Tonks (doratheauror) wrote in disorderic, @ 2017-09-16 19:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | fred weasley, nymphadora lupin |
WHO: Fred and Tonks
WHAT: Tonks gives Fred some training in dueling đź‘Š
WHEN: Backdated to sometime after the Platform 9 3/4 fiasco (September 8-ish probs)
WHERE: A well-warded clearing on the environs of Hogsmeade.
Tonks cast one last ward over the clearing she’d led Fred to and hoped it was enough to dispel any unwanted visitors; or possibly worse, a poor, unsuspecting victim of an offensive spell. Training, as far as Tonks was concerned, was one of the most important things she could really do for the Order; they were down to just her and Kingsley of those who’d been Aurors, so it fell to them to pass on what they knew. Tonks knew that she wasn't even a fraction as good at this as Moody had been. That man had put the fear of God in her, making her second-guess everything she did and habitualize his methods. Tonks didn’t have that in her; she was too nice, too Hufflepuff, and she wasn’t good at faking it, either. Still, she had the knowledge, she was trying her best to impart it, and she was very much invested in seeing Fred kick serious butt in duels, lest he get his own butt kicked. “Right, so, one of the most important things is to not be too show-offy; you want to try and neutralize them as soon as possible, so stunning, disarming, body-binds, all of those are good staples, and you’ve got to be really quick with your shield, since, well...that’s obviously important. Sometimes it’s best, though, to get a powerful spell in first so you know they won’t bounce back too quickly, and once they’re weakened, they can’t fight off those neutralizing spells as easily.” “Do you feel confident in those or do you want to practice? And where are you at when it comes to firing off one spell after another very quickly?” she asked. Normally Fred would’ve confidently claimed he was good at all these things, but after an arse-kicking from a Lestrange he was more willing to admit that, while still awesome at life in general, his offensive spells could use a little work. And since Snape didn’t seem too keen on the idea of having the shit hexed out of him as practice, working on it with an auror was the next best thing. “I’m good with shield and those basics,” he answered. “Should work on the quick-fire spells.” Tonks nodded, “This might sound kind of lofty, but it really does have a lot to do with knowing your wand,” she told him. “If you just cast two spells right after another before it’s ready, you’ll confuse it, and then it’ll stall and take even longer to cast the second spell.” “Ever notice that your wand warms up a little when you do a spell? You have to wait for it to cool slightly to know it’s ready for another one, but as soon as you feel it start to cool off, that’s when you want to cast your next one,” she told him. “It gets to be more instinctual with practice, but at the beginning, feeling the changes in temperature is a good way to learn, or some people figure out how to count their breathing.” “Watch,” Tonks said, aiming her wand at a nearby tree. “Expulso!” She paused for only a few seconds, then “Reducto!” The poor tree now bore a sizeable hole--she’d try and fix it later. “That was probably about two breaths in between, if that works better than the wand temperature for you.” Tonks flashed Fred an encouraging smile and gestured towards the tree. “Try it.” He followed her lead, starting with an “Expulso,” but instead followed with a succesful “Reducio,” when he felt his wand cool. Feeling cocky, he went for a third, deciding to play to his strengths and transfigure the now-tiny tree into a toad. Acting too soon, his wand seized and soon there was a slightly burned, mini hopping tree rather than a toad. He wasn’t too worried though, laughing as the tree hopped off deeper into the forest. “Gotta let it cool down a little more, got it.” Tonks laughed a bit when Fred, of course, tried to push the envelope. “It’s the same idea for three, yeah, even four or five if you really needed or wanted to bamboozle them,” she said. “Try three, but make one of them a shield charm, since that’s probably one of the spells you’re going to want to do if they’re still firing off at you.” Despite not usually being that good at following instructions, Fred did as Tonks suggested, starting with a shield charm and then firing off a “Reducto,” and, after waiting a breath longer than necessary to avoid what had happened last time, finally finishing with a “Deletrius,” grinning as the tree disintegrated in front of him. “Wicked!” Tonks burst, giving Fred a little round of applause. “Keep going with that, and eventually they’ll come more easily and naturally,” she said. “But let’s see...what do you think you could have improved on after your duel at King’s Cross?” she asked. Self-reflection was a big part of training, after all, it was important to try and tease it out. “How about not going up against a dickhead who uses a kid as a shield so you can’t throw any spells at him?” Fred replied, frowning at the thought of that battle. Tonks grimaced, but then a wry sort of smile tugged at her lips at the dark humor. “Yeah...I’m