I pull up with Elora to Defence Against the Dark Arts. She's the only one out of our friends who I share the class with, so we always go together.

"Why did you take this class anyway?" I ask her, realizing I've never bothered to know. I am trying to maintain the peace since she saw me with Fred all those weeks ago and said nothing. I'm indebted, unfortunately.

She shrugs. "It's an easy O. You want to be a dueller, correct? Or wanted, I guess, given your newfound success at potions."

I don't answer her. Mostly because I can't tell if she's making a slight at me or not. Instead, I shrug my shoulders and move into the classroom. All of the desks have been removed, just leaving the wood floor for us to examine. I wonder if we are going to be facing a creature again today.

"Wicked," both Fred and George say in unison behind me.

As they walk by, Elora sniffs the air. "Do you smell something funny, Larkin?"

So she was slighting me. Or if she wasn't, she is now.

"Shove off, Avery," I hush, hoping the Weasley twins don't hear me speaking.

Elora smirk only widens. She leans in, about to murmur something to me, but then Professor Moody enters the room from his office. He looks down at us, his one eye busy scanning the crowd, while the other focuses on us.

"Well," he grunts. Taking a step down the stairs. Each step causes him to grunt more as he relies on his wooden leg to stand properly. He reaches into his pocket and takes a sip from his white flask, raising it to his lips with a struggle. "It seems the rest of the stragglers are still arriving. What should we do today?"

He takes a step closer until he towers over Elora. She stares back at her with straight eyes. Waiting.

"We could talk about Death Eaters," he says, finally turning to me. "Given their recent resurfacing. Miss Travers would know quite a bit about Death Eaters, wouldn't she?"

I don't answer him. My eyes turn to stone and I stare him down. Beside me, I feel Elora shrinking.

"You wouldn't hex me when my back was turned, would you?" he asks, leering over top of me. "Dear Uncle Lazarus would, but he's rotting away in Azkaban. Isn't he?"

I know better than to open my mouth.

"So would Miss Avery," he continues. "It was a grandfather for you, wasn't it."

Elora looks to me, but I bow my head. We both know better than to publicly advocate for the beliefs of our forefathers.

"Ahh, here we are," he looks up above me. "Miss Johnson and Miss Spinnet have finally arrived. Shall we begin then, ladies?"

When they too remain silent, Professor Moody turns his back to me. He spins around and with a wand raised, he begins a spell.

I don't know that he's aiming for me, but I don't take the risk.

"Protego!" I shout, just as he wordlessly casts the spell. Something hits my shield.

It blasts past the Professor, hitting a jar in the back corner. Glass shatters and shoots out across the classroom.

"Good work, Miss Travers," he says. "Next time, aim at me."

"Are we spending class doing the shield charm then?" Angelina Johnson asks from the back of the room.

She missed our confrontation earlier. I'm not sure that Professor Moody was intending to teach me anything by hurling that charm at me.

"Most adult wizards can't cast the shield charm," Fred points out.

"Pitiful, actually," George agrees.

"You all should be able to practice it with ease by now," Professor Moody brushes them off. "Today, we shall be practicing the shield charm as a non-verbal spell. Non-verbal attacks as well. I want silence today."

He snaps his fingers and begins to pair us off. Though Elora practically clings to my side, she gets paired with Cassius Warrington, while I am set to be with George. I look over at Fred, as he high-fives Lee. At least he seems happy with the arrangement. All of us group off. Professor Moody provides us with no instructions, only offering the textbook as a resource, while he disappears back into his room.

George and I stand in front of each other.

"Well, I don't know that it would feel right, attacking you," he says.

His guards down. With the flourish of my wand, he gets knocked off his feet, falling to the ground.

A few giggles erupt from behind him. He stands up, with a grin on his face. "Oh, it's on Travers."

He flicks his wand at me, and I block it with my wand. I throw back a spell, and it penetrates his shield charm, knocking him off his feet once more.

