.
They filed into the room and took their seats, minus Sirius who drifted across to Marlene and began whispering with girl. He returned to them a few moments later looking a little flushed and embarrassed.
"You did it already?" James asked, clearly not expecting the other boy to act so quickly.
"Yep" Sirius confirmed proudly. "No point hanging around is there" he shrugged.
Harry shook his head and turned his attention to Professor Flitwick who had just entered the room. "OK, settle down" , the diminutive man requested as he took his spot on the stack of books he used to teach his class from.
The class fell respectfully quiet and waited for the charms master to proceed.
"As the Headmaster announced we will be having a dueling tournament" he began excitedly. "So that means we will be working on some new spells that you will be able to use if you choose to take part" he announced. "Firstly, we will look at the protego charm, a shield that will block most minor spells and some less pleasant ones too, is anyone familiar with this spell?".
Lily immediately raised her hands and was called upon to explain her understanding of it.
"The spell itself is fairly simple to cast and maintain and is best used to defend against simple jinxes and minor curses but not particularly good against other offensive spells like blasting curses" she began. "If someone is more powerful than you then they can destroy the shield quite easily" she elaborated.
"Very good Miss Evans, take five points for Gryffindor" Flitwick praised. "Can anyone explain why we are starting with the simple shield?".
Harry this time rose his hand and was prompted by the man to give his answer.
"Because shields are a very tiring way of defending yourself and it is unlikely that in a school dueling tournament you would need anything more powerful, it should be sufficient" he finished, though he was not completely confident as some of the spells he had seen used in the school render protego useless.
"Indeed Mr. Potter" Flitwick agreed. "Care to explain further?". "You should always dodge a spell if you can as it is less draining and leaves you more of a chance to stage a counter attack".
"Very good, five points for you also" Flitwick acknowledged. "I want you all to break off in pairs and work on casting the shield, I will come around and help you, the spell can be found on page 403".
Harry paired off with Remus as James Sirius and Peter headed off together.
"You first" Harry offered.
He had taught the Marauders much more advanced shielding charms already so this was just a recap of what he had gone through with them at the beginning.
Remus nodded and erected a powerful shield immediately, holding it in place for as long as he could. "It really is tiring" he observed, his breathing having become quite labored.
"Well done Mr. Lupin" Flitwick observed as he joined the pair. "And I am sure you yourself are well versed in the spell" he added to Harry knowingly.
"Yes sir" Harry confirmed.
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