"Alright. Does everybody have a partner?" Nobody fessed up to being partnerless, so Harry continued. "Good. I need all of you to spread out and each group occupy one circle. Decide amongst yourselves who will start as the caster and who will dodge first."
There was a lot of shuffling around as they all moved to claim a circle. There was minimal strife in this process as each circle was identical to the next. When everyone seemed to be settled, Harry spoke again. "Now I want you all to try to cast the stinging hex at someone in another circle."
The class all looked at each other as if he was crazy. Ginny, not one to pass up an excellent opportunity, cast a stinging hex towards Ron. She was shocked when the hex impacted an invisible barrier not far in front of her. Several other people tried this as well and received similar results. "You have no doubt found that the spell cannot travel outside the boundaries of your circle, so you will have no need to fear getting hit from stray hexes from another group. Now does anybody have any questions?"
Hermione's hand shot up in the air. "Yes, Hermione?"
"What are we supposed to do about the stinging hexes we are hit with?" she asked.
"An excellent question. I forgot to address that. After each round, you can cure the stinging with a simple finite incantatem. The hex is so mild that it does not have any lingering effects after it is lifted. Any other questions?"
Nobody spoke up. "Good. Dodgers, hand over your wands to your partners. Casters, you are to remain in the small circle for the duration of the exercise. Dodgers, you're confined to the larger circle. Everybody get ready." One person in each group shuffled to the small circle. Once everyone had finished moving, Harry called out "Begin."
After a minute, frustration bubbled up in Harry's veins. This was not going at all like he had hoped. The people casting spells were all doing so half-heartedly, and those dodging hardly had to move at all to avoid being hit. No one was really trying to hit anyone else, and the speed with which people were casting was pathetic.
Harry blew hard on his whistle and yelled "Enough!" The entire class looked over to find their instructor fuming at them. Those that were near Harry took a conscious step away from him. "That was pathetic. Do you call that spell casting? Do you actually expect to hit anybody casting spells like that? It's obvious that you all are going to need a demonstration of how this should work. I need a volunteer to do this exercise with me. We will each take a turn dodging so that I can demonstrate both casting and dodging, since you all seem incapable of doing both. Is anyone willing to help me with this demonstration?"
For a full minute nobody moved. Then, to his surprise, Blaise stepped forward. "Yeah, Potter, I'll help you out."
Harry gave the man a slight smile and a nod. "Alright, thank you Blaise. Good to see someone here has a little backbone. I'll do the casting first, that way you won't be shy about returning the favor."
"I don't think you have to worry about me being shy hexing you," Blaise replied seriously.
Harry chuckled. "You're probably right. But all the same, I think I'll cast first anyway. And before we start, I just want you to know that there's no hard feelings. I'm going to work you as hard as I would work anybody else, no more no less."
Blaise gave a curt nod in reply. Harry joined Blaise in his circle as Daphne exited. Harry stood in the smaller center circle and looked at Blaise. He noticed that the rest of the class had gathered around to get a good look at the spectacle to come. Harry smiled grimly as he asked "Ready?"
"Show me what you got, Potter," Blaise replied.
"You asked for it," Harry smiled. "Ready… Begin." And he began. Harry unloaded a long string of stinging hexes at the Slytherin with deadly accuracy. The audience stood in shock as spell after spell connected with the Slytherin's body despite Blaise's attempt to avoid the bursts of light erupting from Harry's wand. Harry was holding back. He could have been casting spells much more quickly than he was, but he wanted to give the boy a chance to dodge some of the spells. After a couple minutes, Harry stopped his torrent of spells and quickly cast a finite incantatem on his adversary to relieve him of his stinging.
"Now that is how you should be casting your spells. The harder you work each other, the better your chances will be in this war. Now Blaise, I imagine you'd like to pay me back for that?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"You weren't kidding Potter. I think I'll enjoy having a go at you after that display." He strode to the middle circle that Harry had just vacated and faced Harry.
Harry gave the boy a nod and called "Ready… Begin." Blaise began launching spells at Harry as fast as he could manage. But Harry was quick. He nimbly avoided the shots of light coming his way. After his initial torrent of spells failed to connect, Blaise concentrated harder on connecting with his target. He was casting spells as fast as he could but was still unable to match the speed at which Harry had been casting, despite the fact that Harry had been holding back. Spell after spell left Blaise's wand, but Harry jumped, ducked, rolled, spun, dove, and stepped out of the way, all the while never leaving the confines of the larger circle.
....
Join my exclusive P@treon community for 60+ thrilling chapters!
Link: pa*treon.com/MidnightWonder (Remove the *)
If you join now you will get 2 Chapters for free as well.
Don't miss out, join now!