I head over and offer him a hand. He takes it, helping himself to his feet.

"I've been told I'm quite good," I tell him. "Less good at blocking, but good at penetrating."

"So I've noticed," he grins.

George throws another spell at me and I block. It goes flying into Cedric Diggory, who blocks it barely in time. It barely misses the other Hufflepuff prefect that he's duelling with.

"Watch where you're throwing it," Cedric smiles at me.

I shrug my shoulders, holding my wand up in case George throws a spell at me while my back is turned.

"You must think rather poorly of me," George tells me, behind my back. "I'm not a bad person. Not like all your friends."

I spin around on my feet. "Stupefy!"

"Protego," George shouts back. He blocks the spell, but only barely as it penetrates his shield charm. He goes stumbling backwards until he collides with Cassius behind him, and the two fall into a heap.

"I said non-verbal," Professor Moody shouts from his office. I hear his footsteps as he comes rushing out. "Who did that?"

Cassius pulls himself up from underneath George. He points at me.

I would say that George started it, but I think we both consented to fight each other.

"If you're so keen to fight, why don't we have you go up against a worthy peer?" Professor Moody asks. "Any takers?"

Elora raises her hand. She looks at me with a smile on her face.

"A duel it is," Professor Moody says.

The rest of the class, who has already stopped to look, turns to Professor Moody. Elora walks over across from me, at the other end of the classroom, ready to go. She raises her wand at me, and bows. I follow suit. Everyone else lines up at the sides of the classroom, ready to watch us.

"All spells, except the unforgivable, are permitted," Professor Moody says. "So long as they are non-verbal. Understood?"

Both Elora and I nod.

"Wands at the ready," he instructs. I raise my hand, my wand pointing at Elora. I've never fought her before, but then again, she's never fought me. Neither of us has any advantage or disadvantage over the other.

She flicks her wand at me, and I wave up a shield charm. I feel the spell bounce off me. It flies just above Alicia Spinnet's head and cracks the windowpane.

Elora's smile deepens. I whip a spell at her, but she brushes it off with ease.

We continue back and forth, spells flashing. I'm mostly throwing disarming charms, but I can't tell what she's throwing at me. Finally, I deflect her spell properly, and manage to hit her with it. She stumbles back and frowns. Boils explode across her face.

"Expulso," she shouts.

I raise my shield charm, but it breaks through. It sends me flying backwards. I flip once in the air, before smacking against the wall. My head hits the stone, and everything goes fuzzy.

Elora runs up next to me. Each step sounds like is getting farther and farther away. Something is touching me, a hand, her hand. It lifts me off the ground.

"I'm sorry, Professor," she says to Moody.

"It's alright," he says. "Miss Travers got a taste of her own medicine."

His voice echoes. It feels like I'm underwater. I raise my fingers to my right ear. It feels wet. I pull away, and see blood along my fingers.

"Bring her to the Hospital Wing," Professor Moody instructs.

Elora helps me take a step. Even though I'm wobbly, she leads me outside the classroom. I trip just outside, and she lets me hit the ground. I'm slow to pick myself up since my elbows shake and my head pounds.

"You'll be alright," she insists. "It's just a little wound."

"You're quite good," I admit, blinking rapidly. My vision is still blurry. I can't pull myself off the ground. "Really good, actually."

"I know," she says. Then she cocks her head to the side. "You know, I'm surprised you went so hard against George Weasley. I take it the Hogsmeade trip didn't go well?"

It's my turn to smirk now. She thinks I was with George and not Fred. At least now, I don't have to lie about the matter.

Eventually, she comes to my side and lifts me. We head off to the hospital wing, where I am forced to drink a dreadful potion and lie down on a cot for several hours until my vision returns. Madam Pomphrey insists that I am not to be flung against any walls any longer.

I can't help but agree.

~~~~~

I quite enjoyed this. Finally, we are getting into the swing of things. I'm so thrilled!