DPASW: The Foundation of Power

A Very Slytherin Muggleborn - Part 2

Daphne sighted down her wand and loosed a bright red stunner on the wooden target dummy.

The Slytherin dungeons were exceptionally well equipped. They had a duelling range, a potions lab, and a small library. Harry had hinted there were other, more secure, places they could use later, but until they could set them up, she planned to make as much use of these facilities as possible.

Next to her, Granger lined up her own wand. "You don't think we're going to need this anytime soon do you?" Granger asked, firing off her own stunner towards the dummy.

She frowned. Their first day at Hogwarts had gone well. Nothing too drastic had happened and today looked to be more of the same. But still...

She fingered her wand. "It's better to be prepared than not."

Granger lowered her wand. "You could just say, 'I don't know.'"

She kept her face blank. "'I don't know' was part of my meaning."

Granger tilted her head in a half-acknowledgement, turned, took a deep breath, and let loose a continuous chain of spells.

A few booths away, a group of older Slytherins were also training, making use of the time before breakfast to brush up on their skills, no doubt dulled by summer sloth.

Granger continued to pour magic into her target, muttering almost constantly under her breath, her spell casting fast, precise, and sustained. One stunner, one shield-breaker, one jelly-legs jinx, and one more stunner. The standard stunner was medium speed and medium power, the shield-breaker did nothing to a human, but was very effective against a protego, and the jelly-legs jinx was a super fast cast time threat meant to throw off an opponent for that crucial split second after their shield dropped. They called the combination the dueller's hello and it contained the three non-shield combat spells Harry had taught her so far. Each of Granger's spells flowed seamlessly into the next, an elegant dance of wand and hand movements, made all the more impressive by the witch's occasional feints and ducks, dodging the pretend counter spells of an imaginary enemy.

She noticed the group of older Slytherins had paused and were eyeing them. The assumed leader detached himself from the group and sauntered over. She didn't recognise the boy but he walked with a manner that screamed pureblood. She nodded at him and received a nod in return. The older boy stood a few paces away and watched Granger for a few more seconds before her casting slowed and stopped.

Granger turned.

"Good casting for a first year," he commented. "I counted nine hellos before you slowed down. I assume you have at least one of them wordless?"

Granger stood a little straighter. "Yes, the stupefy, otherwise I'd never be able to keep that up for as long as that. I considered learning circular breathing, but in the end I decided not to bother."

The boy tilted his head. "Circular breathing?"

"It's a technique that allows you to breathe in through your nose while you breathe out through your mouth, but I'm not sure how useful it would be when you can just learn to cast wordlessly."

The boy's eyes widened. "Where did you see that? I've never seen that before."

Granger shrugged. "It's not from around these parts."

The boy eyed her Slytherin vassal crest.

Was that suspicion in his eyes?

"Rumours say your lord comes from New Zealand..."

Granger smiled sweetly. "I'm sorry, I can't divulge my lord's secrets."

The boy nodded, as though confirming something to himself.