Oblivion | d.malfoy

𝟎𝟎𝟕 | 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭

"—if you're not coming back with me, I at least want to help by teaching you some of the basics in dueling. If you're ever out there on a battle field, the other death eaters probably aren't going to make it easy for you," Roman walked in front of her, the sound of his footsteps echoing throughout the room of requirement. "They're going to make your life hell if you can defend yourself. It was even hard for me to get into the manor my first week on the job."

"The manor?" Evanna stood before him, hands shaking slightly as she clutched her wand.

"Yes... Malfoy Manor— or at least that's what it used to be. It's more like a death eater hotel at this point," The dark-haired boy laughed at his own joke, but Evanna didn't smile. She knew how rough things must've been for him over there.

The Malfoys. Vile, cruel people with nothing but hatred in their hearts. The thought of Roman having to stay there... with them... it sickened her.

She hummed in response, surveying the room. She had been in here hundreds of times before, but she'd never actually used the room for its distributed purpose.

There were wooden figures built at the far end of the room, probably practice targets. A set of tall cabinets covered an entire wall, but Evanna was familiar with those. They were used to store large quantities of potion ingredients and other forms of ammunition such as handmade smoke bombs that Evanna had personally instructed the students in making. 

"Now... we'll start with something simple. Stunning charms aren't too hard to pick up."

She took a nervous breath, stepping forwards to where she was lined up directly in Roman's path. He was probably about twenty meters away at this point— which would make it rather embarrassing if she missed.

"Come on now... hit me. I won't do too much to stop you, but I don't want you to kill me either," The boy sent her a wink, followed by a smirk.

Evanna took a deep breath as she raised her wand. "I've got this. It isn't even that hard. We leaned this in first year," She whispered the reassuring words to herself, making sure that Roman couldn't hear how frightened she was to actually do something like this for the first time in months.

"Stupefy—"

A red light shot from the tip of her wand, flying far above the boy's right shoulder. He didn't even flinch or move his wand to defend himself, almost as if he knew that she would miss.

Her jaw dropped in shock and she couldn't believe that she was this awful at offensive spells. "I— I'm sorry. That was—"

"That was terrible. Try again," Roman laughed as he openly criticized her dueling skills.

She reset her position, raising her arm and trying to point it directly at his chest.

"Try not to miss," The boy chuckled, making Evanna roll her eyes.

"I'll get it this time. I think I just need to relax."

•••

"You need to relax, Mitchell," The tall boy paced behind her, eyes wandering all over her body as she stood several feet away from the wooden target. "You're too tense."

"I'm trying—" Evanna stopped mid-sentence when she felt a hand on her waist, slightly rotating her so that she was straight again. She tried turning around to look at him, but his other hand came to the back of her neck, forcing her to face the target.

"Concentrate... don't let your attention stray," His voice was deep, a low whisper. "Just focus. You'll hit the target."

She gave a small nod, raising her wand into the air once again.