Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 116: Aguamenti

Harry passed through the Egress into the second-floor corridor at Hogwarts on his way to his lesson with Professor Lupin. He paused just over the threshold to listen and check his staff to see if anyone was nearby. He released his breath when his staff indicated that no one was in the corridor. As he neared Professor Lupin's office, he could hear Aminah and the professor talking which meant that the door was open. He closed it when he went through, hoping to prevent Professor Snape from sneaking up on him again.

I wonder if there's a charm that will tell me who is approaching me? Gah—that would be annoying at Hogwarts—it's going to be a madhouse. How am I going to manage? Maybe there's a spell that would alert me if certain people are near?

"Oh, good," Professor Lupin greeted. "You're back! Come on over here. We're working on defensible stances. So, usually in a duel, you want to be out in the open because it gives you a free range of motion and an ability to see your target. But it also puts you two at a disadvantage—your target can see you, but you can't see them. So you need to play to your strengths—figure out how to make what others would see as a weakness, an advantage. One way, of course, is to create darkness like we practiced at the last lesson—there you have the upper hand because you're already skilled at navigating without sight. What are some other ways to level the playing field?"

Harry made his way over to the center of the office and stood near Aminah, facing Professor Lupin.

"Well, we have both our wand and our staff—so we can maybe catch them unawares by sending hexes with both instruments?" Aminah suggested.

"Yes—excellent," Professor Lupin said.

"And isn't the power of our spells heightened by using both?" Harry added.

"Yes—there's the amplification factor. That's good."

"We don't have to be facing our opponent to know where they are—we can track them using sound or vibrations—so they might think we're not paying attention when we are," Harry said.

"Right you are. Let's try some of these ideas and see how they work out. Aminah's already had a go, so let's give Harry a chance, and then we can switch it up. Aminah, why don't you sit in the chairs by my desk. I'll shield the area around us so that my books and specimens aren't hit by a stray hex," Professor Lupin instructed as he walked around the room warding off a space for them to work.

"Harry, go ahead and try to hit me with a curse... I'll hold off trying to strike you for a bit. Just work on locating ... ow!... Hey, that was good. You used my voice to locate me, didn't you?" Professor Lupin said.

"Accio wand!" Harry commanded and held his hand out. The wand didn't come.

"Nice one—though, the disarming charm is more effective because it changes the allegiance of the wand—overpowers it," Professor Lupin explained. "I was able to hang onto my wand and not let it go."

Harry heard Lupin start to utter a spell and sent up his shield before he even thought about it. He heard the hex bounce off his shield. He almost sent a stinging hex toward Professor Lupin again, but then realized that it would rebound against his shield and stopped just in time.

He pulled down his shield so that he could get another shot at the professor as he listened for his footsteps moving against the stone floor. They were barely audible and he wished he knew how to shoot sand out of his wand to make it easier for him to hear where Professor Lupin was.

"Aguamenti!" Harry cried instead and sent a fire-hose worth of water in the direction of Professor Lupin. He could feel when the force of the water hit the professor in the chest and then he could hear his footsteps splashing in the water.