It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 54

                                        Chapter 54 : Practice makes perfect

The rest of the Christmas holiday break was very busy, starting with Dumbledore and Flitwick placing layer upon layer of protective spells on the castle and its foundations, plus reinforcing the existing charms and spells. 

Fred and George set up a practice schedule for Draco down on the lawn, with targets and a blanketing silencing spell, so as not to scare anyone or draw undue attention from Hogsmeade especially, because the sound of the rifle Draco was using would bounce off the rock foundation of the castle and echo down the valley and across the lake . . . no use announcing to the world that a high powered rifle was in the neighborhood! 

Lucius tried out the flame thrower, in the spell protected courtyard, and found it was actually quite simple to use and became quite proficient in just minutes.  It was decided that he could make better use of his time helping with the installation of the Plexiglas panels inside the library windows, so he joined that work gang, assisting Hermione, Ron and Arthur and Molly Weasley, plus adding more protective spells to those already in place around Madam Pince's precious books and the library shelves. He also came up with the idea of putting Plexiglas 'roofs' on the tops of the library stacks, to deflect any debris that could fall from the ceiling.

Seamus, Neville, Dean and Harry were busy rigging the bridge with a vast assortment of the Weasley fireworks and explosive charges.  Harry was using his broom to deliver the materials to Seamus and Dean as they climbed over, through and around the support structure of the wooden bridge, while Neville unloaded and sorted the pyrotechnics from the crates, following the blueprint Seamus had worked up, cross referencing it with the list of available products the twins had included in the crate.

Luna and Ginny were practicing with Professor Trelawney and Narcissa Malfoy in the smaller courtyard, target shooting to get used to their equipment, too.  True to the twins word, Sybil became a crack shot in very little time, with the girls and Narcissa cheering.  The fact that her target was a picture of Dolores Umbridge might have been a contributing factor to her success.  Be that as it may, she was soon shooting the full length of the courtyard and hitting the picture dead center every time.

After some discussion with the twins, about how hard it would be to see the Dementor and trying to judge distance and accuracy, in the dark,  she reluctantly switched her paintball gun for a crossbow, to use at a second assignment for the defense of Hogwarts.  She began taking lessons from Remus to learn how to produce a Patronus, as it was agree, that would be a better protection for Draco.

Professor Sprout, Minerva and Peeves scouted out the best places where they would be moving the pots of Venomous Tentacula and which battlements should house the Mandrake plants.  They wouldn't be moved until the Spring holiday, when the cooler weather outside the green houses wouldn't affect them. 

They made suggestions to the twins as to which hallways would be best suited for their 'Portable Swamps', as the evacuation of the younger students was also a concern; there had to be at least two routes from each of the House towers to get the lower classes to safety.  If there was time, they would go to the Room of Requirement and then to the Hogs Head or in an emergency, to the lower levels, where the House Elves had rooms ready, deep under the castle where the battle wouldn't reach.

X X X

Knock! Knock!

"Enter!" Severus called out, looking up from the cauldron he was tending. Katie opened the door and peeked around the frame, smiling when she saw what he was doing.