Chapter 28

"Impedimentia!" shouted Ginny as Fred ran towards her. Her brother tripped and fell heavily. He was up in a second, but -

"Stupify!"

This knocked Fred unconscious, and it was a few seconds before he was able to rise to his hands and knees. Ginny raised her wand, but Harry called for her to stop.

"Excellent, Ginny. Now what would you use if Fred was a death eater?"

"The killing curse, of course," said Ginny. "Why do you keep repeating that? You must have told us a hundred times."

"It's repetitive and boring, I know," replied Harry. "But we can't actually practice that curse, and yet using it has got to become habitual. You and everyone else has to be able to use it when the time comes."

"Harry," said Hermione. "Can I ask a question?"

"Yes, and you can ask another," said Harry, perhaps unconsciously repeating Dumbledore's response to a similar query by him when he was in first year.

"I'm afraid this is a rather stupid question and that there'll be an obvious answer. But I have to ask. Why are we learning any other curses other than Avada Kedavara? Once we learn that, why would we ever want to learn another? If our goal is to kill Voldemort and all his followers, what's the point in practicing stunning them?"

Harry looked around at the others. Fred and George smiled at each other, for they knew the answer, but the others looked to Harry for a reply.

"The first curse we use at the Department of Mysteries, when we have the advantage of surprise, will be the killing curse. But after that, we'll be in a melée - our group will be mixed with theirs, everyone firing curses all over the place. Any of us could easily miss, and hit one of our own. So we need to have other curses we can use, and save the killing curse only for those situations where there's no chance of hitting one of us. So your question was not stupid, Hermione, because it raises a basic question about how we are going to fight.

"For example," Harry continued. "If, like Ginny did just now, you are able to knock down a death eater, you probably will be able to kill him on the spot, because your killing curse will be aimed at the floor. If you're the only DA member in a room with one or more opponents, you'll only be using the killing curse." With this, Harry announced that they'd had enough for the day.

They'd been practicing outdoors for hours, and they began to tramp back to the Burrow through the woods, cold, tired and very hungry. As the seven teens walked alongside the stream, they left in their wake the odd small mammal and bird that came in range - not stunned hard enough to kill, of course, but the little creatures were good target practice. And they were getting very good. As the holidays were drawing to a close, the group had gained in skill and confidence, each of them sure that they would give a good account of themselves when the time came.

As usual, Harry walked next to Ginny. The two had taken of late to holding hands, as did Hermione and Ron behind them. This left Imogen with Fred and George, the twins towering over the smaller girl. Imogen's normally pale face had reddened with her exertions in the cold, her blond hair somewhat disordered as well. She looked at the couples ahead of her, and found herself wishing that she could hold hands with someone. But with either Fred or George, that was completely out of the question, especially now that Imogen had spent so much time at the Burrow.

Even Harry had a family - albeit a vile one, but family nonetheless. Imogen had no one, and over the holidays, the Burrow had provided her with at least a semblance of family life. Living under the Weasley's roof, helping out with making dinner and other chores, Imogen had become accustomed to taking direction from the elder Weasleys. Although of course she always called them 'Mr Weasley' or 'Mrs. Weasley', the day before she had almost called Mrs. Weasley 'mom' - a close call that made her blush even now as she thought of it. To Imogen, the Weasley children were like close cousins - almost like siblings.

As Imogen followed a turn in the path, she saw Hermione up ahead, talking to a stranger.

"Are you lost?" said Hermione, to the man, who was old, and appeared bit confused. The man leaned on his cane, and removed his cap to scratch his balding head.

"Was out for a walk with my dog - he ran somewhere down here, I think, but then I lost track of him. Have you seen him?"

"I haven't," said Hermione. "But what does he look like?"

"He's very, very big," said the man. "Biggest dog you'll ever see. Very black, he is."

"And his name?"

"He answers to 'Grim'. You'll know when you've seen the 'Grim'."

"I can't believe I fell for it again," said Hermione, vexed. "Why you always pick on me, I'll never know."

