𝐎, 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 ⎥ "He wants a fight with
a God? I'll give him one."
﹙ from stardust we came, to stardust we return ﹚
Prisoner of Azkaban - Deathly Hollows
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NOW WITH EVERY WEIRD THING THAT'S HAPPENED, ELARA WAS MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER TO HELP HARRY THROUGH THE FINAL TASK. but, the hogwarts grounds had never looked more inviting than when elara had to stay indoors. for the next few days she spent all of her free time either in the library with harry, hermione and ron, looking up hexes, or else in empty classrooms, which they sneaked into to practice. harry was concentrating on the stunning spell, which he had never used before. the trouble was that practicing it involved certain sacrifices on ron's, elara's and hermione's part.
"can't we kidnap mrs. norris?" ron suggested on monday lunchtime as he lay flat on his back in the middle of their charms classroom, having just been stunned and reawoken by harry for the fifth time in a row. "let's stun her for a bit. or you could use dobby, harry, i bet he'd do anything to help you. i'm not complaining or anything" — he got gingerly to his feet, rubbing his backside — "but i'm aching all over. . . ."
"well, you keep missing the cushions, don't you!" said hermione impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions they had used for the banishing spell, which flitwick had left in a cabinet.
"just try fall backward!"
"once you're stunned, you can't aim too well!" said ron angrily. "why don't either of you take a turn?"
"well, i think harry's got it now, anyway," said hermione hastily. "and we don't have to worry about disarming, because he's been able to do that for ages. . . . i think we ought to start on some of these hexes this evening."
she looked down the list they had made in the library.
"i like the look of this one," she said, "this impediment curse. should slow down anything that's trying to attack you, harry. we'll start with that one."
the bell rang. they hastily shoved the cushions back into flitwick's cupboard and slipped out of the classroom.
"see you at dinner!" said hermione, and she set off for arithmancy, while harry, ron, and elara headed toward north tower, and divination. broad strips of dazzling gold sunlight fell across the corridor from the high windows. the sky outside was so brightly blue it looked as though it had been enameled.
"it's going to be boiling in trelawney's room, she never puts out that fire," said ron as they started up the staircase toward the silver ladder and the trapdoor.
he was quite right. the dimly lit room was swelteringly hot. the fumes from the perfumed fire were heavier than ever. elara'd head swam as she made her way over to one of the curtained windows. while professor trelawney was looking the other way, disentangling her shawl from a lamp, she opened it an inch or so and settled back in a chintz armchair, so that a soft breeze played across her face. it was extremely comfortable.
