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Cedric floated high in the air, Ginny levitating him from below. Lori watched on proudly as her little sister gently brought him back down to the ground and he high fived her, "Nice one, Ginny."
Ellie was next to them, practicing disarming Luna, the quiet, young Ravenclaw had surprised everyone with her aptitude for duelling, forming a close relationship with Ellie and her younger sister, Susan.
"Working hard is important," Harry explained, helping struggling students with their spells, "but there is something that matters even more. Believing in yourself. Think of it this way: every great wizard has started out as nothing more than what we are now: students. If they can do it, why not us?"
A few minutes later, they were all stood in a circle, the training dummy bouncing between them as each spell deflected it towards another student.
"Expelliarmus." the dummy jumped away from Neville towards a Hufflepuff, who quickly stunned it towards Fred.
"Expelliarmus." Luna gently said, the dummy flying towards Lori.
"Deprimo." she cast, the target creaking as it's head was crushed down, before flying off out of the circle.
The headless dummy raced at Ginny, "Reducto."
It exploded into small, black bits of dust, before filtering through the grate underfoot and disappearing. Either side of her, Fred and George were suddenly scared of the youngest Weasley.
Hermione was on door duty when they left, waving the students through the door and keeping an eye out for Filch.
Lori and Cedric were some of the last to leave, heading to the Gryffindor Common Room so she could get his birthday present from her dormitory. She searched around in her trunk, before finding the neatly wrapped gifts and heading back downstairs.
He was sat down on the rug by the fire, his back leaning against the sofa when she joined him on the floor, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek and holding out the stack of presents, "Happy birthday, babe."
Smiling, he opened the first box, a batch of homemade fudge from Mrs Weasley, each present containing more and more food until he had a small pile at his feet, "Your mother must really like me." he chuckled.
Lori nodded, "She always said the way to a man's heart was through his stomach."
"I don't think she was wrong." he smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, the pair of them watching the flames gently burn out in the grate.
*
A brisk, October wind had started to battle the castle when Cedric and Lori managed to sneak into Hogsmeade on the third.