"It's because you're the most gullible," replied Sirius with a laugh. "But I had a reason for coming out here - the sun'll be gone soon, and it's high time you were all inside. Let's go!"

"Do you really think we can't handle ourselves after dark?" Fred asked.

"I'm not the one running things around here. What I think makes no difference. Your mother wants you all home, and that's that."

Inside the forest the twilight quickly became darkness as they walked home, their way lit by the collective glow of their wand tips. Imogen picked up the pace, and walked next to Sirius at the front of the group.

"Mr. Black -"

"Sirius, please!"

"Sirius, what's it like being disguised all the time? Isn't it a shock every time you look in the mirror?"

"I try not to look in the mirror", he replied. "But really, drinking polyjuice all the time isn't too bad. I try to avoid being too elderly, because it's very difficult getting around. And I prefer to remain a male as well - the few times I've tried 'female' polyjuice have been a little disconcerting. I'm going to work at mastering the polyjuice potion - that way I'll have some control over who I'm going to be." He inquired how Imogen's studies were going.

"You've been working really hard over the holidays," he observed. "Are you close to where you want to be?"

"I think so. I was already at least average in Defence against the Dark Arts before I came to the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley has helped me a lot with potions, and tomorrow we're going to give the Asturias potion a go. I'm not sure I'm ready for it, but I'd like to try brewing up a batch to replace the one Neville left with me. In Transfiguration and Charms I'm pretty well caught up, or at least I will be by the time school starts again. It would be so, so wonderful if I were caught up! Just working at the same pace as the others would seem almost like another vacation."

"How are you now with your curses and counter-curses?"

"I'm better than Ginny, but not by a lot. I think I'm getting close to Hermione and Ron. But Fred, George and Harry are way out of my league. We were working in teams, today, trying to simulate a real duel with multiple opponents."

"Anyone get hurt? I hope you avoided using any curses that could cause real damage."

"We were careful," said Imogen. "A few bruises when we fell - nothing worse than that." In the darkness she was sure Sirius would not notice that Fred's hair had been singed when his sister fired a ball of flame at him. Harry had broken his glasses, quickly repaired by Hermione. Ron was limping and had one arm around Hermione: he might very well be faking, though. Hopefully they would get a chance to cover up any injuries before the grown ups had a chance to spot anything.

The Burrow appeared around the corner, warm light spilling from the windows. Smoke from the chimney was just visible in the darkness, and the group marched up to the Weasley home, happy, exhausted and very, very hungry. Hot chocolate was waiting for them once they were out of the coats and boots, and the teens lay about the living room by the fire, listening to Harry critique their performance in the forest.

"All in all, I'd say that was pretty good. I think we're all improving. And it was fun seeing Fred's hair on fire - well done, Ginny. Now I have an idea for tomorrow's practice - something that will allow us to practice the killing curse without killing anyone, or even breaking the rules. I've been going through the Weasley library, looking for the right spell, and I think I've got it. Has anyone heard of the Siren charm?" Of course it was Hermione who answered. But because Harry was in full professorial mode, first she stuck up her hand.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"It's not very useful," said Hermione, "except as a prank. When you use the Siren charm on someone, they start to sing as loud as they can. It wears off by itself after a few minutes, which is why it isn't classified as a curse."

"Ten points for Gryffindor," said Harry.

"We're all Gryffindor," said Ron.

"Alright, ten points for Hermione then. So tomorrow, here's what I'd like us to try. Whenever there's a situation where we should use the killing curse, we'll use the Siren charm instead. We'll know if it worked, because the target will start singing."

"Don't you think we should practice it?" asked Ron. He pointed his wand at George.

"Siren!"

Nothing happened, at least not to Ron's target. George lazily raised his wand, and then:

"Exululate!"

Ron began to sing at the top of his lungs - the worst sound Harry had heard since he'd opened his golden egg the previous year. Before the adults in the house could start protesting, Fred came to the rescue.