afraid that when it comes to the Death Eaters, anything goes. They’ve got barely any humanity, so they’ll probably try something like that again if they’ve got a chance,” she said, then sighed, “They could use one of us against the other, even.” “There’s gotta be something we can do, though, if they try that again,” she thought aloud, casting her eyes upwards, wracking her brain for a spell that could have drawn the kid away from the Death Eater and to Fred. “I wonder if you can summon a person, if they’re right in front of you…” she considered. “Or maybe, there’s this seize and pull charm, kind of like the incarcerous spell, but it makes a sort of magic rope, and then you can pull the person towards you. We used that to make arrests if they were trying to run from us.” “Want to try one of those on me?” she offered, raising an eyebrow. “I’m up for it,” Fred replied. It was unlikely that he would end up in the same situation again, but he was sure that, even if the spell didn’t come in handy for a duel, he was sure he could find someway to repurpose it for joke purposes. “What do I need to do?” Tonks nodded and then backed a considerable number of steps away from him. “Well, summoning you know, but I'm not sure if it will work,” she said. “But seize and pull is Carpe Retractum,” she said, then cleared her throat and aimed at the beleaguered tree again “Carpe Retractum!” said Tonks, and a golden rope emerged from her wand and wrapped around the tree. “Then obviously you just have to yank hard to get them away.” Tonks turned back to Fred. “Ready?” Fred watched her wand movements carefully, nodding when she was done and casting the spell himself. The rope wrapped around Tonk’s waist and with a tug Fred pulled her towards him. “I think you just wanted an excuse to get close to me,” Fred teased when he caught her in his arms, making a note to tell Charlie later that he’d gotten further with Tonks than he ever had. “Don’t forget you’re a married woman!” “Oh, you’ve got me,” Tonks said with a friendly roll of the eyes. “Both literally and figuratively--literally in the sense that you did that spell very well,” she said with a wink. “But, somehow, I think I’ll manage to keep that key detail in mind, though you’ve certainly got a new way to woo the single ladies,” she said. “That or, you know--rescue hostages from Death Eaters, one of the other, it’s a versatile spell.” “More useful to Charlie or George then,” Fred grinned. “I’ll stick to the rescuing hostages.” Tonks stepped back once the spell wore off. “Alright, what are some other things you wished went differently?” she asked. Fred frowned again as he thought back to the duel, but quickly covered it up with another smile. “Generally not having the Death Eaters win,” he answered. “But maybe spell choice? What are your favourite spells, Auror Dora?” “Yeah, that first part is key, but not always in our control,” Tonks said with a sigh. She considered his next question. “All variety of blasting curses, expulso, confringo--I like to injure them and get them the bloody hell away from me in one fell swoop,” she said. “Stunning spells or body-binds are great, too, though...potentially following the blasting curse, since you really do want to knock them out as soon as possible,” said Tonks. “But you don’t want to underestimate your simpler spells--it was a summoning charm that literally saved my life, since I managed to block the--ah--killing curse with some luggage,” she said, biting her lip. It still made her somewhat anxious to think about--Tonks had never really found herself on the opposite end of that spell before, though she had trained for it. That killing curses were just being thrown around, that George had faced it too at the most recent skirmish, was something that Fred found it hard to get his head around. “Thank Godric for suitcases,” he gave her a wry smile. “I’ll work on all of those, cheers Tonks.” “You’re telling me,” said Tonks with a wry smile in return. “Good,” she said with a nod. “We can get some dummies ready for next time to work on those combative spells, maybe enchant them to dodge and respond in different ways,” she said. “Should we head back?” “That would be brill,” Fred agreed, grinning again now and nodding at her suggestion to head back. “I’ll work on enchanting some dummies to respond in different ways, that sounds fun.” He could picture it already; dummies with fake blood spurting everywhere if you hit them with the right spell, a timed shield spell to tell you you’d taken to long to fire a jinx off, the possibilities were endless. “We should do this more often.” “We should,” Tonks agreed heartily. It was important that they were as prepared as they could be. “We should do a training with the whole gang; George, Katie, Alicia, Angelina...it would help to work on how to act as a group, and you lot already have excellent teamwork abilities, just need to transfer those skills to duelling,” she said. “Besides, I reckon it’d be a pretty decent way to spend an afternoon.” “I’ll drag them along next time,” Fred agreed. “Not that it’ll be hard, if I’m there they’ll all want to be too.” He turned his head to look at Tonks as they walked back. “Thanks again, I needed this.” |