Chapter 231: DA Files: The Force of Emotions (1/2)
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”Good evening, everyone. Please gather around so we can get started,” said Quinn, addressing the DA crowd gathered in the Room of Requirements.
It had been a few months since DA had begun its sessions, and the learning activities were now in full swings — every attending member had assimilated the sessions and their ”homework/self-study” into their regular routines leading to a peak learning environment — it helped that Quinn had created a competitive environment to motivate learning (through one-up-ing the others.)
”What're we going to learn today? Revealers? Wards, or maybe something that hinders the opponent — like the Anti-Disapparition Jinx.” The usually disciplined Hermione Granger sounded like a child hopped on sugar left to play in an amusement park.
Quinn smiled, ”I appreciate your enthusiasm, Hermione.”
Hermione blushed a bit out of embarrassment.
”But today, we're going to examine something that would allow you to defend yourself. Defensive spells. That's what we're going to tackle today. The art of protecting yourself — it may be when you are off-balance; when your opponent attacked first trying to the initiative, at times you can't dodge, or whenever in the myriads of possibilities that you might need to stop an incoming attack.
”Duels are short ordeals. When a spell hits, it gets tricky to recuperate using your own magic quickly enough, and that too in the heat of battle. So the objective of defensive spells is to protect yourself at all times and not come in contact with spells or any harmful object.”
A decent bone-breaking spell could fracture a vital bone like the femur(in the thigh) or fibula and tibia (in the lower leg) enough to hinder mobility leading to a vulnerable position until they could be mended back — that duration of injury could be converted into defeat(or death) by an opportunistic opponent.
”We'll be starting with the standard Shield charm, Protego.” He slashed his fake wand, and an invisible barrier rippled in the air. ”A versatile spell that can be used in a multitude of situations — everywhere from a spell to physical objects — this will be a first in the series of defensive spells.”
Quinn lazily waved his fake wand, and the names of DA members appeared in the air, every name paired with another — after the Theodore Nott incident, Quinn had taken up to himself to form pairs that would facilitate learning at a higher pace.
”One will cast the Shield charm, and the other will cast a Disarming spell. Then both will switch sides. After you think that you're comfortable blocking a Disarming spell, change spells and switch it up to introduce some diversity of experience.”
As everyone shuffled to their pair, a single nervous hand went up from the group.
”Uhm, sorry.. . I'm not paired with anyone.”
Quinn nodded, ”I know Neville. You will be practicing with me today.”
Everyone halted their actions in surprise and turned their heads to look at the pair. Generally, Quinn would go around the room giving out pointers or sit in a corner doing his things, but not once had Quinn paired with anyone during a DA session.
Neville gripped his wand tightly in both hands near his chest: ”M-Me?”
”Yes, Neville, you. Now come one, let's not waste time and get started,” said Quinn. ”Also, before every get's started! Please, gather around; I have one extra piece of advice I want to share,” he said to the crowd.
The DA members formed a circle around Quinn and Neville, who faced each other, wands ready.
”I'm going to share a personal tip with all of you. It has served me well when I cast defensive magic,” said Quinn. ”Neville, would you give me your best Reductor, please,” he smiled.
Neville gulped. ”Reductor.. . but you said that we aren't allowed to use lethal spells against each other,” his voice trailed at the end.
”There's no reason to be nervous, Neville. In fact, good job bringing up the rule,” said Quinn. ”But, I need a Reductor for me to demonstrate the Protego. I assure you, it'll not hurt me. You can believe me, Neville.”
Neville licked his lips. He wasn't sure about it. Neville wasn't feeling comfortable pointing his wand at a friend while arming it with a lethal spell.
He touched his forearm where the Gryffindor common room password was written in magical ink; for years, Quinn had been helping him with the passwords; every week, he would go to the AID office, and Quinn would update the ink.
But then he saw the confident smile on Quinn's face. There was no doubt that Quinn was better at magic than him. He clenched his jaw and nodded after a deep breath.
”I'll do it,” he said.
Quinn beamed. He raised his wand, and a Protego shield rippled into existence. ”Let out everything you got, Neville.”
Neville slowly raised his wand and carefully aimed his wand at Quinn. He glanced behind Quinn, and it was of assurance that everyone had their wands out. If he messed up, they would be ready to defend themselves.
Please, don't mess up, Neville thought — ”Reducto!” — A blue spell-light thrummed out his wand and zapped towards Quinn, who didn't even flinch in the face of a that could blow apart his body.
The blue zap banged against Quinn's Protego, and the entire barrier rippled into sight. Neville held his breath as a bead of sweat trickled down his temple. Contrary to his worries, despite the wild rippling, the barrier remained intact and outlasted his Reducto, standing strong even after the blue spell-light fizzled out of existence.
”Now, that wasn't bad, was it?” said Quinn smiling.
Neville hurriedly nodded. He felt his racing heart calm down.
”That's what a good Protego spell can do,” Quinn spoke to the crowd. ”Now, time for the tip I used to face Neville's Reductor,” everyone perked up their ears, ”I used the emotion of determination to power up my Protego.”
Many confused expressions and head-tilts emerged in the crowd.
”Do you remember how I told you that emotion is an essential part of magic, and how any spell's quality can be benefited by applying an emotion or a mix of them — the question is to identify the emotion that would help, figure out an experience or memory to evoke that emotion, and finally properly channel it in your magic.”
Quinn had preached the importance of emotion a lot, though most people here didn't comprehend the role of emotion in spells. He turned to the one person in the room who he knew understood and had applied sentiment to their magic.
”Harry, tell me what you think when casting a Patronus charm?” he asked.
Harry wasn't expecting to be called out all of a sudden. Admittedly, he had only been paying half attention to what Quinn was saying — his Protego was spell was excellent, he thought.
”Er, I think of happy memories.”
”.. . I was expecting more detail, but okay,” said Quinn, ”the secret behind Patronus charm is the feeling of happiness — the happier the memory, the better the charm would work — we will learn more about this when we tackle the spell in later sessions. For the Shield charm and the majority of defensive spells, you need to think of memories that would evoke emotions like determination, perseverance, stubbornness, defiance!
”For example, if you have a memory of you were stubborn about accomplishing something and saw through your objective to the end. Maybe your parents, relatives, friends said that you wouldn't be able to do something, but you proved them wrong and stuck it to their faces,” that one raised a lot of heads, ”memories like these will help you cast a stronger shield that would stand firm against even the strongest of spells.
”Think about such memories. Dive deep to find them, and your defensive spells would be able to withstand more beating, last longer, and even be easier to cast,” Quinn finished passionately.
He dismissed everyone and was about to start up with Neville when he heard.
”What do you use?”
Quinn and many others turned to the speaker, seeing that it was Daphne who had raised the question.
”What do you mean?” asked Quinn.
”What do emotion or memory do you use?”
Quinn cleared his throat and sighed deeply before taking up the question. ”A couple of years back, I encountered a problem; I think it was the greatest problem of my life at that time and maybe to this day,” losing his magic was the worst time of his life, and the summer break he spent regaining it was his greatest show of struggle from him, ”I spent an entire summer break trying to solve that problem — be it either day or night, I was constantly working on it,” he gazed at Daphne, ”I imagined that while facing Neville's Reducto.”
Everyone felt the seriousness in Quinn's voice. For many of them, it was the first time they had seen him like this. Different from his familiar jolly self. Those close to Quinn were curious about what he was talking about.
”Though I don't use those emotions anymore,” said Quinn nonchalantly as everyone was turning away.
Everyone halted. They once again turned towards Quinn.
”Then what do you use?” asked Daphne again. If he didn't use that memory, why did he answer the question with it, and why did he give them the advice if he himself did not use